I felt compelled to write this post seeing that Jon Favreau just got honored with a star on the walk of fame at Hollywood Blvd on the 13th of February 2023. In attendance was his close friend and collaborator Robert Downey Jr. It was Favreau's visionary directing and faith in his then downtrodden friend that lead to the renaissance of Downey Jr's career and the birth of the multi million dollar juggernaut now known as the MCU.
Before I delve into the phenomenon known as the Ironman, how many of you remember both Jon and Robert from the early years? I'm sure that you recall Jon's comedic roles on FRIENDS as a crazy rich guy who wanted to fight in the octagon, or the clown who clashes with George Costanza at a children's party and claims that George is living in the past and and no one knows who Bozo is on Seinfeld? His comedic timing is uncanny, and he gets to showcase this as Happy Hogan in the Ironman movies. He is also a brilliant director, having directed Disney's live adaptations of the beloved Lion King and The Jungle Book. He is currently leading the revitalization of the Star Wars franchise with the Mandalorian.
Downey Jr, the star of the Ironman and Sherlock Holmes movies has had his fair share of up and downs with drug addiction and sobriety. He has some diamonds from his troubled years, such as the amazing Chaplin, his time on the TV series Ally McBeal, and as Kirk Lazarus in the largely controversial Ben Stiller production Tropic Thunder. Here he plays an actor playing a African American. He has been my all time favorite actor since I first watched Only You, Hearts and Souls and Weird Science. Despite his misdemeanors, his colleagues have always said that he maintained his professionalism on set and gave his all. Downey Jr's method acting as well as his quick wit is a joy to watch. The only other thespian that can inhabit a role like that is Johnny Depp. Downey Jr's life and career turned around when he met his current wife Susan on the set of Gothika. She kept him on the straight and narrow.
Fast forward to 2008 and the release of the Jon Favreau helmed Ironman. Jon had to literally fight to keep the uninsurable Downey Jr on the project due to his checked past. And Downey Jr wasn't even the top biller for this second tier Marvel superhero movie. That spot went to Terrance Howard, who played James Rhodes. Jon's gamble paid off and Robert Downey Jr became the face of the MCU. Sure he was supported by some great actors and actresses. Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane. But it was his genius that made Stark believable and relatable. RDJ, with all his insecurities and flaws was born to play Tony Stark! In Downey Jr's own words, ' I'm lucky to be able play myself in different roles '. This is a well paced origin story that fleshes out Tony Stark's arc from a narcissistic arms dealer to semi enlighten superhero after he experiences a life altering event in Afghanistan where he almost loses his life. He is taken hostage by the terrorist organization, The Ten Rings and has to design a device to prevent the metal shard from reaching his heart. With the help of Dr Yensin, Tony creates a mini Arc reactor, and the first Ironman suit. He realizes that they have been stockpiling Stark Industries smart bombs, and that Obadiah has been behind all the nefarious dealings.
The second movie sees the introduction of Scarlett Johanssen Natasha Romanov and Mickey Rouke's 'Whiplash. While this was also directed by Jon Favreau, I felt like this was Ironman's weakest outing and felt more like a filler. This one lacked the punch and heart from the first one. The story loosely adapts the storyline from the comic 'Demon in the bottle' and we see Tony trying to stay sober after discovering he is slowly being poisoned by Palladium from the arc reactor. He also has to deal with a vengeful Ivan Drako/ Whiplash, who feels that his father was never given the recognition as a co inventor of the arc reactor. He is hired by Stark Industries rival Hammer Industries. He creates an army of remote drones, and it is up to Tony and Rhodey, now played by Don Cheadle. This movie does however have the best action sequence of the three when Whiplash attacks Tony at the Monaco grand prix. How cool was Tony's suitcase Ironman suit?
Jon Favreau made way for another former collaborater of RDJ, Shane Black for Tony Stark's final outing in a solo movie. Again this installment failed to live up to the standards set by the original 2008 movie. Many fans liked this one even less than the last one. The main gripes were the lack of Ironman action, and the fake out with the Ten Rings and the way they handled the Mandarin, which will later be rectified by Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. This movie adapts the graphic novel ' Extremis'. Guy Pierce plays a brilliant scientist who is snubbed by Tony during his self indulgent days. He creates an unstable super soldier serum that grants those that can withstand the transfusion process the ability to melt metal and heal. The catch for those who can't is death by explosion. To cover up the explosions from the experiments, they concort a story about terrorism and create a character, the Mandarin, played by Sir Ben Kingsley. I actually really enjoyed this movie. Despite not having much Ironman action, we actually get to see Tony Stark the man at his lowest and most vulnerable, sans his armor. Well technically he does have an experimental Mark 42 suit. The problem is that it's finicky and doesn't work very well. Tony has PTSD from his experience when battling the aliens in NY. We get to see him overcome this, with a little help.
We get to see Tony's development further in the Avengers movies. More on this in future blogs!
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