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Iron Man is a 2008 film directed by Jon Favreau and based on the comic book character of the same name and first of the Earth-2021538 Marvel Cinematic Universe and set up the Avengers film franchise and grossed $582.5 million in the Box Office and made Iron Man popular that they had even announced the release date for the Avengers.

A sequel to the film, titled Iron Man 2, was released on May 2, 2010 with The Avengers released on May 4, 2012 and Iron Man 3 released on May 3, 2013.

Plot[]

The film opens up on who Tony Stark is and then it shows his life on with his life with his father Howard. It shows how Tony built a circuit board at age eight and programmed a game at 10, and explains that despite his glorious life as a child, he never got true appreciation from his father and is his only phobia known. Then it shows some flashbacks where Tony explains he mostly spent time with his father's butler, Edwin Jarvis with who helped get through his life, and shows how he has created the AI J.A.R.V.I.S. who has his voice and is named after him, though "J.A.R.V.I.S." is also an acronym for "Just a Rather Intelligent System" and shows how the A.I. at an interview can control his house with a passcode and has the ability to change the color of the windows as at night it's black and at day it's transparent.

After the logo, it cuts to the military base where Colonel James Rhodes, a fan of Stark, suggests to General Thaddeus Ross that the new weapons demonstrator should be Tony Stark. Ross asks if Stark is creating a weapon strong enough to take on the Hulk, though Rhodes denies this and Ross says there's no purpose though James says that it may have the ability to do so. Ross agrees so and calls it for a few days later. That day, Stark is driving to his airport with his bodyguard Happy Hogan and to his private plan where he flies to Afghanistan where he begins telling how the Jericho will defeat any terrorist and while Rhodes is awestruck, Ross asks why he's so excited as Stark is not even mentioning the Hulk though James says Thaddeus shouldn't always bring up the Hulk.

The missile is released and launches tiny rockets inside of it and drop on the mountains and explode, blowing off the hats of the soldiers. Stark then walks up to his drink container where he grabs a drink and says "for peace", while also thanking how he's not an alcoholic. As he takes a drink he walks into a vehicle with Rhodes upset that he won't be able to go into the same vehicle. While driving, Tony is surprised by how everyone is silent though a soldier says they can talk, with Stark doing some comedic commentary and while the soldier next to him requests a picture, they do so with Stark telling no gang signs and after another soldier takes the picture, he notices an object flying in flames in the background and when he turns around he sees it it eventually blows up the vehicle, as it was a missile. Stark is blown from the vehicle and is injured with every other soldier being killed. He soon gets unconscious from the blast and notices the blood on his chest while being taken by some people.

He ends up waking up inside of a cave where he is surrounded by other people wearing the same uniform. They are the Ten Rings terrorists and notice that Tony is about to die and they call in Dr. Yinsen, who arrives and plants an electromagnet into his chest. As Tony wakes up, he finds his chest with the electromagnet and is traumatized. He asks who Yinsen is and what he did, and the doctor explains that he removed the shrapnel grafted in his chest though there is still a lot left and that he removed as much as he was able to. The billionaire asks where he is, and Yinsen explains that they're in the lair of the terrorists known as the Ten Rings and then the latter arrives and tell how they need Stark to recreate the Jericho personally for them. Tony refuses and the leader, Raza, tells that he will easily remove the electromagnet from his chest and let him die if he doesn't build the missile he asks why him and not another company like Advanced Idea Mechanics or Roxxon and Raza tells how they've been collecting all of his weapons with the Jericho being the only one omitted as it is the latest weapon. Even more shocked by this, Tony begins losing hope after the Ten Rings leave him with five months to build the missile and he says that the shrapnel or Ten Rings will kill him in a week and Yinsen says how it will then be the most important week of his life.

Stark then demands that the recourses he needs to build the missile using old missile parts and disassembling it and assembling it, mixing it with Palladium and builds a blue core instead. Yinsen says how it doesn't look like a missile and Tony says that he's building a miniature version of the arc reactor which was something he learned from his father who built a larger version back in the United States. Yinsen is surprised and says that it could power his heart for ninety lifetimes though Stark reveals that he is making more; revealing some blueprints that he used to sketch his project. It is a metal suit a body armor that could aid them in their escape, and they eventually began building and add rocket boots to enable flight. As Tony finishes forging the mask, soon the Ten Rings arrive and Raza takes a look at the mask,stating that missiles don't have masks and notices the arc reactor in Stark's chest. He says that it will save his life from the shrapnel with Raza saying that the Reactor and the armor is a new stage of weaponry and don't trust him anymore because they wouldn't build a better stage of weapons than the Jericho for the terrorists and believes that they are planning to escape, with Stark saying that these weapons are for the Ten Rings and says that he and Yinsen won't be able to go beyond the mountains of the Afghan desert. Raza says that Tony smells like guilt and tells that he and Dr.Yinsen have one more day to build the missile.

