Iron Man

Iron Man is a 2008 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures.^{[N 1]} It is the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Jon Favreau, with a screenplay by the writing teams of Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. It stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man, alongside Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Shaun Toub, and Gwyneth Paltrow. In Iron Man, Tony Stark, an industrialist and master engineer, builds a powered exoskeleton after a life-threatening incident and becomes the technologically advanced superhero Iron Man.

Plot[]

Genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist Tony Stark, who has inherited the defense contractor Stark Industries from his father, is in war-torn Afghanistan with his friend and military liaison Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to demonstrate the new "Jericho" missile. After the demonstration, the convoy is ambushed and Stark is critically wounded by one of his own company's rocket-propelled grenades, used by the attackers. He is captured and imprisoned in a cave by a terrorist group, the Ten Rings; Yinsen, a fellow captive who is a doctor, implants an electromagnet into Stark's chest to keep the shrapnel shards that wounded him from reaching his heart and killing him. Ten Rings leader Raza offers Stark freedom in exchange for building a Jericho missile for the group, but Tony and Yinsen know that Raza will not keep his word.

Stark and Yinsen secretly build a small, powerful electric generator called an arc reactor to power Stark's electromagnet and a prototypical suit of powered armor to aid in their escape. Although they keep the suit hidden almost to completion, the Ten Rings discover their hostages' intentions and attack the workshop. Yinsen sacrifices himself to divert them while the suit is completed. The armored Stark battles his way out of the cave to find the dying Yinsen, then burns the Ten Rings' weapons in anger and flies away, crashing in the desert and destroying the suit in the process. After being rescued by Rhodes, Stark returns home and announces that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. Obadiah Stane, his father's old partner and the company's manager, advises Stark that this may ruin Stark Industries and his father's legacy. In his home workshop, Stark builds a sleeker, more powerful version of his improvised armor suit as well as a more powerful arc reactor for his chest. Personal assistant Pepper Potts places the original reactor inside a small glass showcase. Though Stane requests details, Stark keeps his work to himself because he is suspicious of his company.

At a charity event held by Stark Industries, reporter Christine Everhart informs Stark that his company's weapons, including the Jericho, were recently delivered to the Ten Rings and are being used to attack Yinsen's home village, Gulmira. Stark then learns that Stane has been arms trafficking to criminals worldwide, and is staging a coup to replace him as Stark Industries' CEO. Stark dons his new armor and flies to Afghanistan, where he saves the villagers. While flying home, Stark is shot at by two F-22 Raptor fighter jets. He reveals his secret identity to Rhodes over the phone in an attempt to end the attack. Meanwhile, the Ten Rings gather the pieces of Stark's prototype suit and meet with Stane, who subdues Raza and has the rest of the group killed. Stane has a massive new suit reverse engineered from the wreckage. Seeking to track his company's illegal shipments, Stark sends Potts to hack into its database. She discovers that Stane hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark, but the group reneged. Potts meets with Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D., an intelligence agency, to inform him of Stane's activities.

Stane's scientists cannot duplicate Stark's miniaturized arc reactor, so Stane ambushes Stark at his home and takes the one from his chest. Stark manages to get to his original reactor to replace it. Potts and several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents attempt to arrest Stane, but he dons his suit and attacks them. Stark fights Stane, but is outmatched without his new reactor to run his suit at full capacity. The fight carries Stark and Stane to the top of the Stark Industries building, and Stark instructs Potts to overload the large arc reactor powering the building. This unleashes a massive electrical surge that causes Stane and his armor to fall into the exploding reactor, killing him. The next day, at a press conference, Stark defies suggestions from S.H.I.E.L.D. and publicly admits to being the superhero the press has dubbed "Iron Man".

In a post-credits scene, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury visits Stark at home, telling him that Iron Man is not "the only superhero in the world", and explaining that he wants to discuss the "Avenger Initiative".

Cast[]

Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
Terrence Howard as Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes
Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger
Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
Leslie Bibb as Christine Everhart
Shaun Toub as Ho Yinsen
Faran Tahir as Raza
Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson
Bill Smitrovich as General William Gabriel
Sayed Badreya as Abu Bakaar
Paul Bettany as J.A.R.V.I.S. (voice)
Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan
Peter Billingsley as William Ginter Riva
Tim Guinee as Major Allen
Kevin Foster as Jimmy
Garrett Noel as Pratt
Eileen Weisinger as Ramirez
Ahmed Ahmed as Ahmed
Fahim Fazli as Omar
Gerard Sanders as Howard Stark
Nazanin Boniadi as Amira Ahmed
Thomas Craig Plumer as Colonel Craig
Jim Cramer as Himself
Zorianna Kit as Herself
Micah A. Hauptman as Lacy
Tom Morello as Guard
Russell Bobbitt as Giorgio (uncredited)
Samuel L. Jackson as Director Nick Fury (uncredited)
Ghostface Killah as Dubai Tycoon (uncredited)
Stan Lee as Himself (uncredited)
Unknown Actor as Sullivian (uncredited)
Unknown Actor as Ralph Vats (uncredited)
Unknown Actor as Ronald Coultrap (uncredited)

Sequels[]

Iron Man was followed by two sequels: Iron Man 2 (2010) and Iron Man 3 (2013).

