Why Iron Man Works For Me

I'm a little bit concerned as far as comic book-to-movie adaptations go. I've read my fair share of comics when I was a kid, and even know enough to make me a borderline comic book geek.

While it's great to see my favorite comic book heroes get a big-screen treatment, it usually ends up disappointing for me to some extent, because the movie studios almost never get it completely right.

For example: in the X-Men trilogy- weren't Iceman and Angel supposed to be part of the original team, and therefore, shouldn't be kids but rather contemporaries of Cyclops, Jean Grey and The Beast? Wasn't Gwen Stacey supposed to be killed off in Spider-man? With the earlier Batman movies: why was Bane a mere henchman for Poison Ivy while he's a criminal mastermind in his own right (who broke Batman's back, btw), or why was the Bat-Jet equipped with guns? Don't get me started with Superman Returns.

So you can understand me when I tell you that while watching Iron Man, I was waiting for a disappointment to happen. I was genuinely surprised that I wasn't disappointed at all. In fact, Iron Man is probably one of the best-made superhero movies in a long while. I'll tell you why.

1. Iron Man stuck to the original comic book origins. Sure it was made contemporary (versus the Vietnam setting in the 60's), but the modern-day treatment totally worked, and is therefore easy to swallow. It's the concept that remains intact: inventor/industrialist Tony Stark gets caught up in a war, gets kidnapped, forced to make weapons but builds the Mark I Iron Man armor to escape. I'm glad they didn't screw that one up.

2. Robert Downey, Jr. is the perfect Tony Stark. You just gotta give props for Robert Downey, Jr.- the man is a fine actor, and he definitely did a good job bringing Tony Stark to life. True to comic character: arrogant, spoiled, just the right amount of smarminess and snark, but also intelligent and in control. The result: a truly entertaining portrayal, probably making Tony Stark more likeable than, say, Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne.

To think I've moderately enjoyed Batman Begins. Robert Downey, Jr. totally raised the bar, as far as superhero alter-egos are concerned.

Does anybody remember the rumors several years ago that Tom Cruise was slated to play Tony Stark? Now, you can't even imagine him being played by anyone else. Bravo, Robert Downey, Jr. Bravo.

3. Well-paced Iron Man action. When you watch a movie about a superhero, you definitely want to see a lot of your title character, and how he totally kicks ass.

Wasn't the formula fairly simple? Give the audience some action every 20 minutes, or lose 'em. That was the problem of movies like Ang Lee's Incredible Hulk, or that Ghost Rider movie with Nicholas Cage in it.

Here, you see a good serving of Iron Man: how Tony Stark uses him to break free from his captors, and how we see the Mark III armor go vigilante over the Middle East. Even the whole process of Stark designing and testing the armor was a real treat.

And it's pretty clear too. You have a clear picture of what weapons he's using, or how he's beating up (or getting creamed by) Stane's Iron Monger. No shaky, unnecessary fast-paced editing needed here. That's some good action captured on screen.

4. No forced romance angle. This is usually where Hollywood movies fail miserably: writing in the romance elements. The X-Men Trilogy came up short with the Scott Summers-Jean Grey-Wolverine love triangle. Katie Holmes was totally unnecessary as Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins. As for the Fantastic Four, was there ever a Sue Storm-Doctor Doom relationship to begin with?

You don't have that forced romance written in the Iron Man script. Gwyneth Paltrow makes an amazing Pepper Potts. Heck, I never gave Ms. Potts a second glance until the movie. Just like Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow had taken the character to a completely different level.

In fact, I was cringing when there were signs of the whole romance element setting in, midway into the movie. And then, it all plays out alright- no cheesy dialogs, no terrible after-taste, and most importantly, everybody sticks to their roles in the end.

For that, you have to give the writers credit. The execution of a well-written script totally shows in Iron Man.

