by James W. Coates

Created on: July 03, 2009   Last Updated: July 04, 2009

Robert Downey Jr. recreates himself as a superhero and blows away the competition with the blockbuster movie event of summer 2008, Iron Man

When trailers first appeared, Iron Man looked cheap and dumb. It featured a clunky tin man wobbling out of a dark cave shooting fire from his arms. Robert Downey Jr. seemed the most unlikely of all actors to play a superhero. The whole project seemed laughable.

But as more information emerged about director Jon Favreau's film adaptation of the Marvel comic book character, and tighter, more stylish trailers came out, things blended together. As ironic as it seems, Iron Man leads the pack as this summer's grocery list of superhero blockbuster movies rolls out, and sets the stage as a tough act to follow.

Robert Downey Jr. Breathes Life into Iron Man

In the lead role of Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. plays an ego-centric womanizer who has built a reputation and a career around supplying the world with military weapons. When his convoy is ambushed by said weapons during a promotional stunt in Afghanistan, Stark is kidnapped and forced to create a super missile from parts a rogue military organisation has seized.

Locked deep in a cave with Yinsen (Shaun Toub), Stark's life is saved by an apparatus attached to his chest that eliminates shrapnel from his body, an apparatus Stark later perfects. Instead of creating the weapons for the villains, Stark creates an iron suit and blasts his way out of the cave, eventually getting back to the United States.

Humbled by his experience, Stark has a change of heart concerning his chosen line of work and decides to rid the world of the very same weapons his company has created since World War II.

With help from friend Colonel Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard) and assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Stark creates a better suit that gives him superhuman power and the ability to fly.

Upset over the chain of events, Stark's business partner, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), cuts Stark out of the company and seizes control of the business and eventually the suit which he recreates to turn himself into the Iron Monger. From there the movie loses its focus on ridding the world of evil weapons dealers in Afghanistan and focuses on the battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger.

Iron Man Cast of Steel

While the movie has serious plot holes and a series of unlikely events, the best part of this movie is its heart. It doesn't try to be anything other than it is. It doesn't focus on drilling the

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