Iron Man: The Truth Behind the Suit



What has kept people coming to the theaters to see a man in tights save the world? The concept is simple really; people crave the action. With an era of people who haven’t seen a World War since 1945, humans can only fantasize about what war must have felt like. Guns firing, explosions all around and a strict sergeant shouting orders to a fleet that’s scared silly, but then Captain America emerges, donning blue tights and a brawny shield to save the day. Secretly we’ve all wanted to sport a cape and save humanity and when the publicity follows humbly reply, ‘it was nothing, really.’ With books and movies letting our imaginations run wild with ‘what if’s’, we can’t seem to stop ourselves from waiting in line to see the midnight premiere of Thor: The Dark World wearing our Mom’s red curtain around our shoulders and carrying our Dad’s hammer.

The action of the films keep us glued to our seats. Extravagant explosions with the hero barely escaping unscathed at the last second seems to keeps the popcorn flowing from the bucket into our mouths. Take for instance Iron Man, all the way back from 2008. Sure, seeing Robert Downey Jr. dryly sass his way to the top and creating a suit that gives him the ability to be a hero is a fun. But was that the real reason people went, or were there some underlying causes? In 2008 the American-Afghan war was still raging on and with Iron Man posing one of its main enemies in Afghanistan, people couldn’t resist. How they longed to see an American, (the CEO of a weapons factory might I add), go into such a heavy warzone and emerge victorious. Throughout the movie it’s slowly revealed that the Americans will get their way as the Afghans are left defeated.

Iron Man also paved the way to the buildup for The Avengers and set an example for all other superhero movies thereafter. By taking the hero and making the hero prove his worth to strangers and friends Iron Man revolutionized the way we see our heroes today. Tony Stark, an egotistical playboy, spent 3 months inside of a terrorist cell with Afghans yelling at him in Arabic and a variety of other Middle Eastern languages to create the Jericho weapon. This weapon would give the enemies the capability to smite all that stood in their wake. Instead Tony Stark outsmarted the Afghans by creating a suit to aid him in his escape effort and through it all came out a changed man. No longer itching to build the next weapon, Tony Stark instead wants to stop the violence that his weapons caused. He does this by recreating the suit that he made during his escape from the terrorist cell and then heads back to Afghanistan to kill the terrorists who stole his weapons and had him held hostage in a dingy cave.
Iron Man may be 6 years old but it’s still worth watching. From the countless explosions we see ranging from Afghanistan to LA, to Robert Downey Junior’s spot-on interpretation of the character Tony Stark, the movie sets the bar high. It keeps the bar held triumphantly high with a deeply woven plot and enemies varying from terrorists that kept Tony locked up in a cell for 3 months all the way to Tony Stark’s partnering CEO, Obadiah Stane, who we later discover was the real reason why Tony was kidnapped by the terrorists and why the terrorists have his weapons in the first place. The action never ceases which helps to create an atmosphere that makes the movie flawless. Iron Man is the stepping stone for bigger and better action/superhero movies because the character depth was carefully constructed and aided by a perfect cast. Thrilling explosions that excite the ears and please the eyes coupled with a beautifully written plot makes Iron Man one of the best superhero movies the 21st century has seen.