The Marvel comic book universe has given the world a huge number of diverse superheroes, some of which are impossible to forget. Of course, we are talking about a character nicknamed Iron Man (Tony Stark). The famous multimillionaire, conqueror of female hearts and part-time brilliant scientist, thanks to his sense of humor, charisma and intelligence, won the hearts of millions and rightfully took one of the leading roles among superheroes. This character will be discussed in the article.
The appearance of a superhero
The world first heard of a hero named Tony Stark (Iron Man) back in 1963. At first, the character did not have his own separate comic book, and he had to fight for the attention of readers with stars such as Captain America, but he quickly gained popularity.
Already in 1968, Marvel launched a separate story about the hero. Despite the fact that the series lasted only 332 issues, it was able to shape the world of Iron Man. Initially, stories about this superhero, as conceived by author Stan Lee, expressed anti-communist ideas and became a platform for expressing thoughts about the Cold War with the Soviet Union. But after the unsuccessful war in Vietnam, the series lost its political urgency and switched to terrorism and corporate crimes.
A few facts about the character’s life
Tony Stark (Iron Man) does not have any superpowers, which stands out among other heroes. He was not bitten by radioactive spiders or brought from another planet, he was not struck by lightning, he did not wear a cloak and a mask. The great scientist, thanks to his intelligence and ingenuity, was able to reach unprecedented heights.
The future superhero was born in the family of a wealthy industrialist, the owner of the huge corporation Stark Industries. At the age of 15, this genius entered the Massachusetts Institute, and at 19 he celebrated his graduation. At 21, Iron Man (Tony Stark), after the death of his parents as a result of a rigged car accident, becomes the head of the corporation. But for a young man, managing the company has become an overwhelming burden, so Stark places a significant part of his business on assistant Virginia Potts (Pepper).
According to the author of the series, Stan Lee, he wrote off his character from a real person, Howard Hughes. This businessman, inventor and adventurer was known throughout the world in the 50s of the last century.
Iron Man on the big screen
The idea of making a movie about the adventures of this superhero appeared back in 1990. It was at that time that the film companies 20th Century, Universal Studios, New Line Cinema began to film the comic. But in 2006, all rights to the shooting were bought by Marvel Studios. Since this was the first project that was solely funded by the Marvelles film company, its film adaptation took so long.
The film "Tony Stark - Iron Man", the description of which is presented below, was the first film from a series of adventures of superheroes from the fictional universe of Marvel.
The director of the first film was John Favreau. You can recognize him by his role as a friend of the protagonist Happy Hogan. John decided to distinguish the superhero from the rest, so the film about his adventures was shot in California, and not as usual in New York. The director had his own approach to filming, he allowed actors to freely change dialogs, if the content of the film did not suffer from this. Probably, this became the basis of the tremendous success with which this action took place in all cinemas around the world.
The film "Tony Stark - Iron Man": actors and roles
In addition to the impressive special effects, the movie about the adventures of the superhero pleased the excellent acting team. Even before the filming began, it was clear that this project was waiting for unprecedented success. That is why such stars as Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage claimed to participate in the film , and many others wanted to get into the film "Tony Stark - Iron Man". The main role went to Robert Downey Jr. He brought to life a superhero and a multimillionaire. The actor at the time of filming reached the age of 43 years, so he had to carefully deal with his appearance and attend the gym at least 5 times a week.
Another global star to star in this film is Gwyneth Paltrow. She played the role of the main assistant to the superhero. It is noteworthy that the actress at first was not particularly eager to star in this film and agreed to participate only on the condition that the shooting will take place near her home.
The main villain and antagonist of Iron Man was masterfully brought to life by Jeff Bridges. The role of US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes (Rowdy) went to Terrence Howard. Artificial intelligence, part-time butler Tony Stark, was voiced by Paul Bettany.
The plot of the film
The story Tony Stark - Iron Man tells us (the content is presented below) is slightly different from the comics. In the story, the main character is a multimillionaire and philanthropist who spent his life carefree. A lot of money is brought to him by the supply of various weapons for the needs of the army. One fine day, after the demonstration of a new project, Tony Stark was captured by terrorists from Afghanistan, who demand the creation of a Jericho missile for them. During the abduction, the main character was seriously wounded in the chest. Despite the fact that Stark took the largest fragments, small shrapnel sat in his body and seeks to get to his heart. That is why the main character inserts an electromagnet into his chest. Tony realizes that even if he creates a rocket, the terrorists will not let him go. So instead of “Jericho” the hero takes up the production of heavy armor, which helps to get out of captivity.
