The Invincible Iron Man

Infobox Film
name = The Invincible Iron Man


caption = Poster
imdb_rating =
director = Frank Paur
producer = Bob Richardson
Stan Lee
writer = Story:
Boyd Kirkland
Craig Kyle
Greg Johnson
Screenplay:
Greg Johnson
starring = Marc Worden
music = Guy Michelmore
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Lionsgate Home Entertainment
released = September 15, 2006
runtime = 83 min.
language = English
budget =
prequel_to =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:379100
imdb_id = 0903135

"The Invincible Iron Man" is a direct-to-DVD animated movie based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man. The movie was officially released on January 23, 2007. Marc Worden reprises his role as Iron Man whom he voiced in the two "Ultimate Avengers" animated movies. Interestingly enough, the term "Iron Man" is never used to refer to Tony's alter ego in the movie though the term "Iron Knight" is used by certain characters.

The movie has been released in a box set called "Marvel Animated Features Collector's Gift Set" which also includes a copy of the "Ultimate Avengers" and "Ultimate Avengers 2" films along with a collector's Iron Man bust.

Plot

Attempting to raise an ancient Chinese city using his company's resources- while also diverting money into a project that he swears will bring Huang Enterprises big money without revealing the nature of the research-, Tony Stark's ambitions go up in smoke when the Jade Dragons attack the excavation site, killing most of the men there and kidnapping his friend James "Rhodey" Rhodes. Traveling to China to investigate, he is captured and badly injured by the Jade Dragons, his life only saved thanks to a Chinese shaman and Rhodes' skills as an army medic after a piece of shrapnel damages his heart.

Tony talks to the Shaman, who reveals that the Dragons seek to prevent the return of the Mandarin, an evil ruler of great power who ruled China three thousand years ago, and who the city commemorates. Should four rings created by the Mandarin- their purpose being to grant him power over death- be brought together after the city rises, the Mandarin will awaken and the world will be in great peril. The Dragons force Tony to construct a weapon to sink the city within a week or face execution and to show they are serious they kill the shaman. Befriending Li Mei, a member of the group, Tony learns that she has a great duty that has been passed down her family from father to son- she had no brothers- but she will not reveal what it is. Meanwhile, four elemental spirits are released by the raising of the city, the spirits subsequently acquiring two of the Mandarin's four rings.

When the weapon that Huang and Rhodes have been developing is revealed to be a fake, the Jade Dragons leader is about to shoot Rhodes but Li Mei shoots the leader from behind, Tony subsequently emerges in their true project; a vast suit of armor. Rescuing Rhodes, Tony flees the temple and return home, but Li Mei refuses his offer to take her with him. Studying a painting of the prophecy, Li Mei realizes that Tony is the 'Iron Knight' who it was foretold would battle the Mandarin, but this brings her no comfort, as the prophecy only states that one of the two shall die without specifying who. To spare Tony this fate, she leads the Jade Dragons in attempting to destroy the city, but the rest of the Dragons are killed and she is confronted by a shadowy dragon-like creature.

After returning to America, Tony and Rhodes are shocked to discover that they are wanted by S.H.I.E.L.D. for selling weapons to the Jade Dragons; Jack Huang, Tony's father, sent Rhodes weapons to provide enhanced security for the site against Tony's wishes, and, with the Dragons having stolen the shipment, he has apparently used Tony as a scapegoat to maintain his position.

Having escaped the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and sneaked into his office with the aid of his secretary Virginia "Pepper" Potts, Tony reveals his secret project to Rhodes; multiple suits of armor, each one designed for tasks that human beings could not possibly accomplish alone. Taking an underwater suit of armor to the third temple- located at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, their locations determined thanks to a map provided to him by the shaman-, Tony manages to defeat the Fire Elemental by throwing it into the water, but the other three escape with the ring.

Following a brief confrontation with his father over Howard framing Tony for arms dealing- during which it is revealed that the two men have long been at odds over their opinion regarding weapons, a division that has only worsened since the death of Tony's mother-, Tony dons another armor and flies to recover the last ring, located in an active volcano, Pepper and Rhodes allowing themselves to be arrested to buy Tony time. Although he defeats the Air and Water Elementals- he tricks the Water Elemental into freezing the Air Elemental before throwing the Water Elemental into the molten lava- and escapes with the ring, Tony's armour is badly damaged by the Earth Elemental's assault, forcing him to abandon the armour and make his own way home.

Having returned to New York, Tony is confronted by Li Mei, who begs him to give her the ring to prevent the Earth Elemental from attacking Tony. Deciding to try and destroy the temple, but unable to reach his more advanced armours due to the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel in the building, Tony and Li Mei return to China using the armour Tony developed while being held prisoner, which remains on the plane he and Rhodes used to return home.

Arriving at the city just as the Earth Elemental raises an army from the ground, Tony clashes with the Elemental, destroying his adversary with a final desperate mid-air collision. However, as he prepares to search for the last Ring, Li Mei reveals that her bracelet is the final ring; her family seeks to ensure the "resurrection" of the Mandarin rather than his "defeat", and, as the last descendant of the Mandarin, only Li Mei can hold the Mandarin's spirit, and only she can become the vessel he will need to walk the Earth again. Admitting that she was the one who gave S.H.I.E.L.D. the documents incriminating Tony for arms dealing in an attempt to protect him, Li Mei begs Tony to leave while he still can, but when he refuses, the army activates, forcing Tony to fight the soldiers as Li Mei advances towards the Mandarin's tomb.

Although Tony vanquishes the soldiers, he is subsequently forced to fight a vast dragon as Li Mei makes contact with the Mandarin's spirit. Despite his damaged armour, Tony manages to defeat the dragon by forcing a vat of liquid metal to expand and solidify inside it, but when he enters the temple, it is to find (a rather nude, but appropriately shadowed) Li Mei under the control of the Mandarin. As his armour is torn even further apart by the assault, Tony begs Li Mei to remember who she is, managing to convince Li Mei to turn against the Mandarin. As she removes the rings from her hand, the Mandarin's connection to the real world is broken, triggering a brief explosion before his spirit vanishes,but with his last breath, he unleashes an energy which blasts Li Mei. After thanking Tony for saving her with a kiss, Li Mei dies in his arms, leaving Tony alone in the temple to mourn her death.

Returning to th U.S, Tony is cleared of all charges by the Chinese government and S.H.I.E.L.D., subsequently buying up all available shares in Huang Enterprises, bringing the company under his complete control. However, he has only two actions to take; promoting Rhodes to the position of Chief Engineer for Advanced Technologies, and handing control of the company over to his father. Saying that he's always regarded the company as a father/son enterprise, Howard and Tony shake hands, Howard subsequently firing the board of directors to free him and Tony from the bureaucracy that nearly tore them apart.

Cast

Additional voices

*George Cheung
*Paul Nakauchi
*Michael Yama

Reception

Critical reaction to "The Invincible Iron Man" has been mixed. Todd Gilchrist of IGN said that "there are some great details that really bring this story to life," concluding that the film is "not quite invincible, but for a film about a guy made out of iron, it's pretty tough." [ [http://dvd.ign.com/articles/759/759049p1.html DVD review] , Todd Gilchrist, IGN, January 26, 2007] Mel Odom of Blog Critics said that "the Mandarin was off-screen far too much to make it as a powerful villain in the movie," the action "didn’t significantly start up until the middle of the movie, which is a tad bit too long," and "there’s little emotional involvement required," but concluded that "overall, "The Invincible Iron Man" is [a] fine production [that's] a definite buy for the comics geeks out there." [ [http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/01/23/184201.php DVD review] , Mel Odom, Blog Critics, January 23, 2007]