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

This is the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This is Marvel Studios' first self-financed movie.
This was the eighth highest grossing film in 2008.
This is the lowest grossing Iron Man film in the trilogy.
This is the first live action film centering around Iron Man.
This is the first film in the Iron Man trilogy.
To prepare for his role as Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. spent five days a week weight training and practiced martial arts to get into shape.
Roughly 450 separate pieces make up the Iron Man suit.
Jon Favreau celebrated getting the job as director by going on a diet and losing seventy pounds.
Stan Lee, the creator of Iron Man, had originally based Tony Stark on Howard Hughes, who he felt was "one of the most colorful men of our time: an inventor, an adventurer, a multimillionaire, a ladies man, and finally, a nutcase." Robert Downey Jr. further described his portrayal of Stark as "a challenge of making a wealthy, establishmentarian, weapons-manufacturing, hard-drinking, womanizing prick, into a character who is likeable, and a hero."
This is the only Marvel Cinematic Universe film, and the only Iron Man film, that does not feature any martial-arts fights. It is also the first of two Marvel Cinematic Universe films in which Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man) appeared, but doesn't show off his skills in the Wing Chun fighting style.
Director Jon Favreau wanted Robert Downey Jr. because he felt the actor's past was right for the part. He commented: "The best and worst moments of Robert's life have been in the public eye. He had to find an inner balance to overcome obstacles that went far beyond his career. That's Tony Stark. Robert brings a depth that goes beyond a comic book character having trouble in high school, or can't get the girl." Favreau also felt Downey could make Stark "a likable asshole," but also depict an authentic emotional journey once he won over the audience.
Jeff Bridges said he felt really uncomfortable not having a script or rehearsals, since normally he is very prepared, and knows his lines word for word. Realizing it was like he was in a "two hundred million dollar student film" took the pressure off of him and made it fun.#
Paul Bettany has never seen the film, and is unfamiliar with the plot. He said J.A.R.V.I.S. was the easiest job ever, and it was almost like a robbery, since he only worked for two hours, got paid a lot of money, then went on vacation with his wife (Jennifer Connelly, who would later voice the A.I. in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)). His role would, however, be expanded considerably in the later Marvel films, and even require his physical presence from Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) on.
Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) was originally a much smaller part. In fact, the character at first was only called "Agent," but as filming went on, and Gregg's chemistry with all the other cast members became apparent, they added more and more scenes. Agent Coulson would go on to appear in Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Avengers Assemble (2012), Captain Marvel (2019), and would star in the spinoff series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013).
Tony Stark's computer system is called J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System). This is a tribute to Edwin Jarvis, Howard Stark's butler. He was changed to an artificial intelligence to avoid comparisons to Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred Pennyworth. In the limited-comic Iron Man 2: Public Identity, the comic book prequel to Iron Man 2 (2010) it is revealed that Tony named the computer system after him following his death as Jarvis was responsible for raising Tony after the death of his parents. James D'Arcy would portray a younger version of Edwin Jarvis for Agent Carter (2015) and would later make his official MCU film debut in Avengers: Endgame (2019).
For the first three Iron Man movies, director Jon Favreau thought of making the Iron Monger the main villain of the second film. Stane was going to be Stark's friend and confidante in the first film, but then would become his enemy in the second installment. However, Favreau was worried how to handle The Mandarin, who was to be the villain of the first film, so he decided to re-work the character into a behind-the-scenes presence, and make Iron Monger the first villain.
It took approximately seventeen years to get the film into development. Originally, Universal Pictures was to produce the film in April 1990. They later sold the rights to Twentieth Century Fox. Later, Fox sold the rights to New Line Cinema. Finally, Marvel Studios decided to handle their own creation.
Rachel McAdams was Jon Favreau's first choice to play Pepper Potts, but she turned the role down. She later played a role in Doctor Strange (2016).
This was the first in a planned six-picture deal between Marvel and Paramount, before the acquisition of Marvel by Disney, which transferred the distribution rights of Avengers Assemble (2012) and Iron Man 3 (2013) to Disney, while Paramount kept the rights to Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) until Disney acquired them.
Hugh Jackman was offered the role of Tony Stark.
Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) was originally a much smaller part. In fact, the character at first was only called "Agent," but as filming went on, and Gregg's chemistry with all the other cast members became apparent, they added more and more scenes. Agent Coulson would go on to appear in Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), The Avengers (2012), Captain Marvel (2019), and would star in the spinoff series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013).
Jeff Bridges said he felt really uncomfortable not having a script or rehearsals, since normally he is very prepared, and knows his lines word for word. Realizing it was like he was in a "two hundred million dollar student film" took the pressure off of him and made it fun.
To avoid spoilers about the final press conference, the extras were told that it was a dream sequence.
Paul Bettany has never seen the film, and is unfamiliar with the plot. He said J.A.R.V.I.S. was the easiest job ever, and it was almost like a robbery, since he only worked for two hours, got paid a lot of money, then went on vacation with his wife (Jennifer Connelly, who would later voice the A.I. in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)). His role would, however, be expanded considerably in the later Marvel films, and even require his physical presence from Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) on.

Iron Man
Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Iron Man 3 (2013)

Phase One
Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012)