They are continuing work and they are adding the finishing touches to the suit. Meanwhile, the Ten Rings hear the two captives talking on their TV Screens and send a few terrorists to kill them as they know that they are hiding something from them. However, they have finishing the suit and are hooking it up to Stark, who is missing from their TV Screens and tell the soldier to find them both. With Tony hiding behind the wall in the armor, Yinsen is charging the armor and realizes that their time is up and one of the terrorists who walked up is killed by Tony's and Yinsen's makeshift bomb. Then Yinsen grabs his gun and runs out of the open cell firing the gun but is stopped by the entire group. As the doctor is about to fire the gun, he realizes that he is out of ammo and Raza uses his own gun to shoot Yinsen to the ground before sending his troops to get Stark. With the suit charged, the armored Stark is banging his way out by knocking on the doors heavily in front of the terrorists and breaks them breaking them before knocking down the troopers with his suit bulletproof.

One of them temporarily escapes and tells Raza that "Stark is an Ironman." to which Stark takes the moniker and as the terrorist shoots him he makes a suicidal mistake and is killed, but while Raza grabs one of his weapons Stark gets to Yinsen, who says on his deathbed that his family is dead and he will join them, and wishes that Stark not waste his life.

Iron Man then puts his mask back on and enraged is loading his arm's rocket launcher to shoot the leader of the Ten Rings, who first launches his rocket though Iron Man dodges it and shoos his own rocket and knocking out Raza. He thanks to the dead Yinsen before walking out of the cave, where he is shocked to see that he is surrounded by the Ten Rings who are weak as they simply shoot bullets that bounce off, though they fire at the same time which causes however pieces of Iron Man's suit to bounce off of his body after he had destroyed the Stark Industries weapons stolen by them, and then gives the Ten Rings a missile that blows up the camp while he flies out of it, though the militants have survived by running back into the cave. As Tony is fly8ing off home, his armor is running out of fuel and crash lands, where Tony is left with only the jacket under his now-destroyed suit. He walks out of the ruin where he runs across the hill, begging for help and he is now thirsty. He notices one helicopter flying above him and throws the peace sign to show that he is on their side. The helicopter lands, with Rhodes revealed to be the pilot. He saves Stark and the latter thanks him for being the one there for him, with Rhodes flattered, with Tony accidently calling him "Rhodey" and apologizes for it though James says that Stark can call him that. As they chat, Rhodes gives Stark a water bottle to feed his thirst with Tony is saying that it's great. As they chat, they become fast friends with Stark appointing him the liaison between the US Army and Stark Industries as they return home, with Happy giving Stark a ride, saying that he needs a burger from Burger King because it always makes him feel better than always.

They arrive to the press conference with Obadiah and Rhodes present. Tony announces that the company will no longer make weapons which shocks Stane. Stark says that it is because of him witnessing the deaths of thousands at the hands of terrorists and walks out of the building with also Rhodes shocked with Tony having Happy have his back so no one from the press would follow him into the Arc Station he's going into, where is also his father's Arc Reactor. However, Stane is allowed to pass by Happy and as he walks in he discusses what he announced at the conference. Stark says that they should go back to arc reactor technology which Stane disapproves saying that it was a publicity stunt. Stark says that he finally has his eyes open before he unbuttons his shirt and reveals his arc reactor with Obadiah impressed, saying that it could be the key to making new weapons though Tony disagrees stating that it is rather the key to making new non-weapon technology with Stane thinking that is lame, saying that they're a team and must work together whenever Tony needs him or simply help.

Stark then returns home to his workshop where he once again puts J.A.R.V.I.S. to use, as he activates the house and welcomes his master back home. Tony says needs to build a better heart with the AI saying he is confused and Stark shows the R.T. Node in his chest, with J.A.R.V.I.S. scanning it and surprised. Stark says that he is making a new project with boots to begin, with his AI butler believing that his master is having trouble walking following his kidnapping and says that it's not for walking, but rather flying revealing that he has escaped with a metal suit under the name Iron Man and is planning to defeat his new enemies as they still have his weapons, but first things first, #1 thing is flying as his escape was successful but flight to home was not and it needs to be better. Happy walks into the room and needs to talk to Tony, who tells J.A.R.V.I.S. to temporarily shut down the project as it is secret to hide it from his loyal chauffeur. Happy says that Obadiah may be wrong as actually he used to be a boxer before working for Stark Industries, and claims it is kind of like how his boss is trying to change a weapons company into something saying that "everything changes", inspiring Tony to continue what he plans to do next with his company with Tony saying that sounds great and says that he needs to rush to his new friend Rhodey to ensure that they're still friends.

He gets into his car and into the military plane hangar where he finds Rhodey instructing a few airmen on aerial vehicles before being interrupted by Tony who says that he needs him for his project, with Rhodes saying that he's currently busy and thinks that it might be Tony simply being worried that after his announcement he thinks they might not be friends anymore though he says that the two are still friends though Stark needs to get his mind straight.

As he returns home, he has a 3D Printer with his robot Dum-E designing the armor, with him using jet boots and handheld devices to attempt to fly, but crashes into the wall instead realizing he needs a better flight stabilizer creating ones wrapped around his arms, now being able to better fly and has finally mastered the skill. But a few days later as he attempts to put the suit on, J.A.R.V.I.S. clarifies that the arc reactor in hiss chest may power the Mark I suit from the cave, it will not power the new Mark II Armor with Tony building a new ARC Reactor with Dum-E and other robots helping him surgically remove the old one to the add the new one, though they fail and as Dum-E attempts to remove it with no avail, Tony grabs the phone and hears from Rhodes that apparently Stark Industries is having an accounting problem, with him shocked, and orders his robots to stop the operation and walks back to work where he finds a redhead woman attempting to fix it. He asks who she is, and she says that her name is Virginia Potts. Tony calls her "Pepper" and she says Tony is trying to flirt with her, and he laughs at her attempt to help n=but she fixes the problem.

Impressed, Tony hires her and promotes her to his personal assistant introducing her to Rhodes, Stane, and Happy who begins to "kind of" like her with Tony introducing her all the time as "Pepper", and though she doesn't like the name she says she will have to stick to it. She asks what is her first assignment is and Stark says that it is "kind of" weird, and he takes off his shirt, revealing the arc reactor explaining that he would die in a minute if she doesn't quickly insert the new Arc Reactor though she does so but quite disturbed, saying that Tony shouldn't ask her for something like that again though he says he can only get help like that from her. As she leaves Stark is preparing the armor.

Meanwhile back in Afghanistan, the Ten Rings terrorists are collecting pieces of the original suit and as Raza orders his obviously tired men to work, one of them finds Iron Man's mask which Raza grabs shortly before all the parts are assembled into the armor, with the only piece absent is the Arc Reactor which is in Stark's possession.

Back to Stark, as he flies into the sky outside of his home, he attempts to break the record of the SR-71 Blackbird though J.A.R.V.I.S. states that though Tony decided not to diagnose the suit at first, breaking the SR-71's record will not be safe enough as the suit is covered by a large buildup of ice and begins crashing down. Iron Man breaks the ice by using the suit's flaps but while flying safely back home, J.A.R.V.I.S. accidently crashes him through the house and he falls on his car, before Dum-E sprays him with the fire extinguisher as he calms down.

While he is continuing to work on the suit's upgrades, he suggests gold-titanium alloy as the new material for the armor instead of iron, which colors the suit gold. Unimpressed by the armor's natural coloring, he decides to add some red to the suit and then hear on his television that a reporter is discussing how at a Stark Industries party Tony himself is not invited with discussions related to him possibly having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Stark has J.A.R.V.I.S. supervise his robots into assembling the Mark III Armor while he has to get to the party and drives in his sports car over there where he is greeted and adored by many of his fans who are present. As he walks over to Obadiah, Obadiah explains that Tony has been locked out by the Board of Directors as they've also been losing millions from cancellation of the weapons, and the fixing of the accounting issue by Pepper does not make it better. Stark argues with him that he's doing what's right with Stane offering him some work on the Arc Reactor technology and also how he's been working on a secret project. Tony says he works alone and then walks into the building top grab a drink.

As he does, he notices Pepper wearing a dress and is impressed by her. As he looks at her, she is dancing with Happy which disappoints him. That moment, he is approached by a formal man who tells Stark they need to debrief him on his kidnapping, though he says that the CIA and DOD did that though Coulson says that he is part of a secret agency; the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.) with Stark saying that he and Potts will have to do that, with Coulson also warning him that apparently the Ten Rings are being shipped his weapons including the Jericho with Tony shocked, saying he has no clue though Phil says the company shipped them, with Stark getting suspicious of Stane, who tries to shrug it off by posing with Tony in front of the pictures by the people outside who were also interviewing him. Stane then hints that he did it while also claiming that he locked him out of the Board before leaving; with Tony shocked. The next day he is watching his TV which is discussing how the Ten Rings are using his weapons in Afghanistan and executing many people with the specific location being Gulmira, which is Yinsen's village. While remembering his promise to Yinsen, he is wearing his armor's Repulsor glove with which he shoots the glass of his workshop where after this he dons the armor and flies to Afghanistan.


Arriving there, he knocks and shoots down the terrorists while also noticing how Raza is making an escape inside of one of his trucks. As he drives off, Iron Man having defeated the terrorists that he was battling flies after the truck only to be shot down by a tank that knocks him to the ground. He gets up and evades it's next missile, launching his suit's own, and blows up the tank while confronting the other terrorists who are created as a distraction, and while the bullets are bouncing off of his suit, Iron Man then uses his repulsors to destroy one of his missile which knocks out those troopers.

He then flies off after the truck though there are too much that he is losing track of them with Raza looking out the window at Iron Man and relieved that he got away. Iron Man then while flying in the sky is accidently caught by two F-22 Raptor jets who mistake him for an unmanned areal vehicle with one of the analyst saying that Iron Man is technology far too advanced for the military with Major calling Rhodes for help. As he watching the event, he decides to call Tony who attempts to hide his identity by claiming that he is driving in his car with Rhodes breaking out the news on what is happening in the warzone. Tony calls him again to ensure something with Rhodes asking why he is heavily breathing; with Stark saying that he is jogging after driving to a canyon.

Meanwhile, in reality Stark is attempting to evade the jets whereas he hides under one of their bellies but a warning from the other pilot has him shaken off. Stark then uses flares to escape but is about to get defeated and realizes to only way to stop the attack is reveal his secret identity to Rhodes who at first thinks Tony is sending his equipment though he then states how he is piloting the Iron Man Armor, shocking him.

With Rhodes now trying to stop the attack, Iron Man had already hit a plane's wing accidently destroying and causing the plane to go down. He ejects but won't be able to land safely as he is unable to open the parachute though Iron Man flies to it and rips it out, opening the chute and allowing the pilot to safely land, with Iron Man telling Rhodes to pass off the incident as a training exercise while the soldiers are happy about the saving of the day and believing that Iron Man was destroyed.

At home, Pepper and Happy talk about how they were dancing together and claim how fun it was with Pepper saying she likes Happy a little, flattering him and as Pepper says she needs to return to Tony, she finds her boss removing the Iron Man suit with him saying it will not be the worst thing she will find him doing with her shocked.

Meanwhile James is doing a report on the news about the incident with Iron Man saying what Tony wanted him to say with Obadiah watching it at the comfort of his home and he leaves the house, disappointed that the Ten Rings wouldn't kill Stark by now.

He then arrives to Afghanistan to confront Raza over what happened with Raza as his face was disfigured from the end of Iron Man's kidnapping, with Stane saying that if he killed Tony already he would still have the half of his face. He tells him to meet each other at their tent where Raza shows the original Iron Man suit built with Yinsen, claiming that Stark made a masterpiece of death and says that they should make a deal if Stane would take the armor and says that he has a magical ring and that the Mandarin will rise again though Stane instead paralyzes Raza with his device and eventually takes the armor.

Inside of the tent Obadiah walked out of, Raza though paralyzed falls on the ground and slowly grabs his phone sending a message to someone. However, Obadiah orders his bodyguards to kill the Ten Rings terrorists, and as they do so one of them walks into the tent with Raza who realizes he is doomed and he is killed off-screen with gunshots before the phone falls on the ground with the screen reading message received.

