Iron Man(2008 film)

***Iron Man*** is a 2008 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character of the same name, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was directed by Jon Favreau, with a screenplay by Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway. It stars Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Shaun Toub and Gwyneth Paltrow. In *Iron Man*, Tony Stark, an industrialist and master engineer, builds a powered exoskeleton and becomes the technologically advanced superhero Iron Man. The budget of the film was 140 million dollars and the box office was 585.2 million dollars.

PLOT

Genius, billionaire, and playboy 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. The convoy is ambushed and Stark is critically wounded by one of his own rocket-propelled grenades. He is captured and imprisoned in a cave by a terrorist group, the Ten Rings, and an electromagnet is grafted into his chest by fellow captive Yinsen to keep the shrapnel shards that wounded him from reaching his heart and killing him. Ten Rings leader Raza offers Stark freedom in exchange for building a Jericho missile for the group, but Tony and Yinsen agree Raza will not keep his word.

Stark and Yinsen quietly build a powerful electric generator called an arc reactor to power Stark's electromagnet and a suit of powered armor to aid in their escape. Although they keep the suit hidden almost to completion, the Ten Rings attack the workshop when they discover their hostages' intentions. Yinsen sacrifices himself to divert them while the suit powers up. The armored Stark battles his way out of the cave to find the dying Yinsen, then in anger burns the Ten Rings weapons and flies away, crashing in the desert and destroying the suit. 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 for his chest. Personal assistant Pepper Potts places the original reactor inside a small glass showcase. Though Stane requests details, Stark keeps his work to himself.

At a charity event held by Stark Industries, reporter Christine Everhart informs Stark that his company's weapons, including the Jericho, were recently delivered to the Ten Rings and are being used to attack Yinsen's home village, Gulmira. Stark also learns Stane is trying to replace him as head of the company. Enraged by these revelations, Stark dons his new armor and flies to Afghanistan, where he saves 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. Meanwhile, the Ten Rings gather the pieces of Stark's prototype suit and meet with Stane, who subdues Raza and has the rest of the group killed. Stane has a massive new suit reverse engineered from the wreckage. Seeking to find any other weapons delivered to the Ten Rings, Stark sends Pepper to hack into the company computer system from Stane's office. She discovers Stane has been supplying the terrorists and hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark, but the group reneged. Potts meets with Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D., a counter-terrorism agency, to inform him of Stane's activities.

Stane's scientists cannot duplicate Stark's arc reactor, so Stane ambushes Stark at his home and takes the one from his chest. Stark manages to get to his original reactor to replace the taken one. 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".

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".

CAST

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man

Terrence Howard as Lt. Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes

Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane

Shaun Toub as Yinsen

Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts

Additionally, Faran Tahir appears as Raza, the leader of the Ten Rings; Paul Bettany voices J.A.R.V.I.S., Stark's personal AI system; Leslie Bibb portrays Christine Everhart, a reporter for *Vanity Fair*; and Clark Gregg appears as Phil Coulson, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Will Lyman provides the voiceover during the opening award ceremony.  Samuel L. Jackson cameos as Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., in a post-credits scene. Jackson's face was previously used as the model for the Ultimate Marvel imprint version of Nick Fury. Other cameos in the film include: Stan Lee as himself, being mistaken for Hugh Hefner by Stark at a party; director Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Stark's bodyguard and chauffeur; Tom Morello, who also provides additional guitar music for the film, as a terrorist guard; and Jim Cramer as himself.  Ghostface Killah had a cameo in a scene where Stark briefly stays in Dubai, but the scene was cut from the theatrical release for pacing reasons.