comic updated October 15, 2008

I saw "Iron Man" last night -- started off really, really strong, ended a bit anticlimactically, but if they intend to continue with the franchise, I'm all for it.

The film definitely succeeded in conveying how awesome it would be to have a mechanized super-suit, in particular one with the ability to instantly jet you away from the scene of your latest acts of destruction. Because the authorities will still be there long after the drunken buzz of limitless power has worn off.

There's a certain schizophrenia to the proceedings in regards to Tony Stark's stance on the weaponry he's manufacturing-- he's unabashedly for them at the beginning, does a presumptive 180 after being waylaid by them in the hands of bandits at the beginning of the movie, explains that he will no longer be manufacturing ordinance at a subsequent press conference, goes to work on his super suit, complete with enhanced thrusters... which he discovers, to his delight, also function as weaponry. Also, built into the suit are rockets, small-bore arms, etc..

In short, Tony Stark no longer sells weaponry to the military, because that would be evil; he keeps weaponry and shoots it at people himself, because that is good.

One understands the public's ambivalence towards superheroes.

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