Even though the first Iron Man movie stormed cinemas nine years ago, it certainly feels like an eternity has passed in the time since, hasn’t it? What started out as a gamble eventually blossomed into the multi-billion dollar empire that we now know to be the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Still, I maintain that Tony Stark’s origin film remains among the best the franchise has put out to date.
Sure, we may take for granted how many flicks like this now drop each year – because it certainly is an embarrassment of riches – but it’s not hard to recall a time when we received maybe one or two on a yearly basis. Actually, one could say that changed in the summer of 2008 with what I believe was truly the beginning of the Golden Age of Superhero Movies.
I say that because not only did Iron Man succeed in winning over critics and moviegoers alike, but so did The Dark Knight. Not only that, but both made an obscene amount of money in the process. In the midst of this, The Incredible Hulk also saw release, a film I still look upon quite favorably and think of as being massively underrated.
What’s also amazing is that little bits of trivia still creep their way online. Not long ago, we learned that Obadiah Stane was originally supposed to survive the final battle and, now, a couple pieces of concept art from Iron Man have surfaced via Ryan Meinerding’s Instagram page.
In them, we see his initial designs for the Mark I armor, truly illustrating how far Stark has come. Compared side by side with the character’s original appearance in Tales of Suspense #39, you have to admit that the artist did a fine job of adapting it to live action, simultaneously keeping the spirit of the original piece and also incorporating real world sensibilities.
Iron Man can next be seen in Avengers: Infinity War, which arrives in theaters on May 4, 2018.