5. Great Supporting Actors. Specifically for me? A bald, bearded Jeff Bridges- he makes an amazing Obadiah Stane. I love the way he's father-like yet schmoozy when it comes to the Stark-Stane dynamic. Sure, he was more ruthless and menacing in the comic book, but Stane was re-written well to suit the movie's plot: he comes at you with smiles and pats on the back, when he's actually pursuing his own agenda- now that's menacing of a different sort.

I'm sure we'll see Terence Howard's character as Rhodey shine some more in the next Iron Man movie. And then you have a surprise appearance by Samuel L. Jackson? Something's cooking, and you know it's gonna be good.

6. Easter Eggs for all the Fanboys. I love it when these movie adaptations intentionally hide little messages and hints. Particularly when they hint at something in coming sequels, or make reference to odd bits of trivia and information.

Iron Movie has a good amount of it: use of the theme from the old 60's cartoon, a cameo by Stan Lee- like he usually does in every Marvel movie, and a hint of what the next Iron Man movie holds for us.

The Bottom Line:

Iron Man has accomplished what no superhero movie has done in a while: set the standards for a truly entertaining piece of film. All the elements have come together so well: plot, storyline, characters, actors- everything was brilliant and memorable. Jon Favreau did an excellent job running the show.

I can only hope that Marvel keeps this up: the re-imagined Incredible Hulk will be out in a few months, and Wolverine will be out next summer. Can The Dark Knight outdo itself this time, and at least come up to par with Iron Man? I truly hope so.

Photos from ScreenRant.com and Wikipedia. Read "Everything You Need To Know About Iron Man", a special feature also on Renzie on Movies. You can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

Cheers, everyone.

Iron Man: Everything You Need To Know, Part 2.

This is the second part of our continuing series on "Everything You Need To Know About Iron Man". If you haven't read Part 1 yet, you can check it out here.

More About Iron Man in the Comics

In September 1963, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby thought it might be a good idea to feature multiple Marvel heroes in one comic- so they put together The Mighty Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Ant Man, The Wasp together with Iron Man in what is now known as the very first publication of The Avengers.

As a founding member of The Avengers, Iron Man is involved with dealing with foes no single superhero can withstand. But in his own comic series, he has to deal with anything from Communist threats (with villains like The Black Widow, Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man), threats to his company, Stark Industries (with villains like Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger and Justin Hammer), and more recently, threats to National Security.

In the comics, Stark has been portrayed as an arrogant billionaire playboy more than a level-headed businessman. He's also had to deal with issues like alcoholism on top of his deteriorating health.

He seems to be managing well, however- Stark Enterprises (which had gone through several name changes in the comic book series- Stark Industries, Stark International, Stark Innovations, Stark Solutions and just before this one, Stark/Fujikawa) has always been the leader in cutting-edge technologies, not just weapon systems- in fact, Stark constantly supplies governments and organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers and even the X-Men with the latest in armaments and gear.

For the longest time, however, and only until recently, the cover for Iron Man was that he was Tony Stark's bodyguard and corporate mascot. Occasionally, James Rhodes would don the Iron Man armor when both Stark and Iron Man would have to make an appearance together.

In a storyline from the 90's, Rhodes would see more time as Iron Man, and later wear a more heavily-armed version of the armor known as War Machine. He'd even go as far as running Stark's company while Tony takes time out due to his deteriorating health.

After some drama between him and Stark, Rhodey eventually goes solo, taking the power suit with him. In time, he and Stark would reconcile, and their friendship continues- with Stark as Iron Man, and Rhodey doing his own thing as War Machine.

When the Marvel Universe did a darker, grittier, modernized re-imagining of The Avengers in a totally separate comic book title, The Ultimates, Tony Stark was re-written as having a brain tumor, instead of having bits of shrapnel threatening to tear his heart apart.

Also, his identity as Iron Man is publicly known- one of the reasons why General Nick Fury asked him to join The Ultimates (or the re-written Avengers) in the first place: to give the superhero team some much-needed publicity and likability.

What Now For Iron Man?

