100:00-105:00
Stane looks over his own armour, we later find out in a secret lab in the Stark facilities. He inserts Stark’s arc reactor.
Rhodey finds Stark at his home.
Potts also seems to have an Audi, an S5.
Potts and Coulson arrive to arrest Stane and find section 16. In the background we hear Section 16.
SHIELD have a cool lock exploding device.
“Next time baby…”
Of course, there was no next time for Terrence Howard. This scene alludes to his character taking the role of War Machine (which he does in the comics), which he would do in the next Iron Man film, played by Don Cheadle.
Why Howard was not asked to return has been subject to much debate. According to Howard, they offered him one eighth of what was promised – a drop from $8m to $1m. But the other side of the argument was that Iron Man became less an ensemble and very much focussed on Tony Stark. Howard told cinemablend:
“I didn’t know it wasn’t a mutually binding contract; it was only beneficial for them and they could bring me back or not. They can honor it or not. And you know they made a great deal, Don (Cheadle) and Robert (Downey Jr.) they get along well. But the best thing that happened as a result of it, I went back to school and finished and got my doctorate.”
Potts and the agents of SHIELD discover the Mark I.
They Potts find Stane in his Iron Monger armour (although he is never called that). He starts firing.
The Iron Monger stood 10 feet tall and weighed 800 pounds, and was built on a set of gimbals to simulate walking. It required five operators to run it.
In the background we hear the track Iron Monger.
Stane smashes through a few SHIELD agents immediately. Did they die?
105:00-110:00
He then makes his way through the ground.
And Iron Man arrives. The fight is on.
Stane picks up an SUV. It’s an Aldi Q7.
The family in the SUV is played by Donna Evans, Reid Harper, Summer Kylie Remington, Ava Rose Williams, Vladimir Kubr and Callie Croughwell
Iron Monger leaps at Iron Man. Behind him is a big corporate tower that says Roxxon Corporation. In the comics, they are a big evil company. In the MCU, we will see Roxxon signs hidden in other Iron Man films.
Iron Monger pulls out a shoulder missile launcher. He doesn’t have such a weapon in the comics version of his armour. It is more reminiscent of War Machine.
A deleted scene featured Rhodes driving into the fight.
The pair take to the skies.
Back at Edwards, Rhodes stops the military from intervening.
Nice hero shot of Iron Man and the moon.
Potts seems to have not moved from her spot during the entire fight.
110:00-115:00
Stark instructs Potts to blow the roof.
Iron Monger throws Iron Man. His helmet comes off.
The music for this end of the fight is called Arc Reaktor (with the ‘k’).
Potts presses the button. She pretty much kills Stark as far as she knows.
Stane falls into the arc reactor. He is killed.
Interestingly, Bridges had signed up for sequels (like all the major cast) and was hoping to return. When he signed on, his character was not supposed to die. Bridges told a Facebook Q&A:
When I was hired on, it was scripted that Obadiah would live, that when they opened his Iron Monger suit…he was not in it. Then, they decided to kill my ass off. Telling me “it’s a comic-fantasy, so who knows, your character could come back.” I guess we’ll see…
There was a longer version of the ending that was deleted, with one final confrontation between Stane and Stark.
Back to 3KNKV News, Rhodes is giving a press conference.
Stark is reading the fictional newspaper The Chronicle.
That newspaper is the first time we hear the name Iron Man.
“Just call us SHIELD…”
First use of that name in the MCU. A nice moment for the comic book fans.
115:00-120:00
Stark addresses the press at Stark Industries HQ.
Everhart is back, and confronts Stark with questions.
“I am Iron Man…”
How planned and well thought out this decision was is up for debate, but this decision – no secret identities – has been an interesting thread in the MCU films.
For a split second there, Robert Downey Jr looks into the camera. Probably a deliberate move.
To make sure this twist didn’t leak, the extras were told this was a dream sequence.
Credits!
The music is an instrumental version of Iron Man by Black Sabbath. It was first released on their classic album Paranoid in 1970. The song wasn’t initially about the Marvel hero, but the two have become closely associated.
Post Credits Sequence
Back in Stark’s Malibu home.
In the dark is Nick Fury. Played by Samuel L Jackson.
Fury first appeared in Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #1 (May 1963). He was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. He went from grunt soldier to a James Bond-esque spy, to being the head of SHIELD. He was initially a cigar chomping white guy (with grey hair on the sides). When Marvel created the spin-off Ultimates universe in 2001, the creators Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Allred modelled the character after Samuel L Jackson, years before this film.
Jackson is one of the hardest working actors ever, having appeared in over 150 films, many of them huge block busters, from Pulp Fiction to the Star Wars prequels and so much more.
He mentions the Avengers Initiative….what might that be?
Trailer
Awesome stuff. Looking forward to your future installments.
I learned so much about an all-time favorite movie I’ve seen at least a dozen times. Thank you!
In the section 20:00 to 25:00, you stated that The Mandarin will appear in Iron Man 2. He appeared in Iron Man 3.
Good catch. Will fix.
Amazing stuff, thanks for all the effort you’ve put into this. Just thought I would help with a few music cues;
The music playing during the entertainment news piece with Zorianna Kit is ‘Groovetronic’ by Terry Devine-King.
The jazz playing during the first scene in the Walt Disney Exhibition Hall (when Tony dances with Pepper) is ‘Kool Katz’ by Chucho Merchán, and playing when he speaks to Christine is ‘Licorice’ by Emanuel Kallins and Steve Skinner.
Thanks for this. Will update when I get the chance!