Returning home, Stark refuses to manufacture any weapons and spends all his time on creating a more perfect costume. According to the plot of the protagonist, more than one battle with terrorists awaits. He has to protect the innocent, to confront the US Air Force and unravel the plot in his own company. Also Iron Man (Tony Stark) will meet with the mysterious group Shch.I.T., who will meet the hero more than once in his future adventures.
Tremendous success
John Favreaux has never participated in such projects before, but he managed to create a great action with amazing special effects. Especially successful, according to experts, were scenes with flights. And this is not surprising, because after the end of filming, Robert Downey worked on special effects in the studio for another 8 months in order to harmoniously convey the movements of the superhero. Critics noted the excellent camera work and the soundtrack to the film.
The picture was a huge success in cinemas around the world. “Tony Stark - Iron Man” (science fiction) was nominated 8 times for the “Saturn” award - the main prize of the Academy of Science Fiction, which is especially popular among film lovers from this genre. Also, the film was nominated in two positions for the Oscar.
Adventure Continuation
The film "Tony Stark - Iron Man 2" appeared on the screen in 2010. The director of the film was the same John Favreau. The cast has barely changed: Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow remained the main cast. Terrence Howard, who played James Rowdy, left the project due to disagreements with the Marvelles film company over the fee, and Don Cheadle was chosen in his place. Starring Gwyneth Paltrow also wanted to demand an increase in payment, but after the refusal she decided to stay in the project and not create a scandal. And here is Robert Downey Jr. hit the jackpot. The first part brought him $ 500 thousand, and already for the second he was paid 10 million.
Star composition of the second part
In the film "Tony Stark - Iron Man 2" appeared and new, but well-known faces. In the second part, the main character was to confront the brilliant Soviet engineer Ivan Vanko, nicknamed Khlyst, who was expertly played by Mickey Rourke. In order to get used to the role of a Russian prisoner, the actor visited the Butyrka prison.
Scarlett Johansson is another world star who got into the second part of the adventures of a superhero. In the story, the actress played Natasha Romanoff, special agent S.H.I.T.a nicknamed Black Widow. Justin Hammer embodied the role of Sam Rockwell, another villain whom Tony Stark had to fight.
Rental and rewards of the second part
The rating of this film was significantly lower than the previous part. So the film received average ratings. The picture was nominated for prestigious awards such as the Oscars and Saturn, but she failed to win a single prize. Critics complained about the insufficient disclosure of the storyline and the fact that the film was not as funny as the first part. "Iron Man 2" was a relatively good box office success. The president of the Marvel film studio still was pleased with the results of the film and said that the continuation of the adventures would be more interesting and will appear on the screen in 2013.
One of the highest grossing films in history
“Tony Stark - Iron Man 3” was released on the big screens in April 2013. The director’s chair left John Favreau, and the master of the ironic fighters Shane Black, with whom Downey had already worked on the painting “A Kiss Through”, replaced him. The main roles are played by the same Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle. Ben Kigsley, Rebecca Hall and Guy Pearce joined the cast, they played villains and the main opponents of the superhero.
Iron Man (Tony Stark) in this part showed how he can cope with difficulties even without his heroic costume. Having lost the first battle with the main opponent, tangerine, the hero begins to deal with the villain in earnest. And then one turn of the plot after another falls on the viewer. The film keeps in suspense from the very beginning to the final credits. And the fact that the picture is full of jokes and amazing special effects gives it more charm.
The change of director positively affected the whole picture as a whole. Shane Black, familiar from the two parts of the blockbuster Lethal Weapon, was able to discover new character traits of an amazing superhero named Tony Stark.
"Iron Man 3" was a huge success around the world. With a budget of 200 million, the film grossed more than $ 1 billion at the box office and entered the top 10 most profitable films in history. No less impressive is the fee for the leading actor. Smart Robert Downey Jr. I realized that without him the film could not exist, and requested $ 50 million for his participation, and still received them.
“Tony Stark - Iron Man 4”
To date, the Marvell film company has not officially announced the release of the continuation of the solo adventures of the movie hero.
And this is not surprising, because the studio releases several large films from the comic book universe, in which Tony Stark (Iron Man) is also present. According to preliminary estimates, the year of release of this film is 2018, if the project is approved and implemented.