Next, Tony is working on tweaks to his suit where Pepper approaches him. He tells her that he believes Obadiah may be the one who has shipped the weapons and gives her a flash drive to hack into Obadiah's computer. However, Pepper refuses, saying that Tony will get himself killed if continues going out as Iron Man and Tony says that he is doing the right thing claiming that when he was kidnapped, the explosion of the vehicle should have killed him like everyone else inside it, unless there was a reason to keep him alive and stating that this is the reason. Pepper drops the drive saying that Tony is the worst boss ever and that she's leaving with Happy from the company. Tony is even more disappointed that he lost his new friend and is jealous of her new relationship with Happy continues to work on the suit. Depressed, he decides to call Rhodes, as the two are still friends.

After this, Pepper walks into Happy's office and says that Tony is acting strange and that the best option is to leave the company and be a couple that will do whatever they want with Happy once again having that feeling and they go. After a resignation, Potts decides to put a drive into the computer anyway in Obadiah's computer and finds out that Obadiah hired the Ten Rings to kill Tony but they refused because they weren't paid enough to do the job.

Pepper rushes Happy out of the office saying that they should escape the nonsense and that Tony doesn't need them anymore and while they drive out of the building, Obadiah inside meanwhile visits the Arc Station where his scientists are building his Iron Monger Armor and asks how they're doing, though the lead scientist says that the problem is that they are unable to minimize the Arc Reactor and though Stane even shouts at them angrily how Tony used poor quality items as recourses to build that though the scientist states he simply does not possess Tony Stark's high intellect.

Obadiah decides to walk to Tony's house where while he is about to meet Rhodey at his couch, he is paralyzed by Obadiah's device that he previously used, and another one to remove the ARC Reactor from Tony's chest and tells him that building weapons was the best priority that Tony could come up with, as his father was famous for building the atomic bomb and without that there are problems in the world, even saying that he will save the company from his greed and says he needs the arc reactor to power his own prototype suit based on his but more advanced, and leaves Tony to die.

Obadiah walks into the room of Stark Industries where the Iron Monger suit was built, where he first plugs in the Reactor into the chest, also looking at his security cameras, keeping an eye on many people tied in with the company and while having gotten rid of Tony, he is spying on Pepper and Happy, driving in one of Tony's limos, noting that "the girl" is what Tony loves most and donning the suit while also walking out. However, the room is covered by many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents about to arrest him, but he walks out and with his strength kills them except for Coulson, who is contacting "Director Fury, this is bigger than we have ever imagined".

Iron Monger hears this and turns around to see, but Coulson has hid from his hiding spot. He then continues to walk out of the facility and meanwhile as Pepper and Happy are driving off, Iron Monger grabs the car and Pepper screams. After this, Iron Monger then destroys the car but they survive. Pepper then grabs her phone to warn Rhodes.

Meanwhile, Rhodes is driving on his way to Tony's house and receives the call. He is warned of Obadiah's betrayal and she tells him that Tony is going to die. As he drives to the mansion meanwhile inside, Tony has crawled off of the couch though still paralyzed and walks down to his workshop where he is planning to grab the original arc reactor Pepper preserved for him. He is unable to grab it, and Dum-E accidently throws it off of the table though only the glass container breaks as just as Rhodes arrives, he finds Tony lying on the ground and is confused, but is able to successfully install the Arc Reactor into Tony's chest. Tony asks where Pepper is, and his friend explains that she's been captured by Obadiah.

After this, Tony suits up with Rhodes watching and thinking that it's the coolest thing he's ever seen. Iron Man then walks off and is about to blast from the roof. Rhodes asks if he can help in a way, and Iron Man tells him to keep away the military this time, with Rhodes looking at the prototype version of the armor, and decides to put it on, and flies out.

As Iron Monger is about to kill Pepper and Happy on the streets are crushing her phone, Iron Man arrives to fight, but since his original arc reactor does not power the new suit he is outnumbered and then Rhodes arrives, but his suit does not have any weapons and isn't strong enough to battle. Then, Iron Monger, having knocked out Iron Man and Rhodes, flies to Stark Industries where he throws them in and traps them inside as they are unable to escape or exit.

