Vengeance, From The Grave, Kills The People He Once Saved»

As promised! The long-awaited Iron Man Doctrine piece, fresh from The American Prospect. It’s a meditation on Iron Man and imperialism. I know, I know, I’m so f*cking cliche.

The second way Marvel subtly readjusted Iron Man for America’s post-Vietnam sensibilities was to reveal that the reason Stark could control neither his company nor his relationships was that he couldn’t control himself. Stark’s booze-soaked, womanizing lifestyle was cleverly reinterpreted as rampant alcoholism and self-loathing. His drive to save the world was nothing more than a martyr complex born of a callow solipsism. It was a brilliant maneuver by the writers. Iron Man began to ask America: Would you trust such unfettered, unaccountable power to someone this messed up? The introduction of War Machine took the critique a step further, showing that the very act of donning the armor makes you messed up. Some exercises of power are too dangerous to be left in the hands of one man. The writers never turned Iron Man into a villain — that would have been the easy way out. Instead they presented a fascinating character study, a compelling Cold War critique, a subtle plea for liberal internationalism, and a defense of a series of theses presented to the world in America’s founding documents. It helps that Iron Man also blows stuff up.

Other recent updates to the Stark/Iron Man story have jettisoned the Cold War element but deepened the dynamic established in the 1970s. In Extremis, a reboot of the franchise during the current Bush era, Warren Ellis, one of the most talented comic-book writers currently working, has Stark unable to answer the question “What is the Iron Man armor for, Tony?” A left-wing filmmaker, dismissive of Stark’s protestations that he’s more than a weapons merchant, asks, “Do you think they have your painkilling drug pumps in Iraq? Do you think an Afghan kid with his arms blown off by a landmine is remotely impressed by an Iron Man suit?” Tony Stark is meant to be read as a tragic figure. He is one of the smartest men alive, yet he cannot think his way out of the traps his genius constructs for him. And so he blunders, again and again, into a hell of unintended consequences.

God can I not wait for the Ultimates/Avengers movie.

Update: Welcome, Metafilterers.

We Have An APB On Starks And Trife Da God»

Predictably, I’m going to be writing an Iron Man-and-imperialism piece for the Monday edition of the Prospect’s webpage — look at that, Phoebe and Sam! I have locked myself in! — so I don’t want to say anything substantive about the movie here. What I want to say, without spoilers, is that a case can be made that Iron Man marks the moment when the comic-book movie realizes its potential. Wait, what?

I was emotional leaving the theater. (As Dave Chappelle once insisted: “I’m only crying because of the adrenaline!”) Basically, Iron Man is a multi-stimulation Marvelgasm. Not only does it surpass the expectations set by an epic trailer released an agonizing 9 months ago, it does so in a way that isn’t just visually elaborate. Iron Man repeatedly subverts what a comic book movie can be — all while giving the kids what they want. Oh God does it give the kids what we want. (Someone had to explain to me that there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to the ten rings of Mandarin!) The number of in-jokes about how ludicrous Tony Stark actually is boggle the mind, and they’re funny to people who’ve never read the comic. (I took a survey.) And, as Matt writes, there’s not a bad bit of acting in a movie about a superhero. Beyond even that is an achievement even more stunning: Iron Man is a reasonably subtle and successful political movie. (More on that on Monday.)

So I was thinking. What comic book movie has shown similar dexterity, subtelty and self-awareness? (Who?) What comic book movie has presented a fidelity to the comic while elegantly surpassing its limitations? (Who???) What comic book movie has succeeded as multipurpose allegory while never going more than 15 minutes without blowing a lot of stuff up? (WHO??????) You just won’t find it. Iron Man for president. Or secretary of defense. Or S.H.I.E.L.D. director.*

*In the comic, Tony Stark has held the latter two jobs. He’s like the John Negroponte of superheroes.