Iron Man - How Marvel's Films Make Us Feel At Home

Iron Man (2008)

Dir. Jon Favreau

With Avengers: Infinity War on the horizon, some friends and I made an observation: If you watch one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films every week this year, there are exactly enough weeks to watch all of them in time for the premiere of the new team-up movie in May (not counting Black Panther, which is unlikely to have a home media release by then). Many of us haven't re-watched a lot of these movies, and I in fact haven't seen most of them since their original theatrical release. So today begins our journey through the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The "Infinity Road" as I call it. I hope that we don't spend too much time on this blog talking about the Marvel films since that could be exhausting, but I think the one that started it all is itching to get talked about. 

Iron Man was not Marvel Comics' first venture into the world of film. That would be 1944's Captain America serial, which had a warm reception back in the day but doesn't quite match up to our expectations of a movie in the 21st century. Later Marvel would have their first feature length release in 1986 with Howard the Duck, which had a reception that was....less warm. A handful of other moderately successful movies would come throughout the years such as Blade and X-Men, but things really changed in 2002 with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man.

Before Spider-Man, the most successful superhero movie was Tim Burton's Batman (1989) with a worldwide gross of $411 million. Spider-Man not only doubled that pulling in $821 million worldwide, but it was also nominated for two academy awards for sound and visual effects. A comic book character was a box office blockbuster for the first time ever, and Marvel now had an interesting problem on their hands. They had sold off the film rights to their characters to different studios (Spider-Man being the work of Sony Pictures), and a lot of them weren't bringing in the big bucks that we now knew they could. As early as 2004, Marvel Studios shifted gears from simply licensing characters to producing their own movies. Realizing they had the rights to all the core members of The Avengers, Marvel Studios began planning out their vast cinematic universe under the direction of producer Kevin Feige.

Iron Man was the MCU's first film, and it does a lot right off the bat to establish its setting and characters. There's a small detail in the opening exposition narrating the story of Tony Stark's life so far that I've always liked very much: we see Stark (along with the other supporting characters of his life) featured on the covers of real-world magazines like Forbes and Rolling Stone. Later in the film CNBC's Jim Cramer makes a cameo playing himself talking about Stark Industries on his show Mad Money. 

These cameos from real media help to reinforce to the audience that this story is taking place in our own world. Movies based on comic books - especially those about superheroes - had a reputation for being a bit fantastical and silly back in the day. Even Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy still didn't take itself too seriously and indulged in some over-the-top elements and actors chewing the scenery around them. With Iron Man, director Jon Favreau set out to make a story that's more grounded and realistic, adding in these hooks to make viewers feel at home in the Marvel Universe.

This, I think, is part of the key to the MCU's success. In a 2015 interview, legendary Marvel Comics writer Stan Lee commented on how he strives to make his characters feel more human.

“I think it’s because I tried to give them private lives and problems,” Lee says–something that heroes like Superman and Batman didn’t have in the early ’60s. “Everything isn’t good with them, they don’t just have a super power that means they can do anything. I’m hoping that the readers and the moviegoers find their lives and their careers somewhat interesting and complex.”

Iron Man is about a weapons developer realizing the impact his war profiteering has on the world. Tony Stark sees firsthand the destruction his actions have caused, and he decides to no longer be a part of it. In the mid-to-late 2000s as the Iraq War raged on, this is a story that would speak to audiences hearing about the war-torn middle east every day and make them understand Stark's character on a more personal level.

This is especially driven home by the superb acting of Robert Downey Jr., who at the time had just been through a disastrous low point in his life struggling with alcoholism, drug abuse, and mental illness. Downey, just like the character of Tony Stark, had to turn his life around and set a new course for himself. In many ways he has lived Stark's character arc for himself, allowing him to bring the character to life in an incredibly personal way. As a fun nod to this, the first thing Stark wants after escaping his three month imprisonment at the turning point of his life is a meal from Burger King - the restaurant Downy himself has credited for helping him to realize how low he had sunk in his life as he ate what he called "such a disgusting burger" that he knew something was wrong.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe films get criticized a lot for being mediocre big-budget block busters. Out of 14 films (not counting the 2017 releases as we don't know the nominations yet), zero of them have won an academy award. When it comes down to it, it's hard to argue that any of these movies will be studied in a film class as they don't do anything particularly groundbreaking or high brow. But what they do succeed at is capturing the core appeal of the Marvel universe's characters and settings. Marvel's films, starting with their very first outing with Iron Man, take place in a world that feels familiar and relatable so that every time we step into the theater, we feel right at home.