Who is Tony Stark: An overly sensitive, physically blue outcast with a brain to match his father's wealth or a lovably flawed hero with a sweet night light in his chest? Well, that all depends on which incarnation you like the best, either the incredibly popular comic-turned trade paperback Ultimate Iron Man or the Robert Downey Jr. Iron Man movie that people speculate will exceed the phenomenon that was Spiderman.
Fans of the series believe that many of the concepts for the movie were taken from the Ultimate Iron Man comic, and there are some similarities.The names are all the same. Yes, Tony Stark does reveal his secret identity, and yes, some of the faces are spot on. But that’s where the similarities end.
The fact of the matter is that the movie parallels the comic book origin of Iron Man almost to the letter but with some modern day tweaks. Iron Man first appeared in issue #39 of Tales of Suspense, in which the Viet Cong captured him during the Vietnam Conflict. Subsequently, he was forced to create a nearly indestructible suit of armor to escape. In the movie, Tony Stark is captured by a middle eastern terrorist organization known as the Ten Rings, and, in a race against time, builds the progenitor Iron Man suit to fight against his captors.
The character of Tony Stark has always been portrayed as an alcoholic, eccentric, womanizing billionaire playboy. Tony Stark's character was based on, and imagined to look like, a combination of Errol Flynn and Howard Hughes. Their vision of Tony Stark is now exemplified by the perfect casting of Robert Downey Jr.
The movie has been a huge success, grossing $178 million domestic in the first two week since release, and over $353 million worldwide. I expect many fans will be biting their nails in anticipation of the next five follow up installments. Can you say the Mandarin? He's the naughty villain with the ten rings...
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