Iron Man (2008)

After being held captive in an Afghan cave, billionaire engineer Tony Stark creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil.

Director:

Jon Favreau

Writers:

Mark Fergus (screenplay), Hawk Ostby (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 21 wins & 71 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Tony Stark
Terrence Howard	...	Rhodey
Jeff Bridges	...	Obadiah Stane
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Pepper Potts
Leslie Bibb	...	Christine Everhart
Shaun Toub	...	Yinsen
Faran Tahir	...	Raza
Clark Gregg	...	Agent Coulson
Bill Smitrovich	...	General Gabriel
Sayed Badreya	...	Abu Bakaar
Paul Bettany	...	JARVIS (voice)
Jon Favreau	...	Hogan
Peter Billingsley	...	William Ginter Riva
Tim Guinee	...	Major Allen
Will Lyman	...	Award Ceremony Narrator (voice)

Storyline

Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Son of legendary inventor and weapons contractor Howard Stark. When Tony Stark is assigned to give a weapons presentation to an Iraqi unit led by Lt. Col. James Rhodes, he's given a ride on enemy lines. That ride ends badly when Stark's Humvee that he's riding in is attacked by enemy combatants. He survives - barely - with a chest full of shrapnel and a car battery attached to his heart. In order to survive he comes up with a way to miniaturize the battery and figures out that the battery can power something else. Thus Iron Man is born. He uses the primitive device to escape from the cave in Iraq. Once back home, he then begins work on perfecting the Iron Man suit. But the man who was put in charge of Stark Industries has plans of his own to take over Tony's technology for other matters.

---

Plot Keywords:

billionaire | inventor | robot suit | based on comic | marvel cinematic universe | 

---

Taglines:

Get ready for a different breed of heavy metal hero.

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

---

Certificate:

M

Did You Know?

Trivia

The script was not completely finished when filming began, since the filmmakers were more focused on the story and the action, so the dialogue was mostly ad-libbed throughout filming. Director Jon Favreau acknowledged this made the film feel more natural. Some scenes were shot with two cameras, to capture lines improvised on the spot. Robert Downey Jr. would ask for many takes of one scene, since he wanted to try something new. Gwyneth Paltrow, on the other hand, had a difficult time trying to match Downey with a suitable line, as she never knew what he would say.

---

Goofs

Tony Stark is shown, learning to control the powerful thrusters in the suits hands and feet. It takes Tony considerable time to master the art of flying. However, when Stane acquires the arc reactor from Tony and inserts it into his new iron suit, he is able to fly and maneuver well, immediately.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Tony Stark: I feel like you're driving me to court martial. This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're gonna pull over and snuff me. What, you're not allowed to talk? Hey, Forrest!
Jimmy: We can talk, sir.
Tony Stark: Oh, I see. So it's personal.
Ramirez: No, you intimidate them.
Tony Stark: Good God, you're a woman! I honestly, I couldn't have called that. I mean, I would apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first.
Ramirez: I'm an airman.
Tony Stark: Well, you have actually excellent bone structure there. ...
[...]

---

Crazy Credits

Part of the closing credits are seen against computer-graphic renders of armoured suits. One of the renders is an armour with a Gatling gun attached - the War Machine suit, which would appear in Iron Man 2 (2010).

---

Alternate Versions

The version of the film shows in AMC Theaters as part of a pre-Avengers Marvel Phase One marathon features an exclusive intro from Agent Coulson, talking about the film and the character. These Coulson intros were later includes as bonuses in the Avengers Phase One box set.

---

Connections

Referenced in Mike and Mike in the Morning: Episode dated 9 March 2015 (2015)

---

Soundtracks

Iron Man
Written by Ozzy Osbourne (as John Osbourne), Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler (as Terence Butler) and Bill Ward (as William Ward)
Performed by Black Sabbath
Courtesy of Black Sabbath
Under license from Downlane Limited

User Reviews

This is where it all began. Queue AC/DC.

MCU 2021 Marathon

MCU #1:

Iron Man was my favorite Marvel hero. As a teen I collected 1-150 with the main series. I doodled the Iron Man helmet during class at high school when bored.

So it was a huge surprise when this came out in 2008 and it was so freaking GOOD! Jon Favreau, the guy that had done Elf and Zathura (the Zumanji sequel) had just started a cinematic revolution? What!?!? (And Favreau is doing it again with The Mandalorian).

Robert Downey Jr. was made for the part of Tony Stark. The origin story was modernized and handled well. They included most of the early Iron Man suits from the comics. They took the time showing the more modern invention of the suit and the challenges of making it work (e.g. maneuvering with the repulsors).

I finally understood what Spiderman's fans felt like when Sam Raimi's Spiderman series became a massive pop culture sensation years earlier. Fantastic!

There are issues. Pacing mostly. Jeff Bridges is too much the stereotypical villain with an over-the-top fight scene at the end.

This was the beginning of the MCU world building effort which was more "slight-of-hand" in the earlier movies -- Stark's OCD making itself evident, that Shield guy at the party, and Samuel Jackson pinging Stark about Avengers in the end credits.

It began and ended with Iron Man. That makes me happy.

"I am Iron Man"

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English Persian Urdu Arabic Kurdish Hindi Hungarian

Release Date:

1 May 2008 (New Zealand)

Also Known As:

Iron man - El hombre de hierro

Filming Locations:

Palmdale Regional Airport, Palmdale, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$140,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$98,618,668, 4 May 2008

Gross USA:

$319,034,126

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$585,796,247

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Marvel Enterprises, Marvel Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1