Mike Pinsky of DVD Verdict said "the first act takes a very long time to get going," "the villains have no personality whatsoever," and "the art design and animation frame rate are really no better than the average television cartoon." Pinsky added that "there are some nice touches" and "the third act does generate some suspense," but concluded that "given all these obstacles, I don't know if even Iron Man could win this battle." [ [http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/invincibleironman.php DVD review] , Mike Pinsky, DVD Verdict, April 4th, 2007] Clark Douglas of the same website felt similarly, calling the film's villains "remarkably boring," saying that it "doesn't really do a good job of explaining who [they] are or why we should care about them." Douglas felt that "there's not really a lot to praise here," concluding that "this one is for die-hard Iron Man fans only." [ [http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/ironmananimatedbd.php Blu-Ray review] , Clark Douglas, DVD Verdict, September 2nd, 2008]

Todd Douglass Jr. of DVD Talk said, "I enjoyed watching "The Invincible Iron Man", but it didn't open any new doors for me as an Iron Man fan. From the start the story was pretty straight-forward and predictable, though a few twists kept the adventure exciting along the way. Some of the character development also felt kind of forced to me with things simply happening for no reason other than to further the plot." Douglass concluded, "In the end, "The Invincible Iron Man" should be considered an achievement by comic book fans. The solid adventure features a lot of action and a rich comic book atmosphere that will leave you wanting more DVDs just like it." [ [http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/26211/invincible-iron-man/ DVD review] , Todd Douglass Jr., DVD Talk, January 24, 2007] Adam Tyner of the same website said, "Jon Favreau's take on Iron Man gets the nod as my favorite superhero flick, but this animated version isn't even close to being in that same league. "The Invincible Iron Man" is anchored around a bland, two-dimensional Tony Stark, barely bothers with the Iron Man armor, crams in a bunch of uninteresting badniks, struggles with a stale, muddled modern-versus-magic theme, and limps to a lifeless conclusion that at the end of the day has nothing to do with Tony or his bleeding-edge tech anyway." [ [http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/34456/invincible-iron-man-the/ Blu-Ray review] , Adam Tyner, DVD Talk, August 27, 2008]

Reference to culture/comics

*The army of soldier statues are reminiscent of the real life Terracotta Army, in which an army of clay soldiers were constructed to protect the hidden tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.

*Amongst the armors in Tony's hideout are suits that resemble War Machine, Hulk Buster and the Ultimate Iron Man suit.

*Rhodey calls two of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents "Jake" and "Elwood", the main characters from The Blues Brothers

*When Rhodey attempts to call Tony Stark using his cell phone, the list of names and initials includes "Stane O," a reference to Obadiah Stane/The Iron Monger, who is, coincidentally, the main antagonist in the live-action Iron Man film. Also the names J.Storm and S. Storm appear as names.

Differences from the comics

*The Mandarin is not a modern-day character in this film, but rather an ancient warlord in China whose spirit only manifests while all five rings are worn by his only living descendant. Removing those rings from his descendant causes him to weaken, and he vanishes completely when all five have been taken off.

*In the comics, Howard Stark (along with his wife, Maria) were killed in a car accident when Tony was a child. In this film, Howard is alive and well, although Maria is dead and his relationship with Tony is strained.

*Wong Chu, instead of being a Vietnamese guerilla leader, is the Chinese leader of the Jade Dragon, a secret cabal devoted to stopping the return of the Mandarin.

*While in the comics the Iron Man armor was originally developed solely to keep Tony Stark alive, here Tony has been working on multiple armors in secret for some time using his company's resources; the fact that his first use of the armor serves to also keep his heart beating is merely an addition to his original designs.

*James Rhodes and Tony Stark were captured and held hostage. In the original comics, only Tony Stark was captured and held hostage to make the suit, while Rhodes was out looking for him with the U.S Army.

Errors

*In the alternate opening in the special features, you can see that in one scene, the Earth Elemental is shown in place of the Air/Wind Elemental.

ee also

*List of animated feature-length films
*Marvel Animation

References

External links

* [http://www.invincibleironmandvd.com/index.html Official site for The Invincible Iron Man]
* [http://marvel.toonzone.net/mafeatures/ironman/ The Invincible Iron Man @ Marvel Age Animation]
*imdb title|id=0903135|title=The Invincible Iron Man