by Tim Webb

Created on: May 02, 2008   Last Updated: June 10, 2008

Iron Man was up until recently one of Marvel Comics least complicated characters. Originally created by Stan Lee and first seen in March 1963 in Marvels Tales Of Suspense #89, Lee wanted a create a character that emulated the recluse billionaire Howard Hughes. Lee collaborated with scriptwriter Larry Leiber, artist Don Heck and the legendary Jack Kirby. From this the hero of Iron Man was born in his famous yellow and red armour.

Now for the first the character of Iron Man appears in his very own movie. This is the first time ever that a live action film has been made of Iron Man as previous mediums have concentrated within the realms of animation or most notably comics and graphic novels. I was lucky enough to see this recently and to be honest was quite taken aback at how much detail and research had gone into the story, the whole ambience and design of the film has been faithfully lifted from the comics and portrays the idea that the lead character has a double life as well as being the wealthy head of what could easily be called the family business.

With the Marvel production team now officially a company of its own and not affiliated with any such Studio such as MGM or Fox, I think that this has assisted in producing a film that has quite literally raised the bar in terms of superhero movies.

The film stars Robert Downey Jr as the lead character Tony Stark. Stark is a wealthy and well known industrialist whose company has successfully built and sold military hardware. Stark is the focal point of the story throughout, at the start of the film Stark pays a visit to Afghanistan; after a brutal attack upon his convoy he is kidnapped and held captive against his will. The main reason for this is his notoriety as an arms dealer and weapons builder means that he has to build a weapon for the militia to earn his release. While recovering from a near death injury, he awakens to find he has had an electromagnet surgically attached to his chest that is preventing a number of pieces of shrapnel from entering his heart and killing him, bottom line is that if the magnet fails then Stark will die from a cardiac arrest. Stark decides that he will not comply with his captors and going against their instructions he builds the prototype Iron Man Mark 1 armour, far bulkier in size and not what we are used to seeing in the more paper based stories. With the armour he escapes and eventually returns back to the States.

Stark is a man not only refocused but also a man who is highly

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