I think I have just had two of the most awesome hours of my life. My roommate and I and another friend went to see the new Iron Man movie tonight. This is easily the most awesome superhero movie I have seen to date. (Expect the word “aweseome” to show up several times. I just can’t think of any other words to describe it.) If you’re a fan of superhero movies, you MUST see Iron Man. I took off my watch about halfway through it. Never looked at the time until the credits. (Stay after those also.) This one had my full attention.
Now I’m not a movie reviewer at all. Don’t expect anything that will be a spoiler, though I would certainly love to give some. I called my Dad as soon as I got back home and said “You must go see this movie” and I can’t wait for him to go see it so we can discuss our favorite lines in it. By the way, this is easily one of the most quotable movies ever.
I was a bit surprised when I first saw Robert Downey Jr. got the role of Iron Man, but my skepticism was soon overcome. He did an excellent job! Iron Man is, of course, Tony Stark, whose company makes weapons of war. When captured by the enemy, Tony Stark realizes that his weapons are doing more harm than good. Unfortunately, he got damaged severely in the process so he has a unit built to him that’s a “heart’ of sorts that keeps him alive. He builds to go with it an iron suit built with several gadgets and weapons to fight to prevent the evil he believes he’s caused.
Aside from that, Stark is a type who reminded me of Dr. House. (Another show I love dearly.) He’s blunt and sarcastic entirely and always says what you would not expect him to say. As for his love life, he does seem to use the women in his life regularly. Before he becomes Iron Man, he simply has a “look out for #1” attitude. Afterwards, he wants to look out for the good of the world.
Towards the end, I thought of the quote of St. Irenaeus. “The glory of God is man fully alive.” There is something about movies like Iron Man that resonate deeply in the heart of men especially. It’s my contention that when a man sees Iron Man flying around and busting up the bad guys and using the cool gadgetry he says, “I want to be doing that.”
There is something inside man that wants to be a warrior. Man wants to be the hero and fight for the greater good, and in essence, isn’t that what we are called to do? Are we not called to put on the armor of God and fight the fight? We may not have lasers on our hands, but we do have the power of God behind us and we have a far greater cause than Iron Man has.
In doing so, we are playing out the role of the one who came before us, being Christ of course. All heroes are heroic insofar as they imitate Christ. In reality, the ultimate superhero story is the gospel. It is the story of the greatest hero of all who came from Heaven to overcome the worst evil of all. The gospel is the true story of good vs. evil, and God, being a good author, is bringing about a good ending.
The world needs Iron Men. We need to have men fully alive for Christ out there fighting the battle. Imagine how it could be if we all stopped to realize that we are indeed in a spiritual battle. If we realized that eternity hangs in the balance each day. If we could just realize that yes, our actions do have an impact on the world and we can each make a difference.
Time to suit up men! The world needs us!
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