Iron Man Review

It’s time to review Iron Man! The movie that set the MCU up for success and gave us one of arguably the most important characters, Tony Stark. Iron Man came out in 2008 and was one of the highest grossing films of that year. I first saw this movie on TV, not in the theater, and while I understood the film on a general level, having seen his entire story throughout the years has given me a deep appreciation for his character development in this film

First things first, did I cry? Not technically, though I did tear up several times. This was mainly because I was thinking about how far he’s come and watching him begin to develop into the incredible person he is was emotional. “I am Iron Man,” made me feel whole again, after Endgame. Overall, I felt a lot of feelings while watching the film and they’re hard to describe, but I didn’t cry. 

Second, let’s discuss the film overall! There were a lot of things I noticed or appreciated on a deeper level while watching the films. I actually took notes while watching so I could remember everything I felt was significant. Right away, I realized that I didn’t remember the beginning of the movie at all. I was actually confused until they caught up to the first scene. We got a quick background, general background of Tony’s success that doesn’t actually tell us much about him. We don’t learn much about him as a person until he is captured and tortured for three months. We see him realize that his company’s success comes largely from under-the-table dealings and he feels responsible for thousands of deaths. He feels accountable and doesn’t want his company to continue down this path. Once he escapes, he declares that his company will change for the better as he wants to do something good for society. However, and this baffled me, everyone around him wanted him to keep making weapons instead of listening to what he’s been through and trying to understand why he wants to change for the better. Not only does this film seriously address terrorism both outside and inside the States, it shows us why Tony is so desperate to protect others. He has seen how dark people can be, and does what he can to protect innocent people from those who seek to harm them. This film sets his story up well, and begins a serious journey of character development that brings up serious mental health issues that people deal with today. Tony Stark is an incredible character and this film is extremely well-done. 

Thirdly, some smaller details. Right away the original MARVEL logo came on screen and gave me some nostalgia. It was fun to be starting over and I’ll be tracking the logo to see when it changes. It was odd to see the original actor for Rhodey though, and I’m curious to know why he didn’t stick around because his character grew and became an important part of the Avengers. We also get the firstion mention of S.H.I.E.L.D.! Coulson had several scenes in the movie, and the end credit scene shows Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., coming to talk to Tony about the Avengers initiative. That was pretty cool.

Finally, let’s talk about easter-eggs! While on a technical level, there are a variety of small details that were put into the film, for a typical viewer of the film there are three easter-eggs to look out for. The first is the terrorist group, the Ten Rings, which pays tribute to the ten rings the Mandarin wears in the comics. I noticed this right away as the symbol we see in Iron Man 3 in the threat videos by the Mandarin. At the time, it was only an easter-egg because the filmmakers did not know where these movies would go or if the villain would ever be seen in one. The next easter-egg is a model of Captain America’s shield in the background of one of the scenes where Tony is getting the suit off. While it’s a subtle detail, it hints at the larger Marvel universe. It is seen again in Iron Man 2. The final easter-egg was the Stan Lee cameo! While it became a common occurrence in the films, it is a fun addition here for the fans of the comics. May he rest in peace. 

Thanks for reading! Check back next week for Iron Man 2!

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This post is sponsored by Podcasting Until Ragnarok, a new podcast I created that is inspired by this blog. It is available for free on Spotify, Anchor, and the Apple Podcast app!