oudeis on 11/9/2007 at 04:34

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OH RLY :laff:

My memory of Iron Man goes back to that cheesy 70s Marvel Cartoon series that alternated between Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, and Iron Man, starring John Vernon- that's Dean Wormer of Faber College to you Twerps!- as the voice of Tony Stark. I read the reprinted/reissued origin story before most of the people here were even born. I remember Stark losing the Iron Man Briefcase almost as often as Spider-Man ran out of web fluid.

I remember when he sank to the bottom of the bottle, lost control of Stark Industries/International/Enterprises (I'll confess I can't recall the exact name :nono: ), moved to LA, and founded a new company. I remember the climactic showdown with Obadiah Stane, aka 'The IronMonger', where Tony reclaimed his former company once and for all, and the grisly exit Stane chose over surrender. That led to in my opinion the coolest incarnation of IM, the red-and-silver armor, and my favorite story arc, when Tony Stark finds out his technology is now in the hands of criminal organizations like A.I.M. and super-powered villains and the US Government. He proceeds to go on a rampage, determined to destroy every bit of his work that's in out in the wild, even going so far as to attack and fucking pulverize a team of US super-agents using his gear. The Feds get pissed and send in a guy in this giant battlesuit packing everything including a tactical nuclear missile to take down Iron Man. Stark gets the shit bashed out of him until the nuke is inadvertently armed by one of his attacks, then saves the day by disarming the nuke, and, just for effect, tears the helmet off the Fed's suit just to let the punk inside know that he had been holding back during the fight. He lets everyone think the 'rogue' Iron Man was destroyed by a barrage of homing missiles and creates a brand-new version of the classic red-and-gold armor (Boo).

(Pre-post edit)Ginge- There was also a literal Black Iron Man, a black version of the armor that he used in stealth situations,and one with a huge clamp-on rocket booster he used for transcontinental flight.


So, just because Downey is a recovering alcoholic/pothead/pillhead whatever he is, ipso facto (or dipso facto in this case), automatically, even uniquely qualified to play Tony Stark, an occasionally relapsed alcoholic? What crap. How many actors that have portrayed serial killers are actual sociopaths themselves? Besides James Woods, I mean. Charlize Theron, a South African ballet dancer, portrayed Aileen Wuornos, a poor white trash psycho from Florida. Ed Harris is vehemently anti-military but his portrayal of the renegade Marine General in 'The Rock' was the best thing about the movie and fucking badass by any standard. Tom Cruise plays men who are attracted to women. It is neither necessary nor sufficient for an actor to share characteristics with the character he or she protrays.

My biggest complaint about what I saw of Iron Man, other than the cringe-inducing use of the Black Sabbath song, was how cynical, cold and smug Tony Stark seemed. This is of course done to make his inevitable metamorphosis to noble crusader more compelling, but how many times have we seen something like that before? It's cheap and obvious, and such a mechanical development you can almost see the conveyor belt it's riding on. Even if Downey was the best choice to play Iron Man, I'm far from convinced that Jon Favreau was the best choice to direct it.

oudeis on 11/9/2007 at 05:28

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The character of Tony Stark wasn't defined by alcoholism. His biggest struggle was actually trying to juggle his responsibilities as head of Stark Industries, his duties as Iron Man, and his desire for a viable personal life. The alcohol-abuse subthread made for some trite melodrama and little more, in my opinion.

Matthew on 11/9/2007 at 12:00

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But - Iron Man is a bit of a dick. He's a man who will do the right thing, true, but he's not amazingly picky about how he brings that result about. Cf: Civil War et al.

oudeis on 11/9/2007 at 14:33

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Ah, a fellow KK,BB devotee. Vale, Frater!

I never saw Stark as a dick. He manufactured munitions not because he didn't give a damn about human lives, but because he felt it was his duty to help the US. He had absolutely no qualms about amassing obscene amounts of money doing so, nor spending it in pursuit of wine, women and song, but he wasn't an amoral mercenary.

Also, one KK,BB fan to another, tell me that that scene in the IM trailer when Downey comes out of the cave in the prototype suit didn't you remind more than a little of the Protocop flashback scene in 'Kiss, Kiss'.

fett on 11/9/2007 at 15:05

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NOW it does.