Robert Downey Jr. Has Some Harsh Words for ‘The Dark Knight’

Now that 'The Avengers' has opened to huge numbers, everyone's wondering how it'll fare compared to 'The Dark Knight Rises,' which premieres in theaters on July 20. But according to an old interview with 'Avengers' star Robert Downey Jr., it's no contest.

Four years ago, while Downey was enjoying the success of the first 'Iron Man' flick, he did a sit-down with Moviehole in which he also talked about the first 'Dark Knight' movie. The two films opened within months of each other in 2008, and comparisons back then also ran rampant.

But Downey had some choice words about the Batman movie:

“My whole thing is that that I saw ‘The Dark Knight' ... It’s like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I’m like, ‘That’s not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.’

"I didn’t understand [it]. Didn’t get it, still can’t tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I’m like, ‘I get it. This is so high brow and so f–king smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.’

"You know what? F-ck DC comics. That’s all I have to say and that’s where I’m really coming from.”

Well. That pretty much settles that. Looks like Downey is Team Marvel all the way.

It's unusual for a working actor to go on record with such a harsh opinion, but if Downey was worried about destroying any possible collaborations with DC Comics in the future, he didn't show it.

“You know, you’re never too old to burn your bridges because I believe I have offended everyone,” he laughed. “I think I’ve got a couple more. ‘I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it’ is my favorite phrase I’ve ever coined.”