The film flashes back around thirty-six hours earlier to fill the audience in on Tony Stark and his past—quite literally, in fact, by using an