Thank You Jon Favreau for Letting Me Like Iron Man Again

For some time now, Iron Man has not been one of my favorite Marvel characters. Then again, in all honesty, I’d say he was never one of my “favorites,” but there have been times when I’ve enjoyed reading about him. I was particularly excited, for example, when Warren Ellis (briefly) took over the writing tasks during the Extremis storyline. Even though this book came out almost as slowly as Heinberg’s Young Avengers, I would say that this storyline was one of my favorite readings regarding the exploits of one Anthony Stark (and I’ve been collecting Iron Man comics since the late 90’s and the whole “Crossing” boondoggle). Yes, with Ellis at the helm, I had particularly high hopes for Iron Man, only to see those hopes smashed into a sandy cliff known as the Marvel Civil War.

Now, I can appreciate portraying all manner of disagreements in comics including the political. In fact, I feel that the way characters are portrayed could use a little more variety when it comes to their personal political beliefs. In my opinion, the position of the author is too frequently considered to be the absolute, and opposing viewpoints are caricatured into a grotesque image that barely reflects the actual stance. So when Marvel promised to portray both sides of the Civil War as equally benevolent, I was interested. Unfortunately, to the opinion of everyone outside of Marvel editorial, the company failed to deliver on this promise.

Tony Stark, and his cronies in the Initiative, were portrayed as a bunch of manipulative, borderline-fascist jerks that would make Machiavelli feel grounded in a tightly defined ethos. There seemed to be no decision off limits (no matter how cruel), as long as it got results:

Make a clone of Thor to fight on your side? Sure, it’s not like the U.S. has any laws against cloning…at least that apply to us.

What? The clone killed somebody? Well I guess we should look under the hood and try to make it work better.

Secretly spy on Peter Parker’s (Spider-Man’s) abilities? Well, he is wearing a suit that I designed, so it’s okay. Right?

We don’t have enough manpower to win this war? I know, let’s get a bunch of murderous super-villains and send them after our friends. We can make some kind of nano-thingies that will prevent them from doing too much damage.

We have a team of “reformed” super-villains hunting down unregistered heroes and using excessive and sometimes lethal force?...La,la,la. I can’t hear you. I’m too busy running S.H.I.E.L.D. to be paying attention to what you’re talking about.

Lie to the New Secret Luke Cage’s Avengers and make them think that Captain America is still alive just so you can lure them into an ambush? Why the frack not? (I believe this was the action that I find the most atrocious.)

All of these factors added together made me not like Tony Stark very much anymore, but things have been on the mend. His most recent storyline involving the Mandarin was actually pretty good, and I’ve liked the way that Brubaker’s been portraying him over in Captain America. Heck, even the Ultimate Iron Man II mini-series that Orson Scott Card is writing helped to get most of the bitter taste out of my mouth.

But the Iron Man movie was the push that I needed to get me over the hump. John Favreau did a phenomenal job with the film, and Robert Downey Jr. could not have played a more likeable Tony Stark. Even when he was a completely self-absorbed prick at the beginning of the movie, you still thought he was awesome.

So once again, thank you Jon Favreau. At this point, I think I’m ready to like the ol’ Shellhead again. You know what? After seeing the stripper pole on his private jet, I know I am.