[Spoilers] Iron Man [Impressions & Analysis]
Hello!
This time it’s the very first film of the MCU — Iron Man!
*Warning:
These are impressions and analysis written for anyone who has already seen the film, so spoilers ahead.
First things first — for anyone wondering what the MCU even is, this one!
[For newcomers] What Is the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe)? [MARVEL]
The opening of Iron Man
Tony Stark before the change of heart.
Quite a lot of scumbag energy… lol
And he gets abducted right after this.
Felt sorry for the escort — every one of them killed.
And it’s a weapon built by his own company that takes him down!
The irony lol
That scene of him cowering before his own company’s weapon gets an homage in the villain siblings of Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Maybe Tony heard those two talk about their past and remembered this very moment.
His father Howard Stark is already there in the first film.
Captain America: The First Avenger is where we learn he was an old friend of Captain America (Steve Rogers).
And then Captain America: Civil War lands an astonishing fact on us…
There’s the arc reactor!
It’s a near-perpetual power source, shelved for budget reasons and never put to practical use — until Tony finishes it on a snap idea while he’s being held prisoner.
The reactor itself turns up plenty of times after this, and it also powers the Helicarrier, the flying aircraft carrier from Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Thanks to that reactor, the shrapnel sitting near Tony’s heart never reaches it.
The main villain this time
Obadiah Stane
Apparently a famous villain in the comics as well.
Want to have a go at the comics one day…
Enter Pepper Potts
Tony Stark’s heroine through every film that follows.
In Iron Man they’re still just boss and assistant.
Badly wounded by his own weapon, and then the terrorists call him “the greatest mass murderer”.
That must have cut deep.
His guards were killed by those same weapons, after all.
Running the company from a desk, he’d probably never felt any of it as real.
This change of heart keeps mattering later on!
Yes —
Tony has a genuinely fragile side to him
In Civil War too, he’s deep in regret over the mistakes he’s made
That fundamental mercy and instinct for self-sacrifice in Tony is already on show this early
Coming back alive from the kidnapping in Afghanistan, after tasting the fear of death, changes his character completely.
What it changes into is love for Pepper Potts.
And yet… in Civil War…
Civil War really is a masterpiece.
It might not be that familiar in Japan, but the US has no shortage of shows about where you should be putting your money (some of them pretty extreme).
Money Monster takes exactly that as its subject and is well worth a watch!!
Going from prototype to finished Iron Man here is way too fast lol
Genius, obviously lol
Build sequences like this mostly vanish from the later films, so it’s a rare one.
The early Iron Man is, how to put it, simple.
Or, put unkindly, a bit dorky lol
Homing missiles, lasers — the loadout is on the very lethal side.
Perhaps because he’s only just snapped, he kills without hesitation and hands one of the terrorists over to their victims — a properly merciless side.
Not a face he shows much in the later films, and I’m hoping Avengers: Infinity War lets us see it again!
The icing bit, with all that irony baked in, was great fun lol
If only he’d done a bit more research…
Not a villain who leaves much of an impression, though lol
Coulson!!!
He keeps turning up across the MCU after this, and he carries a huge role in The Avengers!
And on top of that, they went and made a series with Coulson as the lead — Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
It shares its universe with the MCU too.
I watch it every week without fail, and there’s a kind of fun only a series can deliver. Great stuff
Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury appears!!
The MCU plan is finally in motion!!!
Declaring the Avengers right out of the gate!!!
So where does the MCU go from here?
That gets revealed in Captain America: The First Avenger…
Thoughts
The pace does feel fairly slow next to the other MCU films, but the fact that it set such a solid foundation for everything to come is superb.
The exchanges with Pepper have a lovely early-days freshness, and watching Tony gradually become aware of himself as a hero is genuinely stirring.
The films only get more spectacular from here, which is exciting!
And the depth of the material itself grows with every entry — that’s the beauty of the MCU
Iron Man 2 is here
