Iron Man: A Dreamboat (who blows up things)
Iron Man embodies the obvious (but oh so necessary) characteristics of my personal favorite type of Superhero: the misunderstood, I never wanted to save the world, why can’t I just continue playing with my daddy’s money because I don’t trust myself enough but I secretly really want to learn how to be a better person, please make me into a man—Superhero. Boyish good looks, intensely decked out body, misunderstood persona, shamelessly flawed and arrogant demeanor (I believe its getting warm in here), egotistical intelligence, hyper sexualized alpha male (water, please), and overall the unattainable, successful and (lets not forget) rich son of someone who’s also really rich and well known who you are just dyeing to see grow into the man, I mean superhero, you know he has the potential to be. Sigh. Well, that’s a woman’s perspective.
But, seriously—you can include Iron Man in the grand influx of Superhero movies that have been able to magnify the meaning behind a true superhero. In my opinion, the best superheros are those who have been forced to learn from their mistakes, who are human in retrospect and whose combination of flaws, guts and idealism push them over the edge of risk and valor. Iron Man became a Superhero when he vowed to stop masterminding the bombs that were used to hurt so many people, including those of his own country. The movie hyped you up with his intelligent, bold and hilarious inventions, his sympathetic and beautiful (we won’t get in to my personal philosophy on that) personal assistant, and his clueless military token black friend.
It was a great movie.