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Iron Man 2: New Trailer

War Machine

Iron Man 2 looks to be a very promising movie.  What we have is not only more Iron Man, which is what every superhero movie needs to focus on – which is simply showing more of the hero in his suit, doing his thing, but a whole bunch of Iron Man type guys, including War Machine!

Who’s War Machine? James Rhodes, the black military dude, took over as Iron Man when Tony relapsed into alcoholism and eventual (comic book) death.  When Tony came back and became Iron Man again, Rhodes then donned the silver Iron Man armor, placed a mini-gun and rocket launcher on the

War Machine

back, and presto…  became War Machine!

Black Widow, Natalia Romanova, also known as Natasha Romanoff, a Russian secret agent/assassin, is also making an appearance, played by Scarlett Johansson! Rawrrrrr!! She was sent to the U.S. to recruit Hawkeye but eventually defected to the U.S. team.

This movie is going to be awesome!

Black Widow

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Plain and simple, Iron Man was well done. It was as true to the comic as they could be while taking minimal steps in the artistic license department. Robert Downey Jr. did a great job as Tony Stark, and held true to the playboy billionaire character. Gwyneth Paltrow also did Pepper Potts justice.Â

But most of all, the Iron Man suit itself was a great job. See, what makes these SuperHero movies acceptable to the comic fans is if the hero is true to form. Undoubtably, the directos always, always mess it up.  Let us review:

• Batman having automatic guns on the Batmobile.
• Batman having bombs for hubcaps in the Batmobile.
• Catwoman using dentle floss for an outfit.
• Catwoman being thrown out of a window and coming back to life.
• DareDevil fighting on a stupid see-saw!
• A black King Pin! (Not to appear racist, but if Luke Cage was white on screen or if Wolverine was Mexican I would still be criticle. Lack of true conformation with the comics.)
• Stupid claws coming out of Spider-man’s fingers.
• Organic web-shoooters for Christ’s sake. Organic. Did these idiots ever read a comic?
• Superman wearing low cut (boy toy) briefs.
• Superman turning into a Peepin’ Tom.Â
• Cyclops dying (unless I missed that in the comics).
• Stupid looking Batarangs. Why, oh why do directors feel compelled to change something that works?
• Spidey’s high density webbing on his suit. What’s the deal with that? And it’s silver too.
• Superman ripping off a celephane sheet from the symbol on his chest. With all due respect to the great and honorable Christopher Reeve … what the hell was that? And kissing Lois and making her forget?Â
• And Michael Keaton is no Batman and Jack Nicholson is no Joker. That’s right! I said it. I’m sick of all you pukes who worship Jack’s Joker. One, he was too fat. Two, he was a caricature of the Joker in the comics.Â
• And since when does the Batjet (and the Batmobiel.. again) have 30 mm cannons for armorments?

The list goes on. However, this is not to say that there are changes in the Superhero movies, under the guise of “artistic license,” that are acceptable. Some of these items are:

• Batman’s electro-cape that gets rigid when a current is passed through it. This is acceptable and actually makes sense.
• The grappeling gun. Also a movie adaptation that is more realistic than throwing a batarang with a rope attached.Â
• Venom dropping from a meteorite. Of course we can’t have Peter, or even Spider-Man, go to outerspace in some huge superhero Secret Wars episode… so we bring Venom to Earth. Totally acceptable.
• New Goblin’s scateboard glider. When Harry took over the green mantle of Normon’s Goblin villainry, back in the comics, scateboards had yet to make an appearance. Today, it’s a natural fit to have a young Harry alter the Goblin Glider into something that would better reflect the times.
• Superman’s subdued color tones. At first I hated the new colors, especially the red. But in hindsite, the colors don’t need to be as vibrant as in the comics.Â
• Batman’s metal wing tipped gauntlets. This was weaved well into the story line, how it came from the “ninja” type suits used in combat and were actually practically applied in the movie. Totally acceptable.
• Bruce having two girlfriends bath with him in a fountain in a hotel restaurant. Totally acceptable.
• Tony Stark going to Afghanistan instead of Vietnam. Duhhh, no brainer, a change that HAD to have happened due to the times.

See, there are changes that can be done as long as they make sense.Â

Back to Iron Man. From start to finish the four different suits of armor we’re true to form. First was the Mark 1, the suit made when in captivity. Perfect. Exactly like the original in the comics, even if it was in Vietnam.

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Well… for his next two suits, I can’t find any images on line. But they work. We see the silver suit, the first of the new design. and then we see another briefly with true to form colors of the Iron Man in the comics. The armor is actually a true red and gold instead of the red/magenta we see in all the images on line. If I remember correctly that’s the one he fought the two Air Force jets in and Pepper comments on and asks, “Oh My God… are those bullet holes?” Then we see the suit in all the trailers.

Good Superhero movie. Probably more true to form than any other Superhero film made yet so far. I can’t wait for the sequel. I give this a 4.5 out of 5 with regard to honoring the comic story line and a 4 out of 5 for entertainment. Overall, a 4.25 out of 5. I suggest a strong see for everyone and a must see for all comic fans.

 To see a couple of the trailers, check out our Iron Man movie page. Here is the official movie site.