Clearly the MSM is working hard to find ways to build up Robert Downey Junior’s turn as Iron Man in the upcoming film of the same name. This usually means the movie will suck but in a cool yet ironic historical exegesis the Boston Globe’s Joshua Glenn explores the roots of Iron Man the comic book and “Iron Man” the song.
The Black Sabbath song is actually about a lead-booted monster rampaging through a horrified city. I originally thought that the song was about something like a golem and Glenn discovers that the Iron Man connection is fairly specious. In the song, the Iron Man “turned to steel in a great magnetic field” while in the comic book Tony Stark builds his iron suit while captive in an evil mastermind’s prison camp. It is possible that the band read the comic books, but excessive readings the origin story to find direct correlations are bit of a stretch. Read further down in the article and you also discover the song could be about homophobia, Freudian yonism, or a children’s book by Ted Hughes. I just hope they don’t screw this movie up like they did Daredevil.
Steal = Steel ?
Martin Downey Junior = Robert Downey Junior ?
sorry. I was trying my dictate thing again :(
I always thought that song was more like Hughes’ The Iron Man than Lee and Lieber’s comic – Hughes’ book is overtly anti-war, like the song, while the same cannot be said of Tony Stark. It’s also a whole lot more like the origin story of the Silver Surfer or even Ben Grimm than Tony Stark.
Besides, everyone knows that the real quasi-literary British headbangers were/are Iron Maiden.
Check out my comments on the movie ironman. I won’t miss it.
I liked the DD movie!
It just didn’t do the character justice. I loved the idea – blind guy fights a fairly realistic villain. I mean it was also the time and place I was reading those books that made me love them so but I just wasn’t impressed by the movie.
Black Sabbath was not a “headbanger” band and has an outstanding catalog of albums that essentially invented metal in between using some of the best guitar licks known to rock. Iron Maiden doesn’t deserve to be in the same post Fred!
The movie Ironman comes out this weekend and I will not miss it. If I win the lottery, I will buy an ironman suit and kick some serious ass anywhere.