SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME: LIM CHIN YI

STUDENT ID NO: 0315627

FILMS SELECTED: SUPERHERO (THE DARK KNIGHT & THE AVENGERS)

WORD COUNT: 986

ENGLISH 2 (ENGL 0205)

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY

LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

SUBMISSION DATE: 18th APRIL 2014

The superhero films that I would like to contrast is the Dark Knight and The Avengers.

They are both high grossing movies that had received positive reviews from the viewers. The

Dark Knight is a superhero action film based on the DC Comics, the Batman. There are a lot of

fantastic action scenes in the movie where the hero fights with the villains. On the other hand,

the Avengers is a science fiction action film that was released on 2012 based on the Marvel

Comics, the Avengers. The film was directed by Joss Whedon, starring Robert Downey, Jr, Chris

Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner as the

superheroes. The differences between both movies can be compared from three aspects, the

heroes, the villains and the focus of storylines.

In the Dark Knight, Batman works with Lieutenant Jim Gordon and the District Attorney,

Harvey Dent to wipe out the criminal organizations in Gotham City. Their plans went

successfully at first but they soon find themselves becoming preys to a mad criminal

mastermind known as the Joker (The Dark Knight, 2008). The Joker then turns Gotham City into

chaos and Batman as the silent guardian of Gotham has to fight his enemies to protect the city.

However, the Avengers is a movie about six superheroes which consist of Ironman, Captain

America, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeyes who have their own special

abilities. They have to team up to defend the Earth from Loki and the Chitauri Army from outer

space who plan to invade the Earth.

It is obvious that there will be heroes saving lives in the Dark Knight and the Avengers

since they are superhero films. However, there are some differences between the superheroes

in term of their working structures and styles. In the Dark Knight, the ability of Batman to play

his role as the hero of Gotham is depended on technology most of the time. He uses advanced

technology to create his suit, vehicles, weapon and other gadgets that are essential for Batman.

Without those items, he is no longer a hero but an ordinary human, except for the fact that he

is a billionaire industrialist. Moreover, Batman is a solo hero, which means that he does not

work with the other superheroes. Since he does not work for any legal institutions or agencies,

Batman is considered as a vigilante by the authorities and he is chased by the police. In short,

the citizens are not really pleased by the existence of Batman despite what he has done for the

city. Unlike the Dark Knight, the superheroes in the Avengers work in a team under the

‘’S.H.I.E.L.D ‘’ Agency. The abilities of the superheroes are more unrealistic because they

contain the elements of futuristic technologies, superpowers, living creatures from outer space

and God. For an example, one of the Marvel’s superheroes, Thor, actually comes from other

planet called Asgard. He possesses the power of lightning that enable him to project powerful

blast of lightning towards his enemies and he is basically known as a God and protector of the

Earth (Mjolnir, n.d.).

The existence of superheroes will be pointless if there are no villains in the movies. The

Joker is the main anti-hero in the Dark Knight. In fact, he is one of the most famous villains

among the Batman series. He is feared by most due to his craziness while committing crimes.

The Joker emphasizes on psychological attack that will create chaos in mind of his victim.

Besides, he does not really stick to a specific method while carrying out his well-planned crime.

For example, he uses all sorts of weapons like dagger, knife, gun or even explosives to kill his

target. What makes the Joker unique is that he does not commit crime for money or power, he

just simply enjoys watching the whole world falls (Synopsis for the Dark Knight, 2008). On the

other hand, the main antagonist in the Avengers, Loki has different ways to achieve his wild

ambition. Due to his dissatisfaction for always living under the shadow of his brother, Thor,

Loki’s greed for power grows greater day by day. Therefore, he plans to attack and conquer the

Earth with the help of Chitauri Army. Furthermore, Loki does not have much variations in his

weapon. Most of the time, he uses his sceptre that channel destructive energy blast that could

cause catastrophic damage to the object that comes into contact.

Apart from that, the Dark Knight and the Avengers have different focus of the storylines.

In the Dark Knight, the love triangle between the main characters is highlighted. Racheal as the

female protagonist is in dilemma between Batman and Harvey and this has led to the further

development of the story. The death of Racheal in an explosion set up by the Joker has hit

Batman and Harvey real hard. Following the death of Racheal, Harvey turns mad and decides to

revenge Racheal by killing people. Hence, Batman now has to fight Harvey who was once his

ally from committing further sins. Unlike the Dark Knight, the Avengers emphasizes on the

teamwork among the superheroes. After realizing the world crisis caused by Loki that might

create mass destruction to humanity, Nick Fury, the director of “S.H.I.E.L.D” immediately

assembles the Avengers from great heroes around the world. In the beginning, the team

members do not work well with each other thus causing disagreement and dissatisfaction

among the team. The situation gets better eventually when the members start to co-operate

and tolerate with each other for greater cause.

In conclusion, the Dark Knight and the Avengers have quite a lot of differences in their

heroes, villains and focus of storylines. However, these differences are the factors that

contribute in the success of these movies. If all superheroes movies are having the similar style,

there will be no uniqueness in the movies any more.

References

Mjolnir. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2014, from Comic Vine:

http://www.comicvine.com/mjolnir/4055-40971/

Synopsis for the Dark Knight. (2008). Retrieved April 13, 2014, from IMDb:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/synopsis?ref_=ttpl_pl_syn

The Dark Knight. (2008). Retrieved April 13, 2014, from DC Comics:

http://www.dccomics.com/movies/the-dark-knight-2008