Some Thoughts After a Viewing of Iron Man for May 25th

Captain America: Civil War is a movie that I've now seen four times in theaters, and anticipate seeing at least once a week until it is gone from every theater in a five mile radius of my house. We'll wait until it gets to the Keller to see it again, and then chomp at every available bit until the DVD comes out. Because the pause button is going to get a workout.

Here are some thoughts, in no particular order, that I had upon viewing Iron Man for the probably only 10th time last night:

• Dear Heaven, Robert Downey, Jr. Like, just that. Just him. My goodness.
• It is easy to forget that a huge part of Tony's story in this movie is that he is trapped in a cave for three months by people who are very willing to kill him for anything. This is a huge part of his story, and it is rarely mentioned ever again ever.
• Lesser Rhodey is lesser, but still very charming in some places.
• Did not expect the Howard Stark feels just because his face shows up during a retrospective photo thing where Tony's supposed to get an award and is gambling instead
• Why the slicked back Tony hair? Why? His hair is glorious. Let it be.
• Basically, Tony's super-power is that he gets smarter every time someone hits him in the head or causes him physical discomfort kind of violently. I forget that.
• Pepper and Tony have great moments in this movie. Her vodka martini drink order is particularly wonderful.
• Farah Tahir. Is wonderful. Can he be in more stuff that I want to see? Like as a curmudgeonly translator who only accepts work by young writers because he is not about to waste his life on the words of crazy old people and then falls in love and everything is suddenly different and also there should be sunsets. And then he still translates work by young writers, but also by older ones and then makes friends with other translators and they have loud and energetic arguments in coffee shops and over the internet and that is how the movie ends and everyone is happy.
• The slut-shaming of Christine Everhart is blech. Also, it carries over into the next movie and I am not here for it.
• Why is Pepper walking in open-toed strappy hells on broken glass? We've seen how Maria Hill handles that, and she expects to deal with this nonsense. Poor Pepper.
• I have a lot of feelings about Pepper in this movie, actually. I mean, she is still not my favorite, but she deserves better. In general. Also in men. Although...
• Tony gets some plus-butt in this?!? Yes.
• As much as the Iron Man suits have gotten upgraded and sleeker and generally more incredible, they started with a design that does not fail to impress even in its nascent stages.

Which is something that kept coming back into conversation watching this movie - that Iron Man was released in 2008 - 8 years ago (which isn't actually all that many years, even though it is a lifetime) - and this year saw the release of the 13th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was the first, and it is tremendous! The pacing, the performances, the special effects, the unexpectedness of it all, the layers of world that existed in this one single movie that have returned and returned thematically or literally in every movie since. This is not the place for me wax elegantly or poetically about the role this movie plays in the larger MCU, but I will say that it holds up, and every movie that Stark is in after this just builds and complicates the characters, the world and the possibilities.

Also now I have to watch all of the movies again (except not the Hulk ones and not Guardians and of course I will not be seeing Doctor Strange) and that means feeling a lot of things about Howard Stark again much less all the Steve and Bucky feels and those need a lot of energy and time and words. 

What a delight this all is, though. It's like reading a book, only in front of my face and my friends' faces and with music and occasionally a pause button and the expectation of more. Yay for worlds in worlds in worlds. 

Well begun!