The tagline promises a machine. What Jon Favreau actually built in 2008 is a movie star, and the armor is just the packaging it ships in.
“Iron Man” runs 126 minutes. It is an action film, a science fiction film, and an adventure film, and it is the first entry in what became the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark. The tagline reads: “Heroes aren’t born. They’re built.”
That last line is the film’s thesis, and it is only half true. Stark is born rich, born brilliant, born into his late father Howard Stark’s defense contracting empire. What gets built is the suit. The movie knows the difference, and that knowledge is why it still works.
Trailer, via Marvel Entertainment.
A cave in Afghanistan, and a magnet in the chest
The plot is a machine too, and it turns cleanly. Stark, who inherited Stark Industries from his father, tours war-torn Afghanistan with his best friend and military liaison, James “Rhodey” Rhodes, to demonstrate the new “Jericho” missile. After the demonstration, his convoy is ambushed by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings.
Stark is gravely wounded by a missile used by the attackers — one of his own company’s weapons. He is captured and imprisoned in a cave. Yinsen, a fellow captive and a doctor, implants an electromagnet into Stark’s chest to keep the shrapnel shards from reaching his heart and killing him.
Ten Rings leader Raza offers Stark freedom in exchange for building a Jericho missile for the group. Stark and Yinsen both believe Raza will not keep his word. So they build something else: a small, powerful electric generator called an arc reactor to power the electromagnet, and a prototype armored suit to aid their escape.
They keep the suit hidden. The Ten Rings discover their intentions and attack the workshop. Yinsen sacrifices himself to divert them while the suit powers up. The armored Stark battles his way out of the cave, finds the dying Yinsen, burns the Ten Rings’ weapons, and flies away — crashing in the desert and destroying the suit.
Downey was the fight Favreau had to win
Favreau signed on as director in April 2006. He faced opposition from Marvel when he tried to cast Downey in the title role. The actor was signed in September.
The source material records why Favreau wanted him. Downey’s past made him an appropriate choice for the part, and Favreau believed the actor could make Stark a likable jerk while still carrying a real emotional arc once audiences were on his side. Favreau was also drawn to Downey’s performance in “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (2005).
Downey had an office next to Favreau during pre-production, which gave him unusual involvement in the screenwriting process, especially when it came to adding humor. He spoke frequently with Shane Black, who directed “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” about the script and dialogue.
Downey’s own theory of the part was that superhero leads tend to turn into Dudley Do-Right the moment they decide to do good, and that he wanted no part of it. He said he did not want Stark to change so much that he became unrecognizable, and that a former schmuck should hopefully keep his sense of humor.
That is the whole performance in one idea. Stark does not become good. He becomes responsible, which is a smaller and more interesting change.
The cast around the reactor
Terrence Howard plays Rhodey, the liaison between Stark Industries and the United States Air Force in the department of acquisitions, specifically weapons development. Jeff Bridges plays Obadiah Stane, the father’s old partner and the company’s manager. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Pepper Potts. Leslie Bibb plays Christine Everhart. Shaun Toub plays Yinsen. Faran Tahir plays Raza. Clark Gregg plays Agent Coulson. Bill Smitrovich plays General Gabriel. Sayed Badreya plays Abu Bakaar. Paul Bettany voices Jarvis. Favreau himself plays Hogan.
That is a deep bench for a film that spends its first act in a cave, and it is the reason the middle of “Iron Man” holds. Bridges is the best of them. Stane is not a monster in a mask. He is a man who tells Stark the truth — that halting weapons manufacturing will bankrupt Stark Industries and ruin his father’s legacy — and then acts on his own conclusion.
Rubber, metal, and a reason to leave New York
Filming took place from March to June 2007, primarily in California. The reason is specific and worth noting: shooting in California differentiated the film from the numerous other superhero stories set in New York City.
Rubber and metal versions of the armor were created by Stan Winston’s company and mixed with digital work. During filming, the actors were free to create their own dialogue because pre-production was focused on the story and action.
That looseness is visible on screen, and it is the film’s best technical decision. The suit is heavy and the people inside it are not. Downey said the physical work was a strain: he spent five days a week weight training and practiced martial arts, and he described the suit as a test of endurance. He said it is hard not to have a personality meltdown after several hours in the suit, and that he called up every therapeutic moment he could think of to get through the day.
What the film actually gets right
The rights history matters here. A film featuring Iron Man was in development at Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and New Line Cinema at various times since 1990 before Marvel Studios reacquired the rights in 2005. Marvel put the project into production as its first self-financed film, with Paramount distributing.
That is the fact that explains the movie’s shape. A self-financed first film cannot afford to be a franchise. It has to be a movie. So “Iron Man” spends its first hour on a man in a cave with a box of scraps, and only becomes a superhero film in its last third.
The order of what works, from strongest to weakest:
- Downey’s performance, which is the entire load-bearing wall.
- The cave sequence, which is a prison picture wearing armor.
- Bridges as Stane, the only antagonist who argues instead of gloating.
- The California setting, which keeps the film from looking like every other superhero story.
- The third act, which is the least interesting part of the movie.
That last point is the honest knock on “Iron Man.” Once Stark is home, announces that his company will cease manufacturing weapons, and builds a sleeker, more powerful suit in his home workshop — along with a more powerful arc reactor for it and his chest after testing a prototype — the film becomes a machine for producing a sequel.
Where the armor stops being enough
The published critical score for “Iron Man” is 7.7 out of 10, drawn from 28,780 votes. That is a fair number.
What the film gets right is the thing Favreau fought Marvel over. Downey’s Stark is a jerk who stays funny after he stops being a jerk. The suit is a tool, not a transformation. The arc reactor is a battery, not a heart. The movie keeps its metaphors small and its jokes smaller, and that is why it survives a rewatch in a way that louder superhero films do not.
What it gets wrong is the ending. Stane’s turn is functional rather than felt, and the final fight is the only stretch where the film looks like the merchandise it was built to sell. The cave is the movie. Everything after the cave is the pitch.
The tagline is still wrong, but productively wrong. Stark was built long before the suit — by his father, by the company, by the weapons he sold. The suit just gives him somewhere to stand while he figures that out.
That is a real idea inside a franchise starter, and it is why “Iron Man” is remembered as the beginning of something rather than a curiosity. The performance is the reason. The armor is the receipt.
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