“The truth is…I am Iron Man.” – Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) “I think that part of the reason that Iron Man was so successful was that we really chose to break new ground in a new area tonally…the way we depict the hero, what his abilities are. It felt fresh in a genre that is beginning to feel stale if it's not done with the proper amount of inspiration and a strong voice or tone.” – Jon Favreau Today, I continue my summer blog series about the history of the comic book movie genre by examining an important watershed moment in its modern evolution: the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Did comic book movies exist before 2008? Yes. Was the genre forever changed by Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios? Absolutely. In my humble opinion, the two films that laid the groundwork for not only Feige’s superhero cinematic universe but also the genre going forward are Jon Favreau’s Iron Man and Joss Whedon’s The Avengers. Since I have written about both of these films before, click here for my condensed thoughts on both Iron Man and The Avengers. So, without further ado…LET’S GET STARTED!! [NOTE: This blog contains spoilers for “Iron Man” and “The Avengers.” You have been warned.] Image by Bùi Xuân Trường from Pixabay Iron Man (2008) For a summary of the production and release of Iron Man, click here. While Christopher Nolan took the first step towards cracking the code for a great superhero origin story in 2005 with Batman Begins, Jon Favreau came along three years later and brought his own spin to this story. Ironically, both directors took rather similar characters (at least on the surface) to make wildly different movies tonally that both succeed on their own terms and remain essential to understanding the potential of this genre today. Whereas Nolan’s take on Bruce Wayne was that of an immature, self-isolating billionaire who channels his fear and torment about his tragic past into vigilantism for the greater good of Gotham City, Favreau reinvents the character of “genius billionaire playboy philanthropist” Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) to make audiences forever fall in love with his charm, wit, sarcasm, and narcissistic attitude. In other words, most producers today probably would not decide to kickstart a superhero franchise with a character like Tony Stark. But, I and many other fans are grateful for this choice. Unlike purely good characters such as Captain America or Superman, Stark is severely flawed. His near-psychopathic self-obsession pushes away any kind of stable support system with the exception of his personal assistant Virginia “Pepper” Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and corporate liaison to the military Lt. Col. James Rhodes (Terrence Howard). These mixed-bag relationships, along with his own actions towards others, help to define Stark’s character in the first act as the embodiment of class privilege and the military-industrial complex. Ultimately, it takes Stark’s own life being put in danger for him to fully understand how destructive his weapons technology can be in the wrong hands. With tons of help from fellow captive Ho Yinsen (Shaun Toub), Stark constructs a makeshift suit of weaponized armor that he uses to escape an Afghanistan cave. Upon returning home, his epiphany about the role he has played in the deaths of innocent people leads him to design a new kind of weapon: the Iron Man suit, which he plans to use to stop bad people from getting hands on his company’s weapons ever again. Similar to Bruce in Batman Begins, Stark originally discovers his “powers” for selfish reasons but through recognizing a systemic problem in the world comes to the realization that he could use his money, intelligence, and technology to try and solve that problem. Simply put, Iron Man helped establish the template for a superhero origin story that virtually all other films in the comic book genre since have tried to live up to (with relatively minimal success). Simply put, Iron Man doesn’t work without the stellar work from its cast. Of course, Downey, Jr. was born to play Stark and I don’t need to convince anyone who’s seen this movie of that. But I think the supporting cast, from Paltrow as the smart love interest and Howard as the grounding best friend to Bridges’ take on the classic zany villain, elevate the film above many other comic book movies that came before it. On top of just the great character work, Favreau’s direction helps inject a distinctive style befitting the character of Tony Stark. To match his lavish lifestyle and boisterous personality, Favreau and his creative team employ bright colors (most obviously the Mark III suit with an iconic hot-rod blend of red and yellow paint job) to reflect the film’s energetic nature. Furthermore, the inherent rock-star nature of Stark’s character makes Favreau’s reliance on a classic rock soundtrack (including the likes of AC/DC and Black Sabbath) such an inspired choice six years before James Gunn came onto the scene with his pop-rock sound for Guardians of the Galaxy. All of this plays to the film’s smart use of action. It’s clear from the get-go that Favreau knows the kind of superhero that he’s playing with. Due to the metallic form of Stark’s suit of power that inherently looks clunky and moves as such, the action is always kinetic while always feeling grounded in a hyper sense of reality created by a world in which Stark’s arc-reactor technology can even exist. Maybe it gets a bit over the top once Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) battles