Starting this Friday, April 24, a new Nicktoons Network/Marvel Animation series starts to follow the teenage years of Marvel’s armored super hero. Yes, a teenage Tony Stark struts his stuff in Iron Man: Armored Adventures.
After the insane success of last year’s Iron Man movie with Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, it’s only natural that Marvel would want to capitalize on the phenomenon. But when I heard about this series, I was worried. A teenage Iron Man? How would they pull that off?
Well, honestly they don’t pull it off. The best way I can put it is that you have to take Iron Man: Armored Adventures and assume it’s in a parallel universe where things are different than the main Iron Man timeline (which 2008’s Iron Man movie and next year’s Iron Man 2 movie do recognize). So if you take the new animated series out of the main Iron Man context, the rest of it works fine.
In this alternate universe, Tony Stark is a teenager who’s best friend is Rhodey (James Rhodes). Tony just happens to be an inventive genius, just like his father, Howard Stark, the head of Stark Industries. Except for the teenager part, this is pretty much the same background as Iron Man.
In the first episode, “Iron Forged in Fire, Part 1″ we see Tony finish creating the Iron Man armor and try to show it to his father. But before he can do so, he and his father are in a plane crash. His father is killed and Tony is mortally wounded. The Iron Man suit saves him and gives a new electronic heart in the process. Obadiah Stane, one of Howard Stark’s right-hand men, steps in to take control of Stark Industries, effectively shutting Tony out of the corporation and his former home until Tony is 18.
Tony goes to live with the Rhodes family and starts attending the same high school as his friend Rhodey. He meets a new friend, Patricia “Pepper” Pots who is a sharp, energetic, and curious daughter of an FBI agent. She knows Tony & Rhodey are up to something and starts hanging around to find out what…
In “Iron Forged in Fire, Part 2,” we see Tony start figuring out that Stane is turning his and his father’s inventions into weapons. He also suspects that Stane might have been behind the plane crash that took his father’s life. And if that’s not bad enough, he meets the strange armored figure known only as “The Mandarin” – a figure who controlled two rings that Tony’s father thought might have been ancient and quite powerful technologies.
Though the animation has been done on the computer, it’s not as obvious or distracting as previous CGI-animated cartoons have been. The transitions between the portions where you see animated human characters and the Iron Man suit are actually pretty smooth.
I was apprehensive at first that I’d enjoy this new series, but after watching the first two episodes, I see myself setting Iron Man: Armored Adventures to regularly record on my DVR starting this Friday. There are 26 total episodes in the season, so we’ll see what happens. If you liked the Iron Man movie or are a Iron Man fan from the comic books, this is another interesting interpretation of the mythos behind the armored suit. Just keep in mind that this Tony Stark operates in a different Marvel universe than the Robert Downey Jr. version.
–Fitz
p.s. If you still don’t have a copy of Iron Man, be sure to pick one up!
Iron Man was just released on DVD on September 30, 2008, just 6 months after it was in the theater (May 2, 2008)
Wall-E will be available on DVD on November 18, 2008, just 5 months after it was in the theater (June 27, 2008)
Prince Caspian will be out on DVD on December 2, 2008, about 7 months after it was released (May 16, 2008)
Clone Wars hit theaters in August 2008, but will be on DVD on November 11, 2008, barely 3 months after it was released
And then you have Horton Hears a Who, which hit theaters back in March 2008, not coming to DVD until December 9, 2008… 9 months later
What’s the deal? I understand it’s a big game, especially with the big build up to the holidays, but isn’t it strange that we’re seeing such a wide difference? 3 months to 9 months is quite a wide margin!
I saw this article on TechCrunch this week and it made me pause and scratch my head. Why would Dell pre-load their computers with movies?
Your typical high definition digital movie file takes up a large amount of space, somewhere between 1 Gigabyte and 4 Gigabytes (assuming some degree of compression) of storage would be required on a hard drive. If you have a 300 gig drive, which is about average these days, that would be a maximum of less than 1.5 percent of your hard drive.
Apparently Paramount and Dell inked a deal for Dell to sell Iron Man on new machines for $20. This includes the digital movie, plus the DVD extras, right on the hard drive. And you can burn it to DVD. But only once.
I’m guessing that we’ll see more movie studios go this route with hard disk space as cheap as it is (and getting cheaper every day), but I have to wonder why. What’s the benefit of having it on the hard drive? I only see one — no DVD to haul around and lose. But that’s the only benefit I can see.
I don’t know if I’m late to the party or not, but I stumbled on this great hilarious site with abridged scripts to some of your recent faves (or least faves).
It’s called the Editing Room, written by Rod Hilton, who writes for Total Film magazine and does the abridged scripts for them. And his dry wit just leaps off the page and slaps you (or maybe just me) upside the head. Gotta love it when you find something like that.
His latest script is for The Dark Knight, but one of the gems I found was from Iron Man. And I’ll just quote one particular passage and let you read the rest (it’s worth it)…
“… Eventually he gets back to AMERICA, which instantly makes everything BETTER.
JEFF BRIDGES
Robert! Welcome back. As your partner and obvious eventual bad guy, I was extremely worried about you. Tell me what you used to escape and if we can sell it.
ROBERT DOWNEY JR
Later. First, I need a delicious, juicy, American hamburger! Failing that, one of Burger King’s tasteless, squashed heaps of grade D meat and soggy bread will do fine.
So if you’re feeling like a chuckle… Check it out. If you like movies or just ripping on them, this sites for you! (I’ll be adding it to my list of links now… )
Yes, I’m already looking to this weekend’s Speed Racer release. It looks like one heck of an acid trip from all the trailers and promos I’ve seen. It has a mix of early good and bad reviews. Will it hold up? Probably not. I predict that Iron Man trounces it during its second week. (You can see my review of Iron Man here.)
Do the Wachowski’s have what it takes to take the throne from Iron Man? We shall see!
Ok… Yes, I saw Iron Man on Friday. Yes, I loved the movie. Yes, I loved Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Yes, I loved Gwenneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts. And yes, this was the kind of comic book movie you only dream about. And Mr. Favreau, you’ve got my attention as a director now (though I didn’t really like the part he played in the movie itself, but oh well).
Rating:
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention Terrence Howard as Rhodie. I thought he did a great job in the role. And I hope the brief glance at the Mark II armor means War Machine is going to be in one of the next couple of films!
That said… If you’ve been under a rock for the last several months, Iron Man is a comic book movie from Marvel Films about the origin story of the Marvel Comics hero Iron Man. (I know, hard to believe that a movie called “Iron Man” would be about a superhero named “Iron Man.” Go figure.) Tony Stark is kind of like Bruce Wayne of Batman fame. He’s a billionaire playboy. And he’s a tinkerer. That’s about where the similarity ends I guess…
Tony Stark is a drunk, brilliant man with attachment issues on a Jimmy Dean-like road to self destruction. It doesn’t hurt that he runs Stark Enterprises, which manufactures some of the most advanced weaponry on the planet. He cavorts around with supermodels and movie stars in fancy cars at all the best events, drink in hand, and enjoys his fame and fortune far too much for any mortal man.
And as in all good hero journeys… the honeymoon must end at some point, right? (more…)
I went to the first showing I could today at my local theater to see Iron Man. If I had to sum it up in a word — AWESOME! But for die hard Iron Man fans, you should stay to the bitter end of the credits for a surprise.
I’ll post my review of the movie sometime in the next couple of days, but it was amazing and I hope there will be many more Iron Man movies to come.
Just a quick post… There was a cool story this morning on Slashdot linking to a story on the New Scientist website about the science behind Iron Man. It’s amazing how closely science fiction is catching up to reality!
Yes, I’m a geek. And I’m proud of it. My wife and girls may not be proud of my geekdom, but I don’t care. I’ve always been a geek and I’m not afraid to tell people. When anybody asks what I do, I tell them I’m a “computer geek.” Why? ‘Cause it’s the truth!
Anyway… This Friday begins the reign of summer movies for 2008. May, June, July, and even August are filled with movie goodness.
But it all starts with Iron Man this Friday. I’m geeked up! I gushed about this movie back in November when I heard it was coming out… (You can read that article here.)
Ok, I don’t know if you’re a comic book fan or movie buff, but I fall squarely into the latter category. And since I was denied comic books for most of my childhood (typical parental excuses – too expensive, read a real book, not worth reading, etc.), I developed a “fandom from afar” philosophy for super heroes and comic books in general. Iron Man was among my faves. I always liked the fact that he was a rotten bastard before he almost had everything taken away from him and created the armor…
Well, in May 2008, my birthday month next year, Robert Downey Jr. steps into the role of Tony Stark — the man behind the mask of Iron Man. I’ve been a Downey Jr. fan since watching Chaplin with Robert Downey Jr playing the titular role back in 1993. (I’m a huge Chaplin fan and thought he did an amazing job.) From the trailers I’ve seen, I think Downey will do a great job showing the playboy side and the tinkerer side of Stark.
To make the pot sweeter, it’s being directed by Jon Favreau, who I also love. I know not everybody liked Daredevil, but I thought he did a great job as Foggy. But his serious side came out when I watched Dinner for Five on IFC and he had some amazing interviews with a mix of celebrities from the film industry. I think he will do an amazing job with Iron Man just from his enthusiasm when I’ve seen him speak about the movie. So we’ll wait and see.
Well, honestly they don’t pull it off. The best way I can put it is that you have to take Iron Man: Armored Adventures and assume it’s in a parallel universe where things are different than the main Iron Man timeline (which 2008’s Iron Man movie and next year’s Iron Man 2 movie do recognize). So if you take the new animated series out of the main Iron Man context, the rest of it works fine.
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