Assignment 1-4

Iron Man has become a pop culture icon since his debut in 1963. Created by Stan Lee, Iron Man has been through several ups and downs of popularity. “In his premiere, Iron Man was an anti-communist hero, defeating various Vietnamese agents” (Wikipedia). This image of Iron Man was popular in the beginning, but after the Cold War had passed, Stan Lee had to re-focus the character’s motivation and appearance. During this time, other Marvel Comics characters were created such as The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain American. Iron Man’s popularity fell during this time and was featured in fewer and fewer comics. Iron Man was finally revamped with a new image and purpose. His originally all grey armor suit was changed to sleek red and golden and Iron Man now focused on the faith of technology advances in the military.
Tony Stark, the man behind the suit, is a rich businessman who was captured by terrorists and was forced to create a robotic suit to save his life. His original creation aided him in his escape but was later destroyed. Stark changed his views on the world and his own life and created a new suit in his multibillion dollar laboratory. With his upgraded suit, Iron Man set out to aid those in trouble in every part of the world.
Iron Man “has been adapted for several animated TV shows, as well as for the 2008 live action film Iron Man where he is played by Robert Downey, Jr.” (Wikipedia). In its opening week, approximately $100.8 million in tickets were sold. This has set a new record in opening sales for Marvel Entertainment. With the release of the movie, Iron Man has certainly become many kids favorite super hero. Action figures, books, bobble heads, lunch boxes, books bags, and many other items have been plastered with Iron Man, much like things were back in 1963. I believe Iron Man is even more popular today than he was when the public was first aware of his existence, and with Halloween fast approaching, I am sure there will be numerous little Iron Men running around.