Iron Man’s Supercars
Every teenage guy must have had a car and comic books phase. But with the men I know, some never outgrow those. (Right, Dong?) The editor of this section may as well be the editor of The STAR’s comic books section, if there were one. I could not count the number of times Dong and I have combined test drives with a zip through Comic Alley. In fact, I remember we took the Audi A4 on a quick comic book run. Yeah, that’s the way to buy comic books.
On the big screen, the last breathtaking superhero car we saw was the Batmobile, yeah? But we never got to see Batman’s real love for cars – he just wanted his cars functional and as scary and as bad-ass as him.
Tony Stark, now that is a fellow that cares as much as what the car can do and what it looks. That’s why as what you may have all seen in the Iron Man trailers, he’s got the hot rod looks.
Stark is a genius gear head but as what director Jon Favreau wanted, the Iron Man suit was not built in a high-tech lab at Stark Industries. Stark built it in his garage where he also kept his collection of vintage cars. And when it was time to paint the Iron Man Mark III suit, we aren’t surprised with what his inspiration was.
Of course, Stark’s garage is not the typical backyard set-up being the multi-millionaire that he is. Though in the movie he did manage to build the first Iron Man suit, the Mark I, in a cave in Afghanistan out of military spare parts of bombs and missiles – mostly while attached to a car battery, which powered the FT in his chest to keep the shrapnels from piercing his heart.
Favreau didn’t want Stark’s garage to be too futuristic. Stark’s spark plug haven, where he retreats to in the wee hours of the morning (after making love with a beautiful reporter whom he picked up from a party the night before) is a filthy rich grease monkey’s garage. The inspiration was more Monster Garage than NASA.
The centerpiece of this garage is Favreau’s own 1932 Ford Flathead Roadster. “I thought it would be cool to put my ‘32 Ford in the movie as the car Tony is always tinkering with,” laughs Favreau. “But then we shot a scene where he was working on the engine and the crew had to take it apart. There were parts everywhere and all I kept thinking was, ‘Why did I do this? They’re never going to be able to put it back together correctly.’”
But that’s not the only car you have to watch out for. Stark’s workshop houses an array of classic and state-of-the-art cars and bikes, including Tony Stark’s vehicle of choice, a 2008 Audi R8, as well as a Saline super-car, a 1967 Shelby Cobra, and a Tesla electric car. It’s obvious that Favreau and
People have been talking about the Audi-Tony Stark love affair in various websites. In fact it is not only Stark that goes around in an Audi. Even his devoted assistant Pepper Potts (Gyneth Paltrow) is driving an Audi S5. We are hearing buzzwords that Audi will launch a global marketing campaign around this. Indeed it’s rich ground to build on. After all, Tony Stark is a genius scientist and engineer – and he built the Iron Man suit. Makes me wonder, if Tony Stark can practically build anything, does that mean if he were to build a car it would have been the Audi R8 seeing how he really seemed to love this car?
Legendary Stan Lee’s inspiration for the Tony Stark character is the equally famed Howard Hughes. “Hughes was one of the most colorful men of our time,” says Lee. “He was an inventor, an adventurer, a multi-millionaire, a ladies’ man and, finally, a nutcase.”
Lee continues, “What triggered me to create a character like Iron Man was that I wanted to do something different than the usual super hero. In 1963, Iron Man was all the things that young readers in those days didn’t really care for: He was an industrialist and created war machines. I thought to myself, I’m going to make these kids like him by making Tony Stark a rich, glamorous, handsome, interesting guy. I also gave him a weak heart so that he would have one thing about him that made him less-than-perfect and would also give the readers something to worry about. The response to the character was amazing and, of all the Marvel characters, Iron Man received more fan mail from female readers than any other property. People of all ages connected to the human side of the character.”
Tony Stark may be the rich popular guy with the flashiest car and we can all hate him for it. Still he is the guy with pieces of shrapnel embedded in his chest somewhere which would likely make him keel over and die any moment. Stark is a flawed, complicated and torn character – and we can’t help but love him when he puts on his suit and becomes Iron Man. We may even love him more seeing how intent, focused and quietly happy he is tinkering away in his garage.
It was quite a ride to tag along with Stark as he explores the limits of his awesome suit. Movie reviews and introspection put on hold until the credits roll, the experience in itself was a blast – the very reason why we watch superhero movies in the first place. Seems to me it’s reminiscent of going on a joyride with a teenage guy who, even when not permitted to, just took his dad’s precious car out of the garage and took it for a spin. Wheeeee!
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