I walked out of the cinema extremely satisfied. Not only was Iron Man a kick-ass movie, the clip they showed right after the credits looks very promising- not only are we expecting to see Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, but the producers let it slip that for the sequel, we might see The Avengers as well.

According to FirstShowing.net,

The buzz and performance of Iron Man so far has convinced Marvel to already start work on the sequel.

It seems that we might actually see the second Iron Man movie by April or May 2010. You can read the rest of the article here.

Cheers, everyone!

Iron Man: Everything You Need To Know, Part 1.

No doubt about it, it's one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. Iron Man is Marvel Entertainment's latest blockbuster offering. The movie has enjoyed a stupendous amount of buzz, and fans only hope that Iron Man lives up to the hype.

I've seen the Iron Man earlier today. And it was awesome. Oh, and don't forget to stick around until after the end credits- a lot of people left the theater without seeing the kick-ass Samuel L. Jackson epilogue.

In any case, just like any good motion picture, it had spurred a lot of post-movie discussions. So I've been asked several questions about it- usually along the lines of: "Was that how it really happened in the comics?"

I must confess, I am no comic book geek, but I do know enough about Iron Man (I am a RPG geek though, and we did play a lot of Marvel Superheroes back in high school and college). So for everyone who needs a little brushing up on Marvel's Golden Avenger, here we go:

Iron Man the Marvel Comic

The idea of Iron Man first came about in 1963, and it was the brainchild of Stan Lee, together with Jack Kirby, along with writers Larry Leiber and Don Heck. It was Stan Lee who fleshed out the Tony Stark character, apparently drawing inspiration from Howard Hughes- a real-life multi-billionaire, inventor, adventurer and ladies' man.

Iron Man didn't have his own comic at first; his first appearance was on Tales of Suspense #39- a sci-fi and supernatural anthology title.

Interestingly enough, he started out with the clunky dull grey armor. By the next issue, his armor was now golden, and then another redesign happened by issue #48- this time with the more familiar red-and-gold body armor.

He finally had his own comic in May 1968 with The Invincible Iron Man #1.

Origins of Iron Man

Unlike many of the superheroes at the time, Tony Stark wasn't bombarded with radiation. Instead, he's a natural when it comes to machines, supposedly a boy genius of sorts. Plus he's independently wealthy, having inherited his father's multi-billion dollar company, upon his parents' untimely and accidental death (they died in a car crash).

The circumstances regarding the creation of Iron Man has been generally the same: Stark, as head of Stark Industries, goes off to check out the American war effort (in Vietnam in the original 1963 story, and then in Afghanistan in the 90's, and finally in the Middle East in the 2008 movie). He gets injured in an explosion, and the enemy captures him, ordering him to design weapons for them.

His injuries are pretty bad though, with shrapnel bits threatening to tear up his heart. A fellow prisoner (Yin Sen) constructs a magnetic chest plate to keep the shrapnel from moving, thereby saving Stark's life. They then design a suit of powered armor in an effort to escape their captors. Stark uses the armor to escape, but Yin Sen dies in the attempt. So Stark uses the Mark I armor to blow up the enemy encampment, and flies off to rejoin the US forces, where he meets pilot James "Rhodey" Rhodes along the way.

The Iron Man Armor

Tony Stark has a workshop full of power suits, variants of the original Iron Man Armor as he constantly upgrades them, or creates one to fulfill a particular mission.

By default though, the Iron Man Armor gives Tony Stark protection against physical attack (i.e. most small arms fire) and energy attacks (via a force field), enhanced strength, the power of flight, life support, and an array of sensors and high-tech weaponry.

His main weapons are his repulsor rays (coming from his gloves), and the chestplate-mounted unibeam (which was originally just a spotlight, but in time has become a light-based weapon).

If you want more information on all the Iron Man armors, you can read up on Wikipedia here.

We continue our discussions on our favorite armored superhero with "Everything You Need To Know About Iron Man, Part 2", which you can read all about right here.

Cheers, everyone!