Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s contributors take a moment to debate and analyze two opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.

Everywhere you look (and we mean everywhere), you’ll likely see something related to Marvel’s new movie The Avengers. In other words, we apologize to any reader checking out a metal website in hopes of escaping the movie’s buzz. But The Avengers has a lot of ties to hard rock. Not only did the first trailer feature a Nine Inch Nails song, but its soundtrack also includes Soundgarden’s first new song in about 15 years (check out its newly released music video above). Plus, Mr. Tony Stark himself even wears a Black Sabbath shirt in certain scenes of the film.

So with The Avengers opening in movie theaters today, Bram and Zach assemble to debate who they consider to be the most metal superhero member of the Avengers is the most metal of them all in this week’s Headbangers’ Brawl.

Zach: Ok, so while Iron Man is somewhat of an obvious choice, I am going to have to go with Thor. The demigod, son of Odin, is simply bad ass. And I’m pretty sure Amon Amarth would back me up when I say that Vikings are metal as fuck.

Bram: Thor is pretty metal. Given the Norse mythology, you can pretty much imagine him fitting in at a black metal show. Dude’s even got a cape. But I don’t know, there’s something pretty metal about the Hulk. He’s basically pure rage. If cathartically screaming into a microphone about shit isn’t the musical equivalent of turning into raging id and fucking shit up, I don’t know what is. That said, Black Sabbath’s 41 year-old song, which apparently wasn’t even about the super hero, is synonymous with both heavy metal and the super hero, like it or not.

Z: Hulk is definitely pure rage. But for some reason, he gives me more of a hardcore vibe then metal. He’d probably make the craziest metalcore or punk frontman, smashing any shit (fans included) that got in his way onstage. And one thing is for sure, I would get the hell out of a mosh pit if I saw the Hulk coming my way.

True, Black Sabbath’s anthem will always give Iron Man metal cred. And Tony Stark is quite possibly the biggest rock star in the Marvel Universe. But to me, Thor seems like he could’ve been the ultimate bad-ass frontman of a metal group (power metal especially). He just gives off the charismatic metal singer vibe. That, or maybe I just love this scene from the Thor movie a little too much:

B: Here’s my roundup of the Avengers and the band they’re most like:

Iron Man- Black Sabbath

Thor- Amon Amarth

Captain America- Godsmack (y’know, since they do those Navy recruiting commercials)

The Hulk- I’d say a cross between Jamey Jasta (you’re right, the Hulk is pretty intense) and Fred Durst (since he likes to break stuff)

Nick Fury- Maybe God Forbid? Hell, I’ve got nothing.

Z: Am I the only one who’d consider Nick Fury as the Avengers’ Lemmy Kilmister? Speaking of Lemmy, would Hawkeye just tbe the equivalent to his first band Hawkwind? Or would Tomahawk be cooler? By the way, if Alice Cooper’s “Black Widow” isn’t the perfect anthem for The Black Widow, then I don’t know what is.