Best Marvel adaptation yet, I think. Which bodes well since it was the first movie Marvel Studios has made themselves rather than licensing out the character to another company (Paramount has a purely distribution deal with Marvel, no creative input).

There were some very nice touches that can work as nods to the fans or could potentially be built upon in future movies. The bad guy organisation, made up of people from all over the place and apparently with the goal of conquering Asia, being called the Ten Rings... The average viewer will just accept them as generic terrorist-types but the implications oare more chilling for Iron Man fans...! I also liked Rhodey's "next time" line when he saw the Mk.2 armour.

The inclusion of SHIELD was great, and that final scene definitely got me excited. I'm philosophically opposed to the Ultimate Universe (that's a whole 'nother rant, there) but I do think it's cool that Jackson played a character that was drawn to look like him basically for a laugh. Comics companies should try that more, draw characters to look like people they think it'd be cool to have playing them in a movie, then when a movie gets made see if the actor would be up for it... Admittedly, Jackson's a comics geek anyway so that probably helped!

I think X2 is still my favourite Marvel movie since there were just so many characters, and while it had a few flaws (mostly carried over from the first film,) it portrayed the spirit of the comics while being fresh. But Iron Man had VERY little that I could complain about, and I'm a great big nitpicky Marvel fanboy. I'm excited to see what they've done with Incredible Hulk (and there's one cameo appearance I can't wait for), and am very much looking forward to Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and Avengers in 2010-11!

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Last updated 2/5/10.