‘Iron Man’ presents an updated hero for the U.S.

Robert Downey, Jr., as Tony Stark, is about to demonstrate The Jericho in the Alabama Hills during filming of “Iron Man”. Photo courtesy Chris Langley

By Chris Langley 
Inyo County Film Commission

4-24-2008

Tony Stark embarks on the “hero’s quest” in the new Marvel Studios film “Iron Man.” The film shot major scenes here in Inyo County, the largest film company to be here in many years. Before the film opens, we can get glimpses of Stark from the movie trailer and the novelization by Peter David, based on the screenplay by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway.

Comic book heroes are often treated in a diminutive way by all but the fans, the term itself sounding somewhat derogatory. Tony Stark who evolves into the Iron Man during the course of the film and the comic book series was never one of Marvel’s most popular characters. That may change with what appears to be growing enthusiasm for the film based on the responses to previews, advance marketing and audience tracking numbers.
When Robert Downey, Jr. was cast as the lead there was discussion among the fans about his appropriateness to play the part. Many people doubted he was right, or up to the challenge. He felt differently and trained physically to be in top shape and aggressively went after the role.
In the novel based on the movie, we meet a bored Tony Stark. Author David takes us inside his mind periodically throughout the story, allowing us glimpses into his psychological changes. Stark is a brilliant scientist and his company, inherited from his father, is heavily dependent on munitions manufacturing. In fact, we meet him about to blow up the Alabama Hills with his newest system, The Jericho. Through the magic of CGI, he proceeds to do so. He thinks, “Impossible to be grateful for being bored. There are simply too many interesting things going on in the world to tolerate boredom for even a moment.”
He is 200 miles north of Kabul in Afghanistan, and the Alabama Hills are a perfect stand-in. He muses why terrorists fight for such a barren land and he wonders if instead we should be buying them condos in Santa Monica. “When one’s profession involves coming up with new and exciting ways to take lives, sometimes it’s fun to do something just to feel alive.”
In his business life and personal life he is basically amoral, his mind racing from idea to idea, his focus on killing people, bad people, true, but still his focus is killing people. We learn he is handsome, with a Van Dyke beard, and a $500 haircut, ready for a GQ cover.
Then his Humvee convoy is attacked and the soldiers who he has met and joked with are killed. He is captured, mortally wounded, with shrapnel that will slowly work its way into his heart and kill him. Before his inevitable death, his captor Raza orders him to build him a Jericho weapons system. Instead he creates a miniaturized arc generator (a Stark Industries invention) and Yinsen, the surgeon who saved his life, implants it.

Stark creates the Iron Man suit, embarking on the hero’s journey. Photo courtesy Chris Langley

Symbolically, the hero is given a new “heart” in the form of the generator that ultimately powers all of his activities and changed behaviors. Stark builds, instead of the missiles desired by the terrorists, a metal suit from the parts that allow him to escape from the cave (constructed for the film on Cerro Gordo Road). Rinsen is the person there to teach Stark the hero’s calling of self-sacrifice in pursuit of helping others. In mythological terms, he is the gate keeper who presents the challenge to the hero that allows him to develop along the journey. Stark learns the lessons of self-sacrifice from Rinsen’s example as well.
Stark has two mentors in his life, his military friend James Rhodes (Rhodey) played by Terrence Howard and Stane, a father-figure and business associate played by Jeff Bridges. The hero must work his way through life and deceit, identifying who is there as a true mentor and who is there only to use and betray him.
In true Stark style, when he has escaped and been picked up in the desert wasteland (Olancha sand dunes), he makes a statement in front of the press that announces he is now on the true path to becoming a hero. “What happened over there? I had my eyes opened, that’s what happened. I saw my weapons, with my name on them, in the hands of thugs. I thought we were doing good here … I can’t say that any more.”
When asked what he is going to do about it, he truly recognizes his new calling. “The system is broken – there is no accountability whatsoever. Effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries, until a time when I can reassess the future of this company.” He is starting to evolve into Iron Man.
The comic book hero is taking on some of the most important issues of our time: for example, does violence really solve any of the challenges we face? Stark’s evolution demands one very important challenge he ultimately must meet: he must confront his own “shadow” figure, for he was that killer. In the story this takes the form of the Iron Monger, a product from Stark himself. Each hero must confront his old self in his quest to realize his true mission.
In true modern form, Stark’s progress is marked by psychological development signaled by his perfection of the Iron Man suit. The story spends much time on showing the development of the technology. Iron Man is not just a human hero, but a technological hero as well. In fact, technology is the final key to his transformation. While often films argue against the promise of technology as anything more than a curse, “Iron Man” sees technology as at the center of the hero’s journey and transformation.
Note: When the film premieres on May 2, the Lone Pine Film History Museum is opening an exhibit of props from Raza’s cave where Stark begins his hero quest. In future columns, once the film opens we will be free to examine the process of bringing the film to the screen here in Inyo County.

Langley can be reached by phone at (760) 937-1189 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it