Iron Man (2008 film)

Iron Man is a 2008 film directed by Louis Leterrier. It stars Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jeff Bridges based on the original Iron Man with a few edits.

Synopsis
Tony Stark who has inherited the defense contractor Stark Industries from his father, is in war-torn Afghanistan with his friend and military liaison Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to demonstrate the new "Jericho" missile. After the demonstration, the convoy is ambushed and Stark is critically wounded by one of his own company's rocket-propelled grenades. He is captured and imprisoned in a cave by a terrorist group, the Orange Dragons; Yinsen, a fellow captive who is a doctor, implants an electromagnet into Stark's chest to keep the shrapnel shards that wounded him from reaching his heart and killing him. Orange Dragons leader Mandarin offers Stark freedom in exchange for building a Jericho missile for the group, but Tony and Yinsen know that the Mandarin will not keep his word.

Stark and Yinsen secretly build a small, powerful electric generator called an arc reactor to power Stark's electromagnet and a prototypical suit of powered armor to aid in their escape. Although they keep the suit hidden almost to completion, the Orange Dragons discover their hostages' intentions and attack the workshop. Yinsen sacrifices himself to divert them while the suit is completed. The armored Stark battles his way out of the cave to find the dying Yinsen, then burns the Orange Dragons' weapons in anger and flies away, crashing in the desert and destroying the suit in the process. Meanwhile, the Mandarin suggests that they look for the "magic rings" if they want to find and kill Stark.

After being rescued by Rhodes, Stark returns home and announces that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. Obadiah Stane, his father's old partner and the company's manager, advises Stark that this may ruin Stark Industries and his father's legacy. In his home workshop, Stark builds a sleeker, more powerful version of his improvised armor suit as well as a more powerful arc reactor as the new armor originally is used for espionage until Stark decides to rather build a weaponry armor if he wants to defeat the Orange Dragons. Personal assistant Pepper Potts places the original reactor inside a small glass showcase. Though Stane requests details, Stark keeps his work to himself because he is suspicious of his company.

At a charity event held by Stark Industries, Stark discovers that his company's weapons, including the Jericho, were recently delivered to the Orange Dragons and are being used to attack places worldwide while secretly the Mandarin continues to search for the rings. Stark then learns that Stane has been arms trafficking to criminals worldwide, and is staging a coup to replace him as Stark Industries' CEO. Stark dons his new armor and first stops them from breaking into Stark Industries and stealing more weapons. They are then left with the Stark weapons they have and attack other places, though Stark stops especially in Yinsen's village. While flying home, Stark is shot at by two F-22 Raptor fighter jets. He reveals his secret identity to Rhodes over the phone in an attempt to end the attack.

The Orange Dragons meanwhile are still searching for the 'Makluan Rings', though while the Mandarin shouts at them for not being able to find the rings as they have been in the deepest area of the desert though as a militant digs up something metal which he believes to be the rings first, he rather finds a piece of Stark's prototype armor and the Mandarin then orders them to first off find all of the remnants of the suit which bores the members that they have to dig for both items as it would take a very long time, however the Mandarin decides that after they collect the armor, they have Stane find the rings. They meet with Stane who agrees that after he kills Stark he will find the rings as the Mandarin also wants Stane to build him iron soldiers, he agrees before leaving with the armor. Tony, after going on several missions, sends Potts to hack into the mainframe of Stane's office believing him to have been "dealing under the table", though Potts says that on every mission Stark had recently went he almost got himself killed, though Stark defends himself saying he is doing it for the entire planet.

Convinced, she discovers that Stane hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark, but the group reneged and that Stane has a massive new suit reverse-engineered. Potts meets with Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D., an intelligence agency, to inform him of Stane's activities.

Stane's scientists cannot duplicate Stark's miniaturized arc reactor, so Stane ambushes Stark at his home and takes the one from him, explaining his intentions (believing Stark will die shortly) that he will kill Potts ad then search for the Makluan Rings and take over Stark Industries with the Orange Dragons. Stark manages to get to his original reactor to replace it. Potts and several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents attempt to arrest Stane, but he dons his suit and attacks them. Stark fights Stane, but is outmatched without his new reactor to run his suit at full capacity. The fight carries Stark and Stane to the top of the Stark Industries building, and Stark instructs Potts to overload the large arc reactor powering the building. This unleashes a massive electrical surge that causes Stane and his armor to fall into the exploding reactor, killing him. The next day, at a press conference, Stark defies suggestions from S.H.I.E.L.D. and publicly admits to being the superhero the press has dubbed "Iron Man". Tony also believes that with Stane dead, the Mandarin and the Orange Dragons will never be able to find the Makluan Rigs.

In a post-credits scene, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury visits Stark at home, telling him that Iron Man is not "the only superhero in the world", and explaining that he wants to discuss the "Avenger Initiative".

Production
Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle will reprise his role in the sequels. While the film is similar to the actual version of the movie with Iron Monger as the villain while a difference is having Mandarin as the secondary villain, who appears only in the beginning as Tony Stark's kidnapper. Other slight changes for the title protagonist's origin includes it taking place in China, where the Mandarin lives.

The original film would have Stane be the secondary antagonist working for the Mandarin, though that twist was abandoned it was adapted for this version of the movie, though Stane is still the primary antagonist.

Cast

 * Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
 * Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger
 * Don Cheadle as James Rhodes
 * Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
 * Ben Kingsley as Mandarin
 * Shaun Toub as Yinsen
 * Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
 * Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury