Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man is a 2008 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and master engineer with a plethora of playboy vices who builds a powered exoskeleton and becomes the technologically advanced superhero, Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow plays his personal assistant Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard plays military liaison James Rhodes and Jeff Bridges plays Stark Industries executive Obadiah Stane.

The film was in development since 1990 at Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, and New Line Cinema, before Marvel Studios reacquired the rights in 2006. Marvel put the project in production as its first self-financed film. Favreau signed on as director, aiming for a naturalistic feel, and he chose to shoot the film primarily in California, rejecting the East Coast setting of the comics to differentiate the film from numerous superhero films set in New York City-esque environments. During filming, the actors were free to create their own dialogue because preproduction was focused on the story and action. Rubber and metal versions of the armors, created by Stan Winston’s company, were mixed with computer-generated imagery to create the title character.

Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures, the distributor, planned a $50 million marketing campaign for the film, which was modeled on Paramount’s successful promotion of Transformers; Hasbro and Sega sold merchandise, and product placement deals were made with Audi, Burger King, LG and 7-Eleven. Reviews were mostly positive, particularly praising Downey’s performance. Downey, Favreau and Paltrow will return in the sequel, scheduled for release on May 7, 2010. Downey also made a cameo appearance as Stark in The Incredible Hulk.

Plot

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) gambles at a Las Vegas casino, leaving his deceased father’s friend and business partner, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), to accept a prestigious award for him. As Stark leaves the casino with his entourage, he is approached by reporter Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb), whom he charms into a one-night stand at his Malibu house. When she awakens the next morning, Stark is gone and she is coldly greeted by Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), his personal assistant.

Stark flies off to war-torn Afghanistan with his friend and company military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes (Terrence Howard), for a demonstration of Stark Industries’ new weapon, the “Jericho” cluster missile. On the way back, however, his military convoy is attacked. In the firefight, his escort is wiped out and Stark himself is knocked unconscious by one of his own company’s bombs.

Waking up in an Afghan cave, he discovers an electromagnet embedded in his chest, placed there by fellow captive Dr. Yinsen (Shaun Toub). Powered by a car battery, it keeps shrapnel from working its way to his heart and killing him. Stark has been captured by a terrorist group known as the Ten Rings, whose leader orders him to build a Jericho missile for him.

Instead, during his three months of captivity, he and Yinsen begin secretly building a crude suit of armor, powered by a miniature “arc reactor” invented by Tony’s father, Howard. Finally, the terrorists grow impatient and give Stark 24 hours to finish. Unfortunately, the deadline expires before the suit is fully activated, so Yinsen makes a suicidal attack in a desperate bid to buy time. Once the armor is ready, Stark charges through the caves. Near the entrance, he comes across a dying Yinsen, who tells him not to waste his life. Forever grateful to Yinsen, Stark burns all the munitions the terrorists have accumulated and then flies away, only to crash in the desert. Stark survives, but his suit is in pieces. After being rescued by Rhodes, Stark announces at a press conference that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. Stane tells him shortly thereafter that his decision is being blocked by the board of directors of Stark Industries.

Stark focuses his energies on building a better version of his power suit, while making an improved arc reactor for his chest. Potts gives Stark a gift: his first miniature reactor encased in glass and bearing the inscription, “Proof that Tony Stark has a heart”. During Stark’s first public appearance since his return, he spots Potts wearing a sexy dress and realizes that he has romantic feelings for his assistant. As they are about to share a kiss, Potts interrupts by asking for a martini.

While ordering the drinks, Stark is accosted by Everhart, who shows him pictures of Stark Industries weapons, including Jericho missiles, recently delivered to Taliban insurgents. He realizes that Stane has been putting profit before the common good, by supplying both the Americans and their enemies and that Stane has been attempting to remove Stark from power. Enraged, Stark dons the power suit, flies to Afghanistan and rescues a village from insurgents. During the operation, Stark attracts the attention of the United States Air Force, which dispatches two F-22 Raptors to try to identify the mysterious flying object. Rhodes wants to investigate, but is overruled and the fighters are ordered to destroy the target. During the resulting dogfight, Stark has time to call Rhodes to reveal that he is the unidentified target. One of the planes is accidentally destroyed when it collides with Stark. The pilot ejects, but his parachute will not deploy, so Stark rescues him before escaping.

Stark sends Potts to hack into the company computer system. She discovers that Stane hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark. The group reneged on the deal upon discovering who the target was. She also learns Stane has recovered the pieces of the original power suit and reverse-engineered his own version, but his engineers are unable to construct a small enough arc reactor to power the suit.

After she leaves, Stane discovers what she has done. He ambushes Stark in his house, using a Stark Industries device to temporarily paralyze him. Stane removes the arc reactor from Stark’s chest and leaves him to die. However, Stark manages to get to Pott’s gift and re-install his first reactor.

Although his original reactor is underpowered for his latest armor, Stark races to rescue Potts from Stane. A battle erupts. Finding himself outmatched, Stark lures Stane atop the Stark Industries building. With no power left, Stark instructs Potts to overload the full-sized reactor in the building. This unleashes a massive electrical surge that knocks Stane unconscious, causing him to fall through the ceiling into the reactor itself, incinerating him.

The next day, the press has dubbed Stark’s alter ego “Iron Man.” Rhodes gives reporters a false explanation of what happened. Before speaking, Stark briefly makes an attempt to establish a romantic relationship with Potts, but is rejected. During the press conference, Stark starts to tell the cover story given to him by S.H.I.E.L.D., a government agency, but then announces that he is Iron Man.

In a post-credits scene, Stark is visited by S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) who notes that Stark is not “the only superhero in the world”, and states he wants to discuss the “Avenger Initiative”.

Sequel

A sequel, entitled Iron Man II, is scheduled for release on May 7, 2010. Justin Theroux is writing the script, which is based on a story written by Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr., and Genndy Tartakovsky is storyboarding. Filming will primarily take place at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach, California. The story will deal with Stark’s alcoholism, which was set aside from the first film for the sequel, but Favreau said it will not be “the Leaving Las Vegas version”. Shane Black has given some advice on the script, and suggested they model Stark on J. Robert Oppenheimer, who became depressed with being “the destroyer of worlds” after working on the Manhattan Project. Downey said Stark would probably develop a drinking problem as he is unable to cope with his age and Pepper getting a boyfriend.

Favreau revealed their version of Iron Man’s comic book nemesis the Mandarin “allows us to incorporate the whole pantheon of villains”; Mickey Rourke is in talks to play either the Crimson Dynamo or Whiplash, according to varying trade reports. Sam Rockwell, who was considered for the role of Stark in the first film, accepted the role of Justin Hammer without reading the script. He had never heard of the character before he was contacted about the part, and was unaware Hammer is an old man in the comics. Emily Blunt was Favreau’s first choice for Black Widow, but she is planning to film a new version of Gulliver’s Travels around the same time as Iron Man II, and Marvel have met with potential replacements, including Scarlett Johansson. Adi Granov will return to supervise the armor designs. S.H.I.E.L.D. will continue to have a major role and Samuel L. Jackson was informed that Nick Fury will have more screentime. Paul Bettany will return to voice Stark’s computer, JARVIS.

Don Cheadle will replace Terrence Howard as War Machine. Howard said, “There was no explanation apparently the contracts that we write and sign aren’t worth the paper that they’re printed on, sometimes. Promises aren’t kept, and good faith negotiations aren’t always held up.” Entertainment Weekly stated Favreau had not enjoyed working with Howard, often reshooting and cutting his scenes; Howard’s publicist said he had a good experience playing the part, while Marvel chose not to comment. As Favreau and Theroux chose to minimize the role, Marvel came to Howard to discuss lowering his salary – Howard was the first actor cast in Iron Man and earned the largest salary of the cast. The publication stated they were unsure whether Howard’s representatives left the project first or if Marvel chose to stop negotiating. Theroux denied the part of the report stating “the role of War Machine was scaled back and then beefed up”. Cheadle only had a few hours to accept the role and did not even know what storyline Rhodes would undergo. He commented he is a comic book fan, but felt there are not enough black superheroes.

Cast & Credits

• Directed by :Jon Favreau
• Produced by: Avi Arad, Kevin Feige
• Screenplay: John August (uncredited), Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Arthur Marcum, Matthew Hollaway
• Comic Book: Stan Lee. Larry Lieber, Don Heck, Jack Kirby
• Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Paul Bettany
• Music by: Ramin Djawadi
• Cinematography: Matthew Libatique
• Editing by: Dan Lebental

Other Information

• Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
• Release date: May 2, 2008
• Running time: 126 min.
• Country: United States
• Language: English
• Budget: $135 million — $180 million
• Gross revenue: $582,030,528

Links

• Official site
• Iron Man at the Internet Movie Database
• Iron Man at Rotten Tomatoes
• Iron Man at Metacritic
• Iron Man at Box Office Mojo
• Iron Man at Allmovie
• Iron Man on Marvel.com

Tags: American, Gwyneth Paltrow, Iron Man, Leslie Bibb, robert downey jr