Iron Man, then is getting beat up again, but then flies into the sky but discovers that Iron Monger can fly as well, with Iron Man deciding to trick him into chasing him as Stane's armor wouldn't withstand the icing. As Iron Man flies into the sky, he requests J.A.R.V.I.S. to fly to the highest he can, with Iron Monger chasing after him and Rhodes flying up as well.

However, Iron Man's arc reactor is getting drained and meanwhile, Rhodes' armor freezes as he crashes onto the Stark building, and Iron Monger getting iced up finally grabs Iron Man, who recalls Stane telling him that his suit is far more advanced, and asking him how it would fix the icing problem, with Stane confused as he is confused and knocked out of the sky by Iron Man, whose power has run out and crashes onto the same building, where he decides to walk into to save Pepper and is removing his armor and telling Rhodes to do the same, but at the time Iron Monger lands and knocks down Iron Man after he is distracted by noticing that his Repulsor glove had been removed but doesn't fall off the building and has Rhodes assist him in the fight, and with him in the fight Iron Man briefly steps away from the battle to blast the roof and door Pepper and Happy are in front of, telling her to walk into the lab and overload the large ARC Reactor and as she walks in, she tells the scientists that the place is evacuated and that Obadiah's suit has gone haywire, before planning to use her elbow to pretend that she accidently pressed the button and meanwhile atop the building, Iron Man is thrown back into the battle and he hides behind Iron Monger before jumping on his back and ripping out his circuitry though as he crawls on it, Iron Monger grabs him in front and is about to rip him in half, though some of the removed circuitry from the armor shuts down a few of the systems, with Iron Man laughing and then blasting him and escaping his grasp. During that time, Pepper pushes the button with the overload knocking out the three armored warriors and Iron Man and Rhodes both cling onto the roof while Obadiah is electrocuted and falls into the building, causing an explosion though Pepper evacuates the scientists, Happy, and Phil just as it explodes.

The next day, Tony is reading the newspaper where he is named "Iron Man" which is what he is called, approving it though the armor is really a gold-titanium alloy. Pepper is helping him with his scratches from the fight with Coulson saying that there is a cover-up story that states that Iron Man is his bodyguard and when Tony says that there is nothing about Stane, Coulson says that the cover story for him is that he died in a plane crash while on vacation.

Tony is having his tie getting fixed up by Pepper as they talk to each other with Tony saying it'd be great if he had a wife, and as they talk they begin leaning in for a kiss but are interrupted by Happy, with the moment being temporarily awkward before he tells Tony to arrive to the press conference which he does so and as it witnessed by Pepper and Happy on TV, Tony is saying that he will stick the cards that were given to him, claiming that there is no way he is a hero like Iron Man, as he caused too much trouble and mistakes in the past, and then Rhodes whispers into his ear to stick to the cards.

Tony then reads the cards, but instead of following them, he instead reveals that he is Iron Man which shocks all of the reporters as they all rise up from their seats with Tony smiling.

Post-Credits Scene[]

After the conference that night, Tony returns home where he is approached by a man who tells how Stark is Iron Man before stepping out of the shadows and revealing himself to be Nick Fury who reveals that Iron Man is "not the only superhero in the world", wanting to discuss the Avengers Initiative.

Cast[]

  • Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
  • Don Cheadle as James "Rhodey" Rhodes
  • Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger
  • Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia "Pepper" Potts
  • Farin Tahir as Raza
  • Shaun Toub as Yinsen
  • Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson
  • William Hurt as General Thaddeus Ross
  • Paul Bettany as voice of J.A.R.V.I.S., Edwin Jarvis; uncredited
  • Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan
  • Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark; uncredited
  • Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury; uncredited

Production[]

After a bankrupt Marvel sold it's superhero rights to many movie companies in the 1990s, Iron Man was an absence as he was an obscure character whose rights were changed to many companies from Universal Studios to New Line Cinema, who failed to make the film after two years and gave the rights back to Marvel in 2006, beginning it's true production.

Iron Man was decided in 2005 to be Marvel's first choice for their independent Cinematic Universe after a deal to make solo films to introduce the Avengers before the crossover was released; and however problems arose when Marvel was unable to cast a director as they were uninterested since the character was not as popular a other heroes like the Hulk.

In April of 2006, Jon Favreau was hired to direct , and the same year in September Robert Downey Jr. was casted to play Iron Man though Favreau wanted a newcomer in the role. Tony Stark was also inspired by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and had fit the role from his past life.

Originally, the villain was going to be the Mandarin, though Favreau found the character to be too unrealistic. He also wanted to choose the Crimson Dynamo until Jeff Bridges was cast, as the actor was casted as Obadiah Stane whom Favreau wanted to be in the sequel even though the Mandarin was referenced by the terrorist organization the Ten Rings, where in the comics they were based in Vietnam but it was changed to Afghanistan to make the movie modern.

Favreau, after also starring in the 2003 Marvel movie Daredevil, decided to star in Iron Man as Happy Hogan. The film also made Iron Man popular.

Critical Reception[]

Iron Man was met with positive reviews among critics and was given a 91% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the reading "Powered by Robert Downey Jr.'s vibrant charm, Iron Man turbo-charges the superhero genre with a deft intelligence and infectious sense of fun". The movie is also known to be "Spectacular" and Downey's performance as the title character was praised, and so was Jeff Bridges as his role earned him the title of one of the greatest comic movie villains of all time.

Trivia[]

  • Thaddeus Ross in the comics is a villain from the series The Incredible Hulk and the film the Hulk is mentioned whom is currently hunted by Ross. Ross returns and the Hulk debuts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's next film, The Incredible Hulk.
  • The film gave the idea of the arc reactor as the pacemaker Stark uses; in the comics it was a simple chest plate that was put onto Stark's chest with a circle in the middle and in this film the circle is an Arc Reactor in the film. As well, the Arc Reactor later appears in modern comics of Earth-616.
  • Instead of a boobytrap, Stark is kidnapped thanks to a bomb thrown onto the vehicle he is in along some military soldiers.
  • This version of Yinsen is Afghan rather than Chinese.
  • In the comics the kidnapper is Vietnamese terrorist Wong-Chu, who is replaced by an Afghan named Raza who replaces Chu as the terrorist leader in the modern retelling of Iron Man's Earth-616 origin which also gives more movie-accuracy by having it take place in Afghanistan as well instead of Vietnam.
  • Obadiah Stane in this universe is a former employee of Stark Industries but in the source material he is the CEO of his own company rival to Stark.
  • Though originally J.A.R.V.I.S. was a human butler named Edwin Jarvis, the change was made by Favreau to avoid differences between the Marvel character and Alfred from DC Comics' Batman, who was another butler. However, Edwin Jarvis does appear in the movie's opening flashbacks.
  • Tony meets Pepper and Rhodey only after he became Iron Man, which is what happens in the comics. However, the same happens with Happy in the comics thoug in the film he is with Stark before he becomes Iron Man, as the film was "running out of" people working for him at the movie's beginning.
  • Phil Coulson is an entirely original character created for the movie.
  • Though it makes sense that Stark would name himself Iron Man due to simply adopting the nickname used by one of the terrorists, it is unknown why he didn't rename himself "Gold-Titanium Alloy-Man" after using the new source of metal, but is possible that he got used to and preferred the Iron Man name, as after the name is also used by the public at the end of the movie he says that he likes the name.
  • Stan Lee, the co-creator of Iron Man, makes a cameo at the party scene where he is met by Tony who tells him "Lookin' good Heff."
  • It was unknown who Raza was contacting before his death, though it was rumored that it was the Mandarin, who in the comics is the leader of the Ten Rings. In December of 2012, it was confirmed that it was indeed the Mandarin who appears as the main antagonist of Iron Man 3.
  • Pepper, Tony's love interest, is apparently ending up in a relationship with Happy like in the comics in which they later also end up getting married. At the end of the film the love triangle between the three begins when Tony and Pepper nearly kiss as it was confirmed in Iron Man 2.
  • Jon Favreau decided not to adapt the famous storyline Demon in a Bottle as this movie was rather an origin story though it was confirmed to be for Iron Man 2.
  • At the movie's final battle, Rhodey himself becomes a hero by donning the other Iron Man suit, which happens in the comics, but with a major difference being that unlike the comics he never adopts the superhero alias "War Machine".
  • There is a scene in the comics where Pepper attempts to fix Iron Man's damaged chest. It was remade in the movie where it was Rhodey instead of Pepper, who had to install the arc reactor into Tony's chest.
  • Coulson contacts the then-unseen SHIELD Director Nick Fury while confronting Iron Monger who later cameos in the post credits scene. The character is played by Samuel L. Jackson, who was the physical inspiration for the Earth-1610 version of Fury years before the film came out.
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