Stark in his customized “Iron Monger” suit, but this by no means takes away from the superbly entertaining cave breakout in the first act and the reveal of the Mark III (both on the ground and in the air) in the second act. On top of all that, however, Iron Man works best as the start to a billion-dollar movie franchise because it wasn’t trying to be that. With the exception of a handful of lines from S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and a fun cameo after the credits from S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), the movie never tries to tease a sequel let alone lay the storytelling foundation for other origin movies set in the same universe. This is a lesson that other directors and studios (Zack Snyder and Warner Brothers, perhaps?) should have learned, yet virtually anyone else who’s tried to follow in Marvel and Feige’s footsteps have basically ignored it. All in all, Favreau sought not to kickstart a cinematic universe but simply make a good movie. And this is why Iron Man is so special: it’s a great movie on its own terms, but what it ended up starting elevates it to one of the best comic book movies to this day. The Avengers (2012)
For a summary of the production and release of The Avengers, click here. While I cannot excuse any toxic behavior that Joss Whedon may have exhibited in his career in Hollywood, I cannot deny how important he is in the comic book movie genre. As the writer and director of Marvel Studios’s first ensemble superhero flick, The Avengers, Whedon and his creative team managed to pull off what was impossible back then and remains incredibly difficult now: making a movie that brings a team of superpowered characters together that both pays off their individual stories while also crafting a solid action-adventure story in its own right. Perhaps the most impressive thing about The Avengers is just how much its writing and style lean into the inescapably corny nature of comic books as a storytelling medium. Whedon’s portrayal of these characters—Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner)—invokes snappy, quick-witted banter that manages to endear the audience to each of them. While this would be severely off-putting in virtually any other genre, the hyper-stylized reality that these characters exist in allows us to buy into all of it. Thus, Whedon’s screenplay crafts a specific kind of fictional universe that is unrecognizable in our world but is believable in theirs. In managing the charming and likeable interplay between the heroes, Whedon and his team of filmmakers created the template for how to do a good comic book ensemble flick. Not only are the dynamics between the characters believable (specifically Tony’s friendship with Bruce and his rivalry with Steve), but the way Whedon organically injects drama between them in the second act involving Fury’s secret S.H.I.E.L.D. weapons which leads to some awesome hero-on-hero battles (I particularly enjoy Natasha fighting off a brainwashed Barton and the Hulk facing off against the demigod Thor). Of course, those fights wouldn’t feel earned if not for the tragic death of Coulson and the increasing threat of Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) helping to bring the team back together. Specifically, Fury’s elaborate ruse to persuade Tony and Steve to overcome their differences and launch a last-ditch effort to save New York (and, by extension, Earth) from total destruction. Certainly, one can criticize some elements in The Avengers from the opening scene in which the S.H.I.E.L.D. base is destroyed to the dialogue feeling too prepared and inorganic. But all these criticisms fly in the face of this movie’s breathtakingly awesome third act. Simply put, nothing that arguably falls flat in the first two hours can sour or ruin the incredibly well-shot and well-edited Battle of New York culminating in the iconic “Avengers Circle” moment. Hands down, the six original Avengers united on the ground timed impeccably to Alan Silvestri’s theme song has gone down as one of the best moments in modern cinematic history (if not all time). The Avengers was released ten years ago, but remains up there with The Dark Knight and Logan as the pinnacle of superhero cinema despite being so tonally and stylistically different from those movies. Perhaps only surpassed within Marvel Studios by two of its sequels--Infinity War and Endgame—this film remains the gold standard for comic book ensemble flicks that no other studio or franchise, including Warner Brothers and DC or 20th Century Fox and X-Men, have surpassed. With Iron Man, Marvel Studios proved it could make a good superhero origin story. With The Avengers, the world was given pure movie magic with a fantastic team-up movie. Together, these films forever changed the comic book genre for the better and paved the way for the most successful film franchise of all time with some of the best superhero movies of all time, from Guardians of the Galaxy to Spider-Man: No Way Home. So, where does the genre go from here? Tune in soon to find out. 😊 Which of these pivotal Marvel Studios movies do you love more? What other movies in the MCU do you think are important to the comic book genre overall? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst
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Austin McManusI have no academic or professional background in film production or criticism; I simply love watching and talking about movies. Archives
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