Wednesday, March 28, 2012

LXB | March Madness: The Winner



For the first three weeks of March, we're going to answer the question, one match at a time, of who would win if 12 movie tough guys were airdropped into an abandoned city and only one could escape.

Well that wasn't even close. Between Twitter and here, a little over 70% of you chose Jason Bourne over James Bond as the winner of the final round. The discussion followed my own train of thought pretty closely. On Bond's side are longevity and - let's be honest - tenacious loyalty on my part. I've been a Bond fan since childhood and it's painful to admit that a tougher spy may have come along, especially since Daniel Craig  has put the tough back into the character.

However, part of making him tougher is also making him more realistic. Craig's Bond doesn't rely on gadgets, so he's not as ridiculously superheroic as some of the earlier Bonds, but taking away those superpowers does weaken him. Yeah, Craig's Bond can fight better than any of the previous ones, but he's still human. I guess I'd compare him to Batman. Roger Moore was the Silver Age version who had a tool for every occasion in that utility belt; Craig is the modern Batman who still has some toys, but relies much more on his brain and his fists.

Bourne, on the other hand, is a machine. I compared him to Captain America at one point and I still think that's accurate. Bond is as good as a human can get on his own; Bourne had a little help from science to push him over the top. Not into cartoonish territory, but he has the edge on Bond and all else being equal (which I think it pretty much is), he wins.



You didn't have to vote for the winner to win the contest (I chose a random name out of all the entries), but of course the odds were in favor of that happening. Mark Juelich won the Super Spy: The Lost Dossiers graphic novel and Hanna DVD. Congrats, Mark! I'll contact you about getting you your prizes.

Thanks for all the great discussion everyone! This was fun! (Incidentally, Brian at Cool and Collected also picked Bourne to win the whole thing, though he got there on a much different route. Other LXB choices for top winner were Ash, John McClane, Bruce Lee, and two votes for Snake Plissken.)

3 comments:

Brian (Cool & Collected) said...

The internet speaks the truth.

Great job on the bracket Mike!

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

This would have been fun to play...but they banned me. ME! BANNED!

Michael May said...

Seriously? Why?

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