Marvel Ten Years Later: Iron Man

[andraste]

So, last year I had this idea that I would watch all of the MCU films before Infinity War came out. I ... completely failed at that. However, we've got almost a year before Avengers 4 - or whatever it's actually called - arrives, so I thought I would give it another shot.

It's quite strange going back and watching the foundational statement of the MCU at a decade's distance. On the one hand, you can see how this is a template for everything that follows it - the much-discussed MCU formula is all laid out here, complete with post-credits scene setting up the sequel(s). In other respects, though, it feels like we've come an enormous distance in ten years.

The creators of the various MCU films have been making smart choices from the beginning, and one of the smartest was choosing a relatively grounded property like Iron Man to start their shared universe with. Sure, there's a lot of ridiculously advanced technology and abuse of the laws of physics on display here, but it's a lot closer to a standard action film than the superpowers, aliens and magic that are all over the MCU now. Tony and Stane talk about Howard working on the Manhattan Project, not helping to create Captain America. (Which raises an interesting point: do Tony and/or Obadiah even know about Howard's relationship with Steve?) They've been clever enough to build these elements in slowly, so that by the time Tony says "he’s from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard" the audience doesn't bat an eyelid.

The smartest choice on display here, though, is the casting of Robert Downey Jr. I am one of the many comics fans who owes RDJ an apology: when he was first cast I thought he was a poor choice. Not so much because I doubted his ability to play the part, but because it seemed a little too apt and I doubted that he would stay sober long enough to fulfil his contract. Yet here we are a decade after I ate my words while coming out of the cinema. He gives the first of many great performances here, and it's easy to see how he became the linchpin of the entire MCU.

The other outstanding cast member here is Gwenyth Paltrow, who makes Pepper instantly charming and memorable in a role that could have easily been thankless and generic in other hands. I can't say I'm sad that they recast Rhodey, though. (Howard isn't bad, but Don Cheadle is better. And reportedly a less awful person than Terrence Howard.) It's also nice to see Clarke Gregg! (I mean, not that I didn't see him in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. finale last week, but it's nice to remember where he started.)

Not everything has changed in the space of a decade - rewatching this made me long more than ever for the MCU debut of Kamala Khan. So far Muslims in the MCU get to be villains or victims to be rescued, and one managed to get promoted to 'sidekick who dies tragically in the first act.' So far they do not get to be heroes. So please bring on Ms. Marvel! And her friend Red Dagger! (And Yinsen's daughter should turn out to be alive and become a superhero too, like in the comicsverse.) It has taken us a decade for us to get an MCU solo film about someone who isn't white, and it's going to take eleven years to get one about a woman. So it would be nice if it doesn't take us another decade to get to Kamala.

Anyway, that aside, I don't think this is the best MCU film, or my favourite, but it's an incredibly solid foundation that the studio have been able to build on for an entire decade.

Comments

[selenak]

I've been meaning to do a rewatch myself, and look forward to whatever I can manage between all the new media.

Which raises an interesting point: do Tony and/or Obadiah even know about Howard's relationship with Steve?

Tony definitely knows. "This is the guy my father couldn't shut up about?" he says re: Steve in Avengers, and in Civil War, in a far more friendly, teasing mode, when Steve says he's glad Howard settled down and married (after Tony said, re: his breakup with Pepper, "Mom and Dad somehow always made it work"): "No, you two knew each other? Really? God, I hated you."

Also, according to Nick Fury in the tag scene of Captain America: The First Avenger Howard never stopped looking for Steve (or rather his body), making annual trips to the ice, so I'd say Obadiah probably knew as well, what with being Howard's business partner at least in the later years. (And if Howard wouldn't shut up about Steve towards his son, chances are he wasn't quiet about him to his partner, either.)

Without having rewatched, I think two of the - at the time, and compared with the DCU superhero films which had been around before, or even with the poor flopped Hulk outings - most unusual sequences that contributed to this film being a solid foundation for the rest were a) that the movie took the time show to Tony creating the armor, and enjoying his first flight, and b) that the movie opted for "I am Iron Man" instead of the usual secret identity gimmick which Coulson suggests. The former made Tony relatable and emphasized the joyful aspect of superheroing, which if the most recent outings were Batman angst fests was definitely a breath of fresh air, and the later just was unexpected and, for me at least, unprecedented in terms of comic book based movies. It certainly made me sit up and long for the sequel!

[andraste]

I've been meaning to do a rewatch myself, and look forward to whatever I can manage between all the new media.

