The Word of 'Na: The Ultimate Man, the Man’s Man, the Iron Man

Say it again: Mmmmmmmm, Man. That’s right. Nutritious and Delicious. Yum. Add an extra “m” for flavor. Yumm. “Mmn mmn good,” as Campbell puts it.

Now, here’s a man. Robert Downey Jr. makes a giant leap with his portrayal of Tony Stark. Tony Stark didn’t know he could be so hot. And no, it’s not just the Audi he’s sporting. I mean, I’ll be the first to admit, a car like that will put anything else on this planet out of focus, but not Robert Downey Jr. Be he in black tie or clad in irons, Tony doesn’t fool anyone. He may act out like a pompous womanizer, but Pepper knows better, and so do I. He can’t help but impress. He’s a quick wit, not just with physics, weaponry, technology, but also with words, with attitude. And so is the actor. He turns on a dime, completely in tune with the machinations of his techno-tycoon. He’s Nerd meets Jock (or Cock, to be blunt), but his impulses are true to a golden heart, a heart metaphorically dramatized as a chemically obscure and/or physically, technologically impossible substance/machine.

But what impressed me most after Robert (We’re on a first name basis now), was the script, the storyline. I must admit I never read the comic in my childhood, so I wouldn’t know if the comic was as plausible. But Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby created a script so believable, one has to wonder, how many over-ambitious techie geeks have, in the past, pulled similar, comparable stunts to be covered up by the government and U.S. Military? What technologies have really been uncovered already that we won’t be seeing for another decade purely for the sake of marketing strategies and revenue potential? Oh, the secrets we keep, the masks we wear. Deep thoughts.

Iron Man offers an example of those masks we wear for the good of mankind. The little secrets like white lies that allow us to believe jeans don’t make us look fat, innocent people aren’t being slaughtered, mint chocolate chip ice cream doesn’t taste like toothpaste, and people aren’t starving all over the world with no concept that mint chocolate chip ice cream could ever even exist for them. There are lies that count, lies that don’t. But in the end, most lies count. Iron Man, the Marvel comic, effectively tackles the issue: are we lying to ourselves? One experience changes Tony Stark's world, and he must redefine his very being. And so he transforms from a manufacturer of the world’s deadliest weapons, into a hero out to destroy his own creations: the men pushing the buttons, flipping the switches, soldering metal chambers, and connecting wires.

Tony Stark strips away the little lies surrounding his established fame, to attack the underlying truth. He is a manufacturer of death. In so many words, but yes. Is it necessary, maybe. If you're Iron Man, maybe not?

Sooner or later, we become the lies we tell. If you want to believe in something other than the truth, that’s your curse.

“I don’t believe in Ignorance is Bliss. I just believe in me.”

John Lennon didn’t believe in Beatles. He was a walrus.

Robert Downey Jr. will no longer believe in Stark Enterprises. For he is Iron Man.

And thank the lord for a good-old, unconventional end i n g .