Iron Man

[Zeke]

I dunno man, I dunno. On the one hand, faster spam removal. On the other hand... you with more power. The evil cackling can't be a good start.

(For those looking now, there were spam posts above PHJ which I've removed.)

I agree with both Nate and IJD here. I dig AllTooFlat, and I think they make some very good points in that article. But Batman Begins, flawed though it was, was still a smart, impressive movie that gave the franchise new life. Same goes for Superman Returns. We can argue about the ideas in both films (Superman as deadbeat dad? No thanks), but that means we're taking them seriously -- something that's impossible to do with Batman & Robin or Superman IV.

favorite Iron Man villain, anyone?

It's gotta be the Mandarin. The only constant in Iron Man comics is that sooner or later, ol' Mandy will turn up with some new tricks and pose a major threat to whoever's in the suit. I'm a big fan of John Byrne's run, where the Mandarin was practically a co-star; while Tony was caught up in Armor Wars II, we watched him take over half of China, a storyline that gradually built up for over a year before the big payoff. Byrne pushed the idea that these were enemies linked by destiny -- we even found out the Mandarin had been involved behind the scenes during Iron Man's origin.

Tony's got a better rogues gallery than people give him credit for. Living Laser's a fun one all right (though I liked him better before he had real powers... just like Tony himself). The Crimson Dynamo, Ultimo, Firebrand, and the Ghost are other favourites. And let's not forget two big characters who got their start fighting Iron Man: Hawkeye and the Black Widow.