For some reason, people keep making new TV and movies even though I have enough to be going on with for years. (If I were queen of the world, I would have everyone just take a year off or something so I could catch up on some stuff ...)

Good point about Tony's initial reaction to meeting Steve - clearly it's been too long since I watched The Avengers! But hopefully I should get there in a month or two. Now I am picturing Obadiah rolling his eyes as Howard takes yet another trip to look for his frozen boyfriend. (Something else rewatching got me thinking about: how did Obadiah actually feel about Howard? Did he really consider him a friend, or just a convenient business partner? Presumably Howard had no idea what he was really like.)

"I am Iron Man" may still be the most significant moment in the whole MCU. As you say, it changed the whole superhero film genre. (Not that Marvel can't still play around with secret identiteis when they want to - see Spider-Man and Daredevil - but it's telling that the vast majority of the heroes in the MCU work out in the open instead of using masks or running away as soon as the fight is over. (X-Men, I am looking at you.)

[selenak]

Now I am picturing Obadiah rolling his eyes as Howard takes yet another trip to look for his frozen boyfriend.

Especially since Obadiah probably knew Howard only in his later years, didn't know Steve beyond the Captain America iconography at all and might have had trouble reconciling Howard Stark, Calculating Money Making Business Man with Hung-Up-Upon-A-Dead-Guy Howard. Or: I once read an otherwise not that good drabble with the innovative idea that Obadiah's original link to the Stark family was Maria, not Howard. That he was a friend-of-her-youth unrequitedly in love with her who stuck around and soured on that never expressed emotion. Now back when Civil War showed Maria playing the piano in Tony's memory sequence I flashed back to Iron Man where Tony does have a piano in his house in Malibu. But we don't see him play it. The only character who we see playing on this piano before it's destroyed is... Obadiah. Roz once pointed out to me that the composer he plays is Salieri, which is a neat touch thematically, given what he does to Tony (who gets compared to Mozart by the media earlier) in that movie. But on a Watsonian level, it also points to Obadiah actually having musical knowledge and training, since Salieri's oeuvre is hardly the kind of thing someone without either would come up with. Fanon has been built on less, so I'm entirely willing to go with Obadiah > Maria. Maybe they were in the same piano class originally?

Now, since Obadiah seems to have had no idea about SHIELD, but otoh was Howard's partner and entrusted with taking care of Stark Industries until Tony got of age, I'm assuming Howard liked him well enough and trusted him, but within limits, those limits being anything to do with SHIELD. I also wouldn't be surprised if Howard, growing older, simply got exhausted form multitasking at leading Stark Industries and working with SHIELD simultanously as SHIELD grew larger and larger, and once he saw Obadiah was competent put more and more of his "legitimate" business in Obadiah's care.

Or: it could have been entirely different. After all, Howard turned out to have been childhood friends with a Mafia gangster. So maybe my Maria theory is utterly wrong and he simply was one of Howard's buddies.

In any event: Obadiah seems to have been without a creative bone in his body, so he needed first Howard and then Tony for the invention side of Stark Industries. He might have sincerely liked either or both to a degree, since they're generally good company, but in the end it came down to profit, with maybe a touch of Salieri-as-written-by-Shaffer resentment that they were the ones with the dazzling gift while he was hard working and never valued enough in his own eyes. (I know some fanon has him secretly Hydra, but I'd rather not. I prefer Obadiah as a villain who has entirely his own motivations, see above. Besides: insert my usual Hydra-makes-no-sense rant here.)

re: X-Men, one reason why I'm wary of them being reintegrated back into the Marvel canon on screen is that it's a bit hard to understand why most of the MCU heroes can work in the open and even get hero worshipped for it (pre-Ultron/Sokovia/Civil War at least), with Iron Man in demand for kids' tea parties and Captain America for motivational school videos, while mutants are "hated and feared" and have to live in secret if this is the same universe.

(Meanwhile, it's admittedly a bit ridiculous that no one can say "mutant" in the MCU and everyone has to be operated upon in some fashion to explain their abilities.)

It occurs to me that "I am Iron Man" is yet another reason why it was such a clever choice to give that first story to Tony Stark. Daredevil and Spider-man have good reason to keep their identities secret. Neither could maintain their civilian life otherwise, for starters. And this was a character not so much known via pop culture osmosis to the new audience Marvel hoped to win, whereas even a non-comic book reader probably had some idea about Spider-Man.

[andraste]

I love the idea of Obadiah kowing Howard via Maria! (And the Saliari thing is so clever, especially since they resisted the temptation to point it out to audience members who don't automatically recognise relatively obscure classical composers.)

In any event: Obadiah seems to have been without a creative bone in his body, so he needed first Howard and then Tony for the invention side of Stark Industries. He might have sincerely liked either or both to a degree, since they're generally good company, but in the end it came down to profit, with maybe a touch of Salieri-as-written-by-Shaffer resentment that they were the ones with the dazzling gift while he was hard working and never valued enough in his own eyes.

I can absolutely see how he got resentful of Tony in particular, given that basically everyone loves the wunderkind despite his not turning up to his own awards ceremonies, delivering public addresses while spectacularly drunk, sleeping with the whole calendar of Maxim cover models and generally behaving like an irresponsible ass. Admittedly Tony is an irresponsible ass that invents all the stuff that the company profits from, but I can just see Obadiah in yet another share-holder meeting getting increasingly irritated that he has to play second fiddle to someone who doesn't even seem that interested in the business. (Which is not an excuse to have him murdered, of course, but that's what makes him a villain.)

I'm wary about the X-Men being integrated into the MCU - while I haven't loved everything Fox has done with them, I feel like the split has been good for both sides of the cinematic Marvelverse. Honestly, the mutants have never fit in with the rest of the comics all that well. (I mean, you have stuff like Beast being loved by the public when he's a member of the Avengers and then everyone hating him again when he goes back to the X-Men. Why so fickle, comicverse Marvel civilians?) It's a shame that Disney couldn't just buy the poor Fantastic Four out of purgatory and leave the mutants where they were, but I guess we'll see how it works out in a few years.

And this was a character not so much known via pop culture osmosis to the new audience Marvel hoped to win, whereas even a non-comic book reader probably had some idea about Spider-Man.

Indeed. Another smart Marvel decision: not giving us yet another hot take on Spider-Man's origin story. (Given that Peter has more brand recognition than any other superhero on the planet - even Batman and Superman aren't as big in Asia - there are probably people living under rocks on the moon who know what happened to Uncle Ben.)

[selenak]

He. Yes, no kidding. Mind you, I still want an explanation why Jessica Jones can say "If you say 'with great power comes great responsibility', I'm going to punch you" when she's living in a universe where Peter Parker exists and presumably has not told all and sunder about Uncle Ben, but hey. :)

Also, I was so ready to declare they should have given Spider-man a rest, full stop, but then Tom Holland was/is just superb in the role, and so far the MCU's use of Peter has not felt as if they were just retreading old Sony ground - not just because they skipped the origin story. And speaking of Peter, thinking back to Iron Man and that stage of Tony's life: no sooner was I thinking pre-Afghanistan Tony would never have as much as considered having the time of the day for a teenager than I recalled he's actually pretty nice to the not-much-older-than-that soldier who wants to take a selfie with him and promptly gets blown up. I mean, he teases the guy, but not in a mean way, and interacts with him. (As a point of comparison, i.e. pre-Afghanistan Tony when he is being hurtful to someone who fanboys him, see Tony with Killian in the first Iron Man 3 flashback.)

Admittedly Tony is an irresponsible ass that invents all the stuff that the company profits from, but I can just see Obadiah in yet another share-holder meeting getting increasingly irritated that he has to play second fiddle to someone who doesn't even seem that interested in the business.

That was probably one big reason for his decision to finally kill the goose laying the golden eggs. The one thing which Iron Man couldn't really sell me on, though, was Obadiah in the last reel fighting with Tony mano a mano in the Iron Monger instead of making a clean getaway once he knows the authorities are onto him. That's clearly where the Doylist needs - hero must fight villain for the big showdown - overrode character logic. Someone like Obadiah certainly has illegal accounts everywhere on the planet and could have lived just fine elsewhere. The one reason why I could see for him to stay and do the battle thing instead was if he really hated Tony to the point of needing to kill him personally. And despite envy and irritation, I didn't have the impression he did hate him that much from the rest of the movie. Even when he casually rips his heart out in more than one way, perhaps the most chilling thing about this is that he does so because he needs that energy source and Tony's death is just an okay by product.

[andraste]

He. Yes, no kidding. Mind you, I still want an explanation why Jessica Jones can say "If you say 'with great power comes great responsibility', I'm going to punch you" when she's living in a universe where Peter Parker exists and presumably has not told all and sunder about Uncle Ben, but hey. :)

Clearly the most logical explanation is that they ran into each other and Peter said the thing to her. I mean, they live in the same city and Peter has been operating as a superhero for quite some time before JJ Season Two, so maybe someone was robbing a convenience store Jessica happened to be in and wackiness ensued ...

