Issue #3: Gian's Reflections on Iron Man 2 (2010)

There’s this awful scene in Iron Man 2 (2010). Tony Stark gets drunk at his birthday party while wearing the armor. He falls over with a bottle in his hand. Then he tells everyone he is peeing in his suit. Pepper Potts tries to get him to end the party, but instead he tells her to leave and, as he waves his hand toward the door, he accidentally blasts a glass wall panel with his repulsor ray. When the crowd cheers, he responds by having women throw champagne bottles into the air so he can blast them.

I have to say I really hate this scene. My fellow MCU blogger Sandy hates it too. The scene is stupid, disgusting, childish. How could anyone wearing the most advanced weapons system in the world, act so stupidly? I originally thought that director Jon Favreau had totally screwed up when he shot this. I felt he was making fun of Stark, going for cheap laughs.

But, watching the film again, I was reminded by MCU blogger Alex of this:

Iron Man #128 published in 1979. The issue was written by David Michelinie and Bob Layton and illustrated by John Romita, Jr., Bob Layton, and Carmine Infantino. In 1979, I was 12 years old. I collected Iron Man comics because I liked his suit, so I bought issue 128 off a rack at Dick’s Grocery Store.

And I hated that issue. Superheroes did not get drunk. They were not alcoholics. They were good and they saved people. I knew Spider-Man had girlfriend problems, but who didn’t? I couldn’t even get a girlfriend. But alcoholism? That just wasn’t right. Tony’s drinking problem eventually leads to him losing control of Stark Industries and later his armor. In the condensed storytelling of the time, Stark becomes an alcoholic, quits drinking, relapses, and then kicks the habit for good, all in one issue. “Thank goodness!” is what my 12-year-old self thought. “Let’s get back to some real superhero stories.” But that iconic cover has stayed with me all these years and, of course, I still own the issue!

Ironically, although Iron Man 2 raises the specter of Stark’s drinking habits, the writers don’t make him an alcoholic. Could the comics writers of the 1970s actually be more daring that today’s superhero film writers? Instead of alcoholism, the screenplay writer of Iron Man 2, Justin Theroux, has Stark dying of blood poisoning caused by the palladium he is using to power the arc reactor that runs his armor.

Knowing he is dying, Stark gives his art collection to the Boy Scouts, his business to Pepper, and one of his suits of armor to Roddy Piper and the U.S. Military. He’s giving things away and giving up until Nick Fury fortunately arrives and sets him on the path to finding a solution to the blood poisoning problem.

As Stark searches for the cure, he finds an old promotional film his father, Howard Stark, had recorded. Stark is startled to find on the reel a recording he has never seen before. Howard actually speaks to Tony who is only a child at the time of the filming. He says the following:

Tony, you are too young to understand this right now, so I thought I would put it on film for you. I built this [model of a futuristic city] for you, and some day you'll realize that it represents a whole lot more than just people's inventions. It represents my life's work. This is the key to the future. I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out. And when you do, you will change the world. What is, and always will be, my greatest creation...is you.

At the time, Stark uses his father’s words as inspiration to discover a new element, vibranium (which was retconned in Captain America: The First Avenger). This element helps him power his armor without getting sick. What is more important, though, is that Howard gives Tony the job of saving the world.

As much as I don’t like a superhero being a bumbling drunk, Tony has to hit the bottom of the glass in order to get back up and be the hero his father wanted him to be. As we know, the stakes go far beyond beating Whiplash (played so well by Mickey Rourke) and weaselly arms deal Justin Hammer. Tony’s greatest tasks lie ahead of him. And conquering his despair and self-loathing is the only way for him to reach the level of heroism the world will need from him.