Marvel Ten Years Later: Iron Man
May. 27th, 2018 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrasteSo, 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.
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.