Also, I was so ready to declare they should have given Spider-man a rest, full stop, but then Tom Holland was/is just superb in the role

Holland has even converted my Spider-hating real life BFF with his charms, enough that she voluntarily went to Homecoming with me. Truly some of the MCU's most perfect casting.

And speaking of Peter, thinking back to Iron Man and that stage of Tony's life: no sooner was I thinking pre-Afghanistan Tony would never have as much as considered having the time of the day for a teenager than I recalled he's actually pretty nice to the not-much-older-than-that soldier who wants to take a selfie with him and promptly gets blown up.

I think he'd probably have been at least superficially nice to Peter pre-Afghanistan - kids fanboying you is ego-stroking, after all.

The one thing which Iron Man couldn't really sell me on, though, was Obadiah in the last reel fighting with Tony mano a mano in the Iron Monger instead of making a clean getaway once he knows the authorities are onto him. That's clearly where the Doylist needs - hero must fight villain for the big showdown - overrode character logic.

I think they try to sell it as him going power-mad after putting on the suit to avoid S.H.I.E.L.D. but it doesn't work all that well. The scene where he just leaves Tony there after taking the arc reactor is much more menacing and effective. (And if he'd wanted Tony dead that much, surely he could have just done it then?)

[selenak]

Now I do want that wacky Peter-meets-Jessica tale. He'll probably tell her to go easy on the booze since that's not good for you while at the same time admiring her coolness.

re: Obadiah, on the one hand, I know that Phil Coulson and fellow agents arresting him is not how a superhero movie ends, though it would have been the ending that made most character sense, on the other hand, just imagine Obadiah ending up in prison and basically becoming Tony's Hannibal Lecter whom Tony visits every now and then! Two more things: a) on a continuing "Obadiah had some musical training" note, "this is your ninth symphony, Tony" (i.e. Beethoven's last one). And b) the phone call he makes to Tony just before Tony gets blown up in Afghanistan early in the movie. From a supervillain pov, it has no purpose (yes, he could be making sure that Tony is actually in place to get killed, but well, he knows that already), so he might have done it simply to say goodbye. Which is my kind of messed up, because I think if Obadiah beneath the greed and resentment had some actual affection for Tony and chose to kill him (which was the intention, the kidnapping wasn't planned) anyway it's far more interesting.

Also: the press conference after Tony's return. (And btw, I always thought it's one of these great character touches that Tony Stark, someone who first got the attention of the national media as someone other than son-of-Howard when he was eight for his early wunderkind displays, and basically never lived outside the public spotlight, responds to having had a near death experience and epiphany by calling a press conference about it and telling all and sunder.) It starts with him telling Obadiah: "I never said goodbye to you." Then he turns to the media and segues in "I never said goodbye to my father" and how he never had the chance to ask Howard whether H. had doubts about "what this company does" and his actions. The emotional mix-up of Obadiah and Howard here is obvious, and I do wish the MCU had continued with that a while longer instead of giving us no more Obadiah references in future films. Otoh, that's what fannish interpretations are there for. Nick Fury does become a sort of Obadiah-and-Howard figure for Tony, arguably, complete with him being aware that Fury manipulates him but going with it anyway in Avengers and being actually open emotionally with him in Age of Ultron in the barn scene in a way he isn't with anyone else in that movie about why he did what he did.

[andraste]

Now I do want that wacky Peter-meets-Jessica tale. He'll probably tell her to go easy on the booze since that's not good for you while at the same time admiring her coolness.

Meanwhile Jessica's reaction to an enthusiastic costumed teenager telling her that great power comes with great responsibility would be entirely predictable :).

The MCU is sometimes far too keen to kill of its villains - I'm still surprised the Justin Hammer survived IM2. (And it's highly unlikely that Tony will ever want to visit him.

Now that Tony is either retiring or dying in Avengers 4, we are probably never going to get a Kang-related film where the original team travel back in time and meet Howard and Peggy. (Highlights: Tony hugging Jarvis, punching Obadiah, and being torn between punching and hugging his dad, Howard's delight that Steve is not dead after all.)

[nevanna]

I'm still really fond of this movie. And Obadiah is one of my favorite MCU villains.

[andraste]

Given how bland some of the later one-shot MCU villains are, I was surprised to be reminded they started so well. He's got real personality and menace.