Unable To Compare ImageIcon In A Button Against Another

I am trying to compare a ImageIcon in a button against another. The method which has the issue is checkMatrixValues() third from the bottom of this post. I did my best to make this post flow as I am looking at the issue, hope it is not confusing.

the view class creates a matrix of Mybuttons and Mybuttons extends JButton. I did this because I need Mybuttons to have fields within each button.

public class View extends Mybuttons{
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
JFrame frame;
JPanel matrixPanel, optionsPanel;
Mybuttons[][] matrixBtn;

[Code]...

MyButtons has a few values and methods in it but here is a peek at the fields. This post is concentrating on ImageIcon greenIcon and ImageIcon redIcon.

public class Mybuttons extends JButton {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
Boolean barrier,startNode,targetNode,visited;
public ImageIcon greenIcon = new ImageIcon("green.png");
public ImageIcon redIcon = new ImageIcon("red.png");
private ImageIcon yellowIcon = new ImageIcon("yellow.png");
private ImageIcon resetIcon = new ImageIcon("null");
public int counter;

In the controller class one method checks to make sure there is one start and one end point by calling checkMartixValues when the enter button is pressed: (FYI greenIcon is start and redIcon is end)

if(e.getSource()==view.enterBtn){
for(int i=0;i<25;i++){
for(int j=0;j<25;j++){
//Validates matrix to see if there are more then one
//red or green button pressed
checkMartixValues(view.matrixBtn[i][j]);

[Code]...

When I do the following:

if(matrixBtn.getIcon()==view.matrixBtn.redIcon)

It runs but jumps to the else statement. Again it is saying redIcon is not a field yet I am able to access other fields from view.matrixBtn. I even tried:

if(matrixBtn.getIcon()==buttons.redIcon) //compiles but will skip to else statement too 
//remember the above if statement is in the same controller class which declares
public class Controller {
/*The view class holds the GUI and creates a matrix of MyButtons.
*Each of MyButtons will be treated as a node in the Controller Class
*Consider MyButtons as the Model in the MVC design
* */
View view;
Mybuttons buttons;