I am Iron Man

This might be a tough blog post to write. Not because it is going to be on a sensitive subject or anything. More like I’ve been at a computer writing on and off for the past six hours so coming up with yet another topic to write about is going to be a little challenging. My main break so far was for dinner and to watch the storm of doom that came through the area. The tornado sirens even went off, which caused me to rush onto my porch to see what was happening.

Yeah, self-preservation is not exactly one of my strong suits.

I did accomplish one very important task today. I got my hair cut. I’ll put that on the plus side of the unemployment ledger; I can get a haircut on a Thursday afternoon and not feel bad about it in the least. Before it was always a Saturday errand and it bummed me out that I was using up some of my valuable free time in a situation where multi-tasking would be a dangerous undertaking. This afternoon all I had to do was decide between a haircut and watching Judge Judy. This is a much nicer way to live.

Since I am low on topics, and since the movie is coming out, I might as well give my views on Iron Man. I heard him described as a second tier hero today and I didn’t think that was fair. True, he probably ranks behind Spidey and the Hulk and Captain America in the Marvel pantheon but I always thought he was pretty cool. I always liked him better than the Fantastic Four as a whole (I never understood why you would have a guy whose only ability is that he can stretch his body be the leader of a fighting force) and he would totally kick Aquaman’s ass (yes, that is a DC character but I just really, really hate Aquaman. Swimming is not a superpower.)

Iron Man is actually a rather interesting character. Originally he wore the suit due to a heart condition that was caused by stepping on a landmine in southeast Asia. His character was kind of built around the whole Vietnam anti-communist view. Not sure if they were aiming for an update Captain America or not but in the end the character became the billionaire playboy. Similar to Bruce Wayne but without as much of the dark edge.

Ok, that’s not entirely accurate. The biggest part of the Iron Man mystique is that Tony Stark is an alcoholic. That’s not something you would typically see in the comic books. Heroes might have weaknesses but it is always something like kryptonite. Here it was shown that there really was a man behind the suit who was as human as one can be. It makes for a rather amazing character. The reason I’ve never liked Superman is that the character is essentially a god. He comes from outer space, has unearthly powers and does nothing wrong. Batman is human and has no superpowers, just surviving on his wits and skill. Iron Man falls somewhere in between, human and flawed but with the ability to fly and blow stuff up by shooting laser beams from his hands.

Does that mean that the movie will be any good? It looks good and Robert Downey Jr. is a brilliant choice to play Tony Stark. He just has the alcoholic playboy look about him. I like the look better than Speed Racer, which even in commercials seems to annoy me. Mainly I just hope for superhero movies that make me remember why I read comic books in the first place. To escape from the every day.

Now, when they make Watchmen into a movie I’ll really rip into what they are doing. Unless they make that a 12 hour movie it is just not going to work.