Above: Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man
2008’s “Iron Man” was, and
still is, a good movie. In fact, it’s a great movie: fun, funny, energetic,
visually interesting, and all of it spearheaded by Jon Favreau’s excellent
direction and a career-redefining leading role from Robert Downey Jr. But it
was also more than that: for comic book fans like myself, it was a
justification that our hobby could make it to film with the respect,
grandiosity, and sheer glee that it deserved. And also, for regular moviegoers,
it was the shape of things to come.
Comic book movies have had an interesting ride over the
past few decades. 1989’s “Batman” proved that the Caped Crusader could be as
dark on film as readers believed he should be, and he continued to be a pop
culture force for the next decade…until 1997’s “Batman and Robin,” the
humiliating fourth installment of the franchise, killed the reputation of comic
book movies.
Then,
a few years later, DC Comics’ distinguished competition came along. In the
early 2000s, Marvel delivered the one-two-three punch of the action-horror
feature “Blade,” the drab but undeniably comic-booky “X-Men,” and the
fantastical “Spider-Man” (also, “Hulk” happened). Marvel, along with Sony and
Fox, proved that comic book movies were here to stay, so much so that DC threw
its hat back in the ring with works like “Batman Begins” and “Superman Returns.”
But
Marvel had a loftier ambition: to bring comic book style continuity to the big
screen, merging their vast array of universes and characters together into one
big story. And the first step in their plan was “Iron Man”.
I saw “Iron Man” twice in the theatres. The first time
was an 8 o’clock Thursday showing before the film’s Friday release, at
Seattle’s massive Cinerama. Most of the attendees were diehard fans of the
comics like myself, who had heard conflicting rumors about post-credits scenes
(which by now have become a staple for Marvel Studios releases). After the
credits rolled and those of us that stuck around had stuck around, the screen
came alive with our protagonist, Tony Stark, returning home to his lavish
Malibu mansion. The following is my recollection of how that scene played out:
Tony Stark:
Jarvis.
JARVIS: Welcome home, Sir. [Jarvis cuts out]
[Tony notices a figure by the window
looking outside. He sounds like Samuel L. Jackson.]
Unknown Man:
"I am Iron Man." You’ve… [The
rest of the dialogue is drowned out by wild screams from the audience]
Stark: …the hell are you?
Unknown Man:
[appears in light] Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Audience: [More screaming, then shushing.]
Fury: I'm here to talk to
you about the Avenger Initiative.
[Audience proceeds to E-X-P-L-O-D-E, me
among them.
In
those moments, Nick Fury promised to make comic book fans’ dreams come true:
he, and to a larger extent Kevin Feige and the rest of the good folks at Marvel
Studios, would make the ideal Avengers movie a reality.
Six years later and that dream has been realized, and
then some. “The Avengers” (which combined the adventures of Marvel heroes
including Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, the Hulk, and more) came out and
made all the money ever, and Marvel’s Phase II line-up of movies is well
underway. Beyond that, every other studio with a comic book property is doing
their best to catch up, with Warner Bros. struggling to improve upon the
formula with their Batman/Superman/Justice League projects and Sony planning on
giving the Spider-Man villains their own damn movie because those are all the
characters they have the rights to. However, I doubt they will top Marvel’s
king-of-the-hill status; after all, Marvel did it first, and thus far, they’ve
done it best.
That is why “Iron Man” was more than a movie; it was a
statement of purpose. It was Marvel Studios planting their flag firmly in the
dirt, saying “This is who we are, these are the movies we make, this is the
world we’re building, and this is the shape of things to come.” It was a promise, one that they kept with
gusto.
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