MTV News reports on a Terrence Howard interview where he basically describes the upcoming "Iron Man" flick as analogous to the Vietnam War and how it relates to more current events:
"Is 'Iron Man' An Anti-War film? Castmember Terrence Howard sure seems to think so, describing “Iron Man” as “a modern-day comparison to what took place in 1973 when this Tony Stark character was invented.”
Howard also said that working with the Department of Defense on the film was a little "constrictive."
Click here for a clip of the interview.
1973?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, yeah, sure. I don't think Iron Man's origin was intended as anything but an action piece set in an exotic location with trademark irony thrown in. Stan avoided mention of Vietnam in his stories during the war, but writers that followed definately brought political shades to the character. Jim Rhodes came out of that war, so it makes sense that if you're going to transplant the character's origins to a new conflict, you'd locate the parallels between the two. I respect Howard for going to such a heavy place, and he articulated himself well, but I doubt the producers are doing a happy dance over this.
Wasn't Iron Man creates in '62? Wasn't the war-torn area intended to be Korea, as with a few other Marvel character was-torn history (i.e. Ben Grimm being a pilot).
ReplyDeleteYes, Iron Man was created a decade earlier than Howard says, but it was always Vietnam that Stark got wounded in.
ReplyDeleteOriginally, it's pretty clear that Iron Man was a pure anti-Commie hero, the epitome of American engineering know-how and capitalism triumphing over the godless Red hordes.
It was only much later that the character started questioning the wisdom of providing munitions to the war effort that the politics started become more overt, and yeah, that was about the time Rhodey started appearing on the scene and the entire "Demon in a Bottle" storyline, which had at its base the SHIELD takeover of Stark Industries to keep him supplying them with weapons.
So much deepness in Iron Man.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan !