Tag: iron man

In preparation for Infinity War (sort of), I just re-watched Iron Man (2008) for the first time in 3 years. Some thoughts:

  • I guess they were doing this on purpose, but early Tony’s attitude toward women is really pretty gross… and Pepper kind of reinforces it with her loyalty to Tony and her attitude toward the women he sleeps with (“sometimes I even take out the trash”). That seems to support the stereotypical division between women you hook up with and women you marry – trashy, disposable women and respectable, valuable women. That aspect of the movie has not aged well.
  • I also kind of winced at the generic Arab-looking terrorists. Yinsen did say they were from a variety of nations, speaking a variety of languages including European ones, but they still all looked vaguely brown and threatening. As usual, that part of the world is mostly divided into villains and victims; Tony needs to fly in with his high-tech suit to save the poor villagers (though it was a good touch that he didn’t personally take vengeance on the man who captured and tortured him). Yinsen is something of an exception, since he’s shown having skill, ingenuity, and initiative… but then he sacrifices himself to save Tony. Of course.
  • Having gotten used to Don Cheadle playing Rhodey, it’s very weird to see Terrence Howard in the role. What a strange recast. Facial structure, skin tone, vocal register, and general manner are all completely different. Don Cheadle strikes me as more serious, so more believable as a high-ranking military officer, but Terrence Howard seems more like the kind of guy who hung out with Tony Stark in college and continues to put up with his shit.
  • I love Coulson so much. It’s so funny to see him in his first movie appearance, now that he’s become a running gag and then a sacrificial lamb and then one of the heroes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He does mild-mannered and put-upon so adorably.
  • How far Tony Stark has come! And Robert Downey, Jr. has shepherded him gradually and organically through his maturation from self-centered, immature playboy to cocky, self-assured part-time hero to struggling PTSD sufferer to adult man trying to carry the world on his shoulders (and co-raise a teenage kid) while still maintaining a dry sense of humor and a cool facade. Tony has had the most consistent, compelling character arc in the MCU and surely one of the major reasons for that is that RDJ cares so much about him and goes to bat for the integrity of the character.

no but disturbing realistic superheroes

melanormal:

ookaookaooka:

Vision has no hair anywhere on his body–no armpit hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes. No fingernails. His skin tastes like metal. Sometimes, he forgets to breathe for minutes or hours at a time.

Captain Marvel smells like burning. When you touch her, your hand comes away cold because she’s absorbed your body heat. If she gets cut, she bleeds light. She can tell you what the inside of an explosion feels like.

Bruce Banner vomits after de-hulking. His skin is always red and peeling. He looks sick, like he has a fever, and he ingests more medication than actual food. There are blisters on his lips.

Tony Stark has a huge, sunken scar on his sternum where the arc reactor was removed and his chest aches each time he takes a breath. He has callouses in odd places–so does the whole team, really–and there is a permanent bald spot on the back of his head where it has been cut open every time he gets thrown around in his suit.

Spider-Man sometimes forgets which way is up–if you put him in a room with identical walls, floor, and ceiling, he couldn’t tell you which is which. His hands and feet are prickly to the touch, even through his costume. He is very nearsighted.

The Scarlet Witch has no sense of boundaries; if you can’t tell she’s spying on your thoughts, why should she stop? She doesn’t do it out of any malicious intent, just out of curiosity and convenience. She never loses arguments.

Thor speaks about events that happened thousands of years ago as if they were last week. Cats arch their backs and stare at him. Something about him–his eyes, or his skin, or the way he moves–seems slightly off, like he doesn’t belong on Earth at all.

stuff like that.

Dark Stan Lee show me the marvel gothic

lokislonelylady:

sugardaddytonystark:

starkwest:

I’ve watched this piece countless times now. I’ve slowed it down. Sped it up. Paused it. Screengrabbed and expanded it and I still think what I thought on my first watch. My gut tells me that this isn’t Tony in the suit.

It isn’t just the body type (hips too narrow/gait of walk off/and man, that really does not look like Downey’s ass). It’s the left hand. 

By now Tony has been Iron Man for ten plus years. The raising of his hand to fire the repuslor is beyond automatic. It is bone deep. It is muscle memory. The armor is part of him. He literally does it in his sleep in IM3. There is no way that Tony Stark, the man who fought Thor, who took on two super soldiers at once without even a second thought is going to suddenly forget how to plant his feet and raise his hand. Tony Stark never backed down from a fight in his life. Even as they were torturing him in the cave he remained defiant and fought back.

Tony isn’t the only person on that planet Peter (parker) is up there with him. 

And if that is Tony in that shot, then Marvel threw character out the window and fucked up big time. 

But I honestly, truly think that isn’t Tony in that armor.

YEs, I thought the same thing. That little mannerism, the slight lifting of the hand to block, not attack, is so Peter Parker. I just… I can’t. 

And isn’t Peter hurt in the trailer, apologizing to Tony? Did Peter steal his suit for some reason? 

Like Patroclus donning Achilles armor and going to face Hektor-I also see Peter  here, no way is that Tony moving his hand/arm like that, standing moving like that in the suit.

knightinironarmor:

robert downey jr honest to fucking god deserves an oscar for that IM1 final press conference scene. for acting like he’s tony stark while tony stark is acting like hes not fucking DYING to be a superhero

i’ve said this before but the thing about playing tony stark is that it’s damn acting inception. dude it’s not about acting like he’s feeling a thing. it’s not even just about acting as if he’s feeling a thing while pretending he’s NOT feeling a thing. this guy has to 1) act like he’s feeling a thing while 2) pretending not to be feeling that thing but also 3) SUBTLY FAILING at pretending not to be feeling that thing. CONSTANTLY

because tony stark is not cold and unemotional or cooly detached, he just pretends to be when it’s convenient, fails in very specific ways (as in, he fails enough for that to be noticed by very few but missed by most), or he’s otherwise playing at a quasi impossible balance between facade and emotional genuineness, like he’s an open book with a page he very neatly torn off jfc do you UNDERSTAND how intense this must be to act and successfully convey to an audience without using any explicit DESCRIPTIVE WORDING i’m pulling all my face muscles just thinking about this

like!!!! this is the reason why iron man comic narrative relied so much on super dramatic third-person narration boxes because he was lying and/or hiding so much of the time and robert downey jr has the unbelievable task of giving us this conflict not only in movies that revolve around his character but also in ensemble movies and movies that take an external perspective on him and he’s not allowed constant voiceovers and solo backstage scenes my goD if rdj doesn’t get more recognition for this role then the entire industry is uh FAKE