Iron Man

• Directed by Jon Favreau
• April 14, 2008 (Sydney) / May 2, 2008 (US)
• Based on Iron Man created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby

Following his escape from a group of terrorists, industrialist and engineer Tony Stark builds a mechanized suit of armor and becomes the hero Iron Man.

Iron Man is a classic superhero film. Not because it was the first in the MCU but because it’s a well-crafted superhero film with a distinct feel from the other early Marvel films. It’s about the character and the growth they go through. Tony is not instantly capable of being a hero but learns with the climax of the movie being the culmination of all of those lessons.

Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) is the dark opposite of Tony Stark (RDJ). He is as evil as Tony is good. Admittedly Tony Stark is no saint, but he is a far better person than Obadiah Stane is. Bridges is truly one of the greats of Hollywood. He’s played heroes and hippies and slimeballs. His Obadiah Stane does not start out as overtly evil. He’s able to put on a face and convince you he’s one of the good guys. 

Tony Stark is a complex character and Robert Downey Jr. gave it has all. More importantly Tony Stark was not a plot device as he often was in later movies. He’s a genuine character that experiences growth and change during the course of the story. You feel Tony’s highs and lows and have sympathy for his struggle. His chemistry with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow)-his Girl Friday-is spot on. She provides the compass and sounding board that Tony needs. She along with Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Terrence Howard) who accept him and his flaws form a mental chorus for the character to hash out things and analyze himself.

Others have sacrificed for him and he’s been a bastard for so much of his life. When he’s wounded the only thing that saves him is his brain but he cannot save everyone. Early on that is established which creates doubt on success down the road. It’s a given Iron Man is going to succeed, but by an early failure you are always questioning how he will succeed.

Iron Man was done at a time when the Marvel movies tended to reflect the comics rather than the comics reflect the movies. This digs deep into the Iron Man lore and if I remember correctly neither Happy Hogan nor Pepper Potts had been used in the comics for quite some time yet they are integral or just significant depending on how you look at it to the workings of this movie. Stane had been decisively dead for a decade or so. Rhodey on the other hand had been around as either Iron Man or War Machine on and off for several decades. There is even a passing reference to Iron Man’s number one villain The Mandarin who unfortunately was turned into a joke in Iron Man 3.

Tony steps into the role of hero and becomes a better person by the end of the film. He has learned that his shallow life has been, well, shallow. He finds purpose in doing good and using his mind to better the world. In this case in the form of Iron Man. In other words he has a hero’s journey. The story is not about cool scenes but about Tony Stark’s evolution. There’s more time spent on Tony mastering his new technology than there is on the physical conflict between Obadiah Stane and Tony. At least the fighting aspect. That is a payoff to the whole film.

Not only was this done in the time before Marvel was taxing the effects production capabilities of Hollywood but what we see is done to tell the story and not for cool visuals. By default to tell the story they accidentally get to cool looking moments. The suit alone is just cool whether it’s the one used in the cave to escape or the one you see in the final conflict or even Obadiah Stane’s suit. 

Like some of the best storylines in comics, it mixes real world events and understandable human motivations. You may not be a billionaire genius playboy, but you can understand living in your father’s shadow or the character flaws that Tony has or the frustration that Pepper has. Because of this even the corporate intrigue gets interesting because it matters to the characters. It’s not just background noise.

This is also an expert class in filmmaking. Director Jon Favreau doesn’t make it obvious but there’s a natural progression towards the final conflict. The hero and villain are put on that path early on with important elements laid out during the course of the story. At no point does it look like the hero is guaranteed success.

These days Marvel films tend to be very jokey. The jokes often undermine the story or the excitement or the tension. Here humor is part of the situation. It doesn’t knock down the character or anything a few pegs. It comes from Tony learning the ropes. We’ve all learned several new things in our time and once or twice have had instances where we messed up in a humorous way.

Iron Man is a great (super) hero’s journey story with enough special effects to tell the narrative they want but not effects to just simply be about effects. A classic and among the best.