'The Road to CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR' Feature: Iron Man - The Armored Avenger


***This is the second in a series of 'The Road to Civil War' posts, written by MCU Correspondent Nick Whitney, leading up to the release of CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR. ***

“Is it better to be feared, or respected? And I say, is it too much to ask for both?” 

So asked Tony Stark as he demonstrated his Jericho missile to the U.S. military in 2008's IRON MAN. It was also one of the first clips of the inaugural Marvel Studios film, as the course of cinematic history was about to be changed forever. 

Seeking to challenge the Marvel readership which he saw as mostly liberal and anti-war, Stan Lee created the ultimate capitalist superhero, one that invented weapons for the military and became super wealthy from it. Iron Man aka Anthony “Tony” Stark, modelled on real life tycoon Howard Hughes, first appeared in Marvel's Tales of Suspense No. 39 in 1963, a collaborative creation of editor and story-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Leiber (Stan's brother), story artist Don Heck and cover artist and character designer Jack Kirby. 

A millionaire inventor, industrialist and businessman — a pre-cursor the the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist we know today — Iron Man was meant to be the Cold War uber-American, fighting America's enemies on all fronts, on the battlefield and in business. He took on Soviet super soldiers and industrial espionage using his mechanized suit of armour, powered by the reactor in his chest which he got due to an accident involving one of his own weapons whilst visiting a foreign war zone. Despite having somewhat questionable origins — was Lee trying to make some sort of social commentary about the American military industrial complex? — Iron Man became a hit. 


Appearing first in a solid grey suit of armour (which featured in the first IRON MAN movie) then in a gold one, which he wore when he founded the Avengers, Iron Man got his sleeker red and gold design that he's instantly recognised by today in Tales of Suspense No. 48, which he was wearing in Avengers No. 4 when Captain America was re-introduced into the Marvel comic book universe. Showing they may have always been two sides of the same coin, from Tales of Suspense No. 59, Iron Man shared the comic with the First Avenger right up until issue No. 99, at which point Tales of Suspense officially became the next Captain America comic and Iron Man got his own title with The Invincible Iron Man. 

The character has been revamped more than a few times over the years, with this origin of getting blown up by one of his own weapons in Vietnam being updated to ultimately very much the same but now set in Afghanistan (perhaps he still is a social commentary on America's foreign policy) but he's always represented the concept of national defence and technological progress over the decades, to the point where today's Iron Man is no longer just a man in a suit, but more akin to a cyborg. 

Appearing in video games and cartoons over the years Iron Man, much like Cap, was always a mainstay Marvel character but never a flagship one. That was, until 2008. 


The films rights to Marvel's characters have moved around between numerous studios over the years (which is an essay in its own right), Iron Man being no exception. Universal Studios and 20th Century Fox both had their shot to make an Iron Man film in the 90s, with both Nic Cage and Tom Cruise being connected to the role of Tony Stark. By the 2000s, the rights lay with New Line Cinema who pushed the project the furthest, hiring Nick Cassavetes to direct with a slated release of 2006 — though in my research I turned up the fact that at one time, Joss Whedon was rumoured to be courted for the director's chair. Funny old world isn't it? 

The 2006 Iron Man never happened and by a quirk of Marvel's movie contracts, the rights to Iron Man reverted back to Marvel after a period of inactivity from New Line. Instead of choosing to sell the rights on again, Marvel endeavoured to something that they had never been done before... make the movie themselves. 

Marvel Studios had existed before this point in some sort of amorphous form (Marvel Films from 1993-1996), working with other studios to develop its properties for film and television. But with IRON MAN, the Marvel Studios we know and love today came into being. It cannot be stressed enough how important the success of IRON MAN was to the creation of the modern Marvel Cinematic Universe and by extension, all cinematic universes from there on in — 8 years ago they would be one and the same. IRON MAN was essentially a $140 million gamble. 


With Jon Favreau as director, Robert Downey Jr. was cast in a role it felt like he was born to play and Marvel's gamble paid off, scoring one of the biggest films of 2008, second only to THE DARK KNIGHT. IRON MAN was quick to get a sequel and as the plans for THE AVENGERS moved forward. Jon Favreau was at one time favourite to direct the crossover film event of the decade, such was the impact of the Iron Man films. Robert Downey Jr.'s career, which had stalled due to his ongoing battle with addiction, was revitalised to the point where he is now one of the biggest box office stars on the planet. With the post-Avengers IRON MAN 3, Iron Man became the first solo Avenger to gross over $1 billion dollars at the box office, cementing Iron Man as one of the most recognisable and bankable superheroes in the world. 


Downey played Stark a little more Lassez-faire than his comic book counter part, playing the boyish charm, never taking things too seriously and even trying to provoke Bruce Banner into changing into the Hulk during THE AVENGERS! In Civil War, we are going to see a different side to Stark. Presumably feeling responsible for the destruction brought about in AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, Stark, a man who refused to hand over his suit to the government in IRON MAN 2, is throwing in with them citing that superheroes need to be kept in check, much like his philosophy in IRON MAN of taking a stand against the doctrine of zero-accountability. 

If Captain America is going off book to try and bring his friend Bucky in, a man who has dozens of confirmed kills to his name, perhaps someone needs to step in. Perhaps that someone, is Iron Man.

Written by Nick Whitney, MCU Correspondent -- Click here to read Nick's posts.


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