Iron man war7/14/2023 Tony’s story thus far is of constant attempts to reinvent himself and reconcile with the past and present, but he always comes up short. In Age of Ultron, we see how his fear and his PTSD, escalated by Scarlet Witch’s manipulation, cause him to create Ultron – meant to be a guardian for earth, who ends up almost destroying it. In the first Avengers, he struggles to be a team player, but ultimately is able to defer to Captain America’s leadership, and is even willing to sacrifice his own life to save New York City from nuclear destruction. In the Avengers movies, we see how this plays out in a team setting. Not only is his past haunting him, but he can’t even seem to do right in the present. In Iron Man 3, Tony has to deal with one of his own ghosts, some people he wronged in his past that have come back to hurt him, as well as the PTSD he has acquired since becoming Iron Man. In Iron Man 2, Tony continues to decide what his new legacy will be, when he is suddenly confronted by the legacy his father left him: an enemy seeking revenge for his father’s sins and an unfinished project his father left behind for SHIELD. He goes from profiting off war to trying to stop it, and this has consequences with his business partner who isn’t impressed with this sudden change of heart. Tony’s transformation in the first Iron Man film comes early, and the rest of the movie shows him dealing with the outcome of his new worldview. The Iron Man trilogy, from beginning to end, is a story about redemption and fall-out. Iron Man’s Character Arc Is More Than the Reactor in His Chest This movie escalates the tension by raising the stakes on their differences and playing up unsettled pieces of their pasts. In fact, just about every scene these characters are in together over the years that isn’t an action scene finds them in conflict or at least tension. Marvel has been developing the Civil War between Iron Man and Captain America, their two biggest tent-pole heroes, since the beginning. The movie takes extra care to show why each character chooses their respective sides, and what makes the story most compelling and believable is the ways that each character’s arc has already led them there.įor those who follow the Marvel Cinematic Universe closely, it’s not hard to see why Iron Man and Captain America fall where they do. This difference leads to a divide amongst the Avengers, as well as recruitment on both sides. to supervise and oversee the Avengers, named after the setting of the disaster from Age of Ultron. In Civil War, Tony Stark/Iron Man and Steve Rogers/Captain America find themselves on opposing side of the “Sokovia Accords,” a new initiative by the U.N. We have come to follow these characters for so long, perhaps we can begin to see ourselves in them and their struggles, their tensions, and their flaws. For this reason, it seems ripe for exploring just where this Marvel series has taken us, whom it elevates as its heroes for us to admire, and where it all might be headed. While most of the bigger Avengers films in this series are made to work independently as well as part of the larger whole, Civil War operates as a sequel to nearly every Marvel entry thus far – while it’s technically Captain America 3, it could very easily be recut to become Iron Man 4, Avengers 3, or even Ant-Man 2. I haven’t been disappointed.Ĭaptain America: Civil War recently opened worldwide and represents the largest culmination of the franchise to date. Though admittedly already a fan, I latched on to this series as a project to understand theologically. But a movie like Avengers, which smashed box-office records faster than the Hulk smashes a horde of aliens, might be able to offer a smaller moment of grace to significantly more people. Sure, one might encounter the divine more through a more spiritual, theological film like The Tree of Life. I found myself wondering, a bit tongue-in-cheek, that if God were reaching through film to bless the world with moments of grace, that God might be more efficient in doing so through more popular movies. It’s a beautiful, rich, and endlessly rewarding film, that maybe 5% of people have seen. Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life remains a popular example of this. But often I found that the discussions around theology and film were happening around films that not very many people were actually seeing. I guess it just made sense to do both at the same time. It’s probably because I’m an avid consumer of film and television, and I have also always felt a call to seek God. When I was doing my degree at Fuller, I tended to gravitate toward classes that explored popular culture and art for signs of grace. There are SPOILERS for Captain America: Civil War throughout this article.
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