Idk why ppl are talking prep time.. there is none here.
Superman should win. IM should be able to deal some damage because Supes has just shittastic fighting ability. IM can exploit this. He is a seasoned vet but just don't got the stats to compete; so superman each and every time.
"I'm going to let you hit me so you'll have a chance to realise the futility of your behaviour" isn't the same thing as "you're actually a threat to me".
I don't know why anybody else is talking prep time, but I'M doing so because I realize the original poster is not very familiar with either character, yet has probably seen Superman getting tossed around like so much trash even since this recent reboot in multiple issues, and has, conversely, likely seen Iron Man going against heavy hitters routinely ranked on or even ahead of Superman in terms of strength and durability.
Sentry, Hulk, and Thor, to name the most obvious.
Magneto, too.
And not just Hulk but World War Hulk.
And for that matter, not merely Thor but King Thor.
Any of the above characters would give DCnU Superman hell in a fight, if not beat DCnU Supes handily.
If Iron Man is giving a good account of himself against THESE people, why WOULDN'T he give a good account of himself against Superman, who gets smacked around by his cousin Supergirl, who herself has been plagued and taken down by strange robots like Tycho's, or nanotech like in the first reboot run of the Superman title, just like Superman himself got taken down?
Or Wonder Woman, who has trouble with charging bull-creatures and horse-men in her own series, yet draws blood from Superman with an errant kick in the pages of Justice League, while skirmishing with Hal Jordan?
Or, of all people, Aquaman, long considered one of DC's biggest "joke" characters, and lampooned historically in most media?
No new reader is going to be able to make sense of that unless you clarify HOW Iron Man was able to go up against the big boys, or unless you do some gymnastics and explain WHY Aquaman, widely considered the rough equivalent of Namor, whom Iron Man has fought numerous times, should be able to handball Superman away like some red-and-blue shuttlecock, but Iron Man himself should be disposed of like some coke can if HE went against Big Blue.
It makes sense to people who spend as much time on comic books and on comic forums as you guys.
Not so much for more casual participants genuinely trying to learn the strange, counter-intuitive, and sometimes illogical philosophies that guide threads in THIS forum.