For my 5th and final passion post for the semester, I decided to talk about none other than Tony Stark, or also known as, Iron Man! Tony Stark has grown to become one of the most popular fictional characters of our generation after making his debut in 2008 in Iron Man which kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tony Stark was created in 1963 by Stan Lee and was shown to be a wealthy American businessman, philanthropist, and genius. Stark was a product of the Cold War, Lee created him to mirror the industrial side of things in the Cold War. Stark’s real life counterpart was a man named Howard Hughes who was a scientist that developed new weapons technology in a world of high tensions.
In both the comics and film, Stark’s story begins with him being captured by a group of terrorists. Stark finds himself injured with shrapnel in his chest following the attack, but his fellow prisoner, Ho Yinsen creates a magnetic chest plate to prevent the shrapnel from reaching his chest and ultimately killing him. Stark and Yinsen later move to create a power armor to help them escape the terrorists. Yinsen unfortunately doesn’t escape alive due to him sacrificing himself for Stark. Tony then seeks revenge on the terrorists and is eventually saved by American forces and taken home. When he gets back to the United States, he realizes that the shrapnel in his chest cannot be removed without killing him so he creates a newer and improved “arc reactor” to keep him alive.
In the films, Tony Stark’s company “Stark Industries”, similar to the comics, revolutionized weapons of mass destruction, and eventually selling them off around the world. After Stark flees from the terrorists, he begins to realize that Stark Industries role in the world must change.
Each film from the Iron Man trilogy circles around the idea of terrorism and weapons if mass destruction. In the first film, Stark does everything in his power to reform his company’s role in the world since they previously made and sold weapons for decades prior. In the second film, Tony has a competitor named Justin Hammer that is also an arms dealer and wants to do anything to take Tony down. In the third film, Stark’s past catches up to him when multiple terrorist attacks are orchestrated by one of Tony’s old colleagues. The ideas of both terrorism and weapons of mass destruction are big topics in our political climate and the movies parallel our society really well when it comes to these topics.
In the comics, they explore many Cold War themes. Tony Stark is based off of a defense contractor named Howard Hughes, who developed new weapons technology for the United States and was both a prime example for American individualism and fame. Stark found himself in issues with government supervision of his work, loyalty, and entrepreneurial autonomy in the early days of the comics. Tony Stark’s transformation into Iron Man acts as a way to him reclaiming his autonomy.
