The document compares and contrasts the 2013 Marvel films Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World. It discusses the main characters (Tony Stark/Iron Man and Thor), antagonists (Aldrich Killian and Malekith), filming locations (North Carolina and England/Iceland), and award recognition (Iron Man 3 won 3 People's Choice Awards, Thor: The Dark World won none). It concludes that while both are action-packed films, they attract different audiences due to these differences between the characters, villains, settings, and accolades.

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: MUHAMMAD IKMAL BIN NOR HISHAM
STUDENT ID NO: 0316037
FILMS SELECTED: IRON MAN 3 & THOR: THE DARK WORLD
WORD COUNT: LESS THAN 882
ENGLISH 2 (ENGL 0205)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: 18th
APRIL 2014

2. Superheroes or Super-zeroes?
According to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd
President of the United States, great power
involves great responsibility. This leads us to the conclusion that superheroes like Iron Man
(Robert Downey Jr) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) have huge responsibilities not because they
have great powers, but because they have superpowers! All superhero films revolve around
superpowers of the main characters, the superheroes. There are a lot of differences to be
contrasted in different superhero films, namely Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, which
include the main characters of the films, the antagonists in the films, the locations the films
were filmed, and the awards the films have received.
The main characters of the films, Tony Stark and Thor, have a lot of differences in
terms of their species, personalities, and superpowers. According to official Marvel website,
Stark is an eccentric genius, billionaire, philanthropist armoured superhero known as Iron Man.
On the other hand, Kyle Hembree of screenrant.com describes Thor as the prince and future
king of Asgard, an advanced alien civilisation. Personality wise, Stark is one of the most
arrogant superhero among the Marvel superheroes. We can see his arrogance in Iron Man 3
where he revealed his house address to the media. This led to his house being attacked by the
Ten Rings, a group of villain led by Mandarin. On the other hand, Thor is a superhero with a
strong sense of justice. This is shown in Thor: The Dark World where he would disobey his
own father to save his love interest, Jane Foster. In terms of superpowers, some people may
not classify Stark as a superhero as his superpower mainly comes in the form of armoured suits
which he created using his great knowledge and his huge amount of money. This is the opposite
of Thor because he was born with his superpower such as summoning storms.
Beside the main characters, we also can contrast the difference between the antagonists
in Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World which are Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) and Malekith

3. (Christopher Eccleston) respectively. Like Stark, Killian is also a normal human with great
knowledge. On the other hand, Malekith, as described by Kyle Hembree of screenrant.com, is
the ruler of cruel leader of a race of beings said to be older than the universe, the Dark Elves.
Both of the antagonists do not share the same reason of committing crime. Killian, according
to IGN, plotted his revenge toward Stark because Stark broke his promise of meeting Killian
on the roof in 1999. On the other hand, Kyle Hembree of screenrant.com described Malekith
as someone who sought to transform our universe back into eternal darkness.
Next, we can see the difference between Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World by
where the films were filmed. Since Stark is a superhero living in United States, Iron Man 3 was
filmed in United States, more specifically North Carolina, most of the time. On the other hand,
Thor: The Dark World was filmed in a lot of different parts of the world including England and
Iceland because the story of the film revolves around different worlds. According to Cassie
Foss of StarNews Online, filming of Iron Man 3 began in Wilmington, North Carolina on 23rd
May 2012. One of the place includes Wilmington International Airport. Iron Man 3 was also
filmed in Hyderabad, India, and Bengaluru, India as reported by Dibyojyoti Baksi of Hindustan
Times. On the other hand, Louise Saunders of Mail Online reported that the theme of Thor:
The Dark World will be influenced by big waterfalls, mountains, and Vikings to reflect the
origin of the Norse mythology. This hugely affects the locations to be grittier as preferred by
the film’s director of photography, Kramer Morgenthau, according to David Heuring of
hdvideopro.com.
Finally, to be equally fair to both Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, we will
contrast the amount of awards the film has received from People’s Choice Awards. Might not
be surprising to some, Iron Man 3 has won three out of six categories it was nominated in while
Thor: The Dark World did not win any award despite being nominated in one category. Two
of the awards received by Iron Man 3 are for the film itself, namely Favourite Movie and

4. Favourite Action Movie, while the other award, Favourite Action Movie Star, was received by
the main cast of the film, Robert Downey Jr. Not to mention that the other three nominations
were also directed to the casts of the film, again, Robert Downey Jr, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Despite both are action-packed films, we can conclude that Iron Man 3 and Thor: The
Dark World will attract different types of audiences because of the main characters of the film,
the antagonists in the films, the locations the films were filmed, and the awards the films have
received. I also believe that other factor such as the storylines, the themes, and the casts of the
films play an important role in attracting more people to watch both Marvel films. Lastly, I
hope that both Iron Man’s and Thor’s fans would not compete using any form of violence as I
believe that both of them would be sad if they were to see this happen.
References
Aldrich Killian – Marvel Studios Cinematic Universe Wiki Guide – IGN. (2013). Retrieved
April 13, 2014, from http://www.ign.com/wikis/marvel-studios-cinematic-
universe/Aldrich_Killian
Baksi, D. (2013, January 7). Indian techies to rescue Iron Man?. Retrieved April 13, 2014,
from http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Hollywood/Indian-techies-to-
rescue-Iron-Man/Article1-986141.aspx
Foss, C. (2012, June 4). Fans get a sneak peek from the set of ‘Iron Man 3’. Retrieved April
13, 2014, from http://wilmonfilm.blogs.starnewsonline.com/10602/fans-get-a-sneak-
peak-from-the-set-of-iron-man-3/
Hayner, C. E. (2014, January 8). People’s Choice Awards 2014 – Full winners list. Retrieved

5. April 13, 2014, from http://zap2it.com/blogs/peoples_choice_awards_2014_-
_full_winners_list-2014-01
Hembree, K. (2013). ‘Thor: The Dark World’ Official Character Descriptions – Meet
Malekith, Kurse, & More!. Retrieved April 13, 2014, from http://screenrant.com/thor-
the-dark-world-character-descriptions/
Heuring, D. (2013, October 22). Hammer Time. Retrieved April 13, 2014, from
http://www.hdvideopro.com/film-and-tv/feature-films/hammer-
time.html#.U1AR_PmSx7E
Iron Man 3. (2013). Retrieved April 13, 2014, from http://marvel.com/ironman3/#chars
Saunders, L. (2012, September 10). Filming for Thor 2: The Dark World gets underway in
Surrey... but where is star Chris Hemsworth?. Retrieved April 13, 2014, from
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2201315/Thor-The-Dark-World-
Filming-gets-underway-Surrey--star-Chris-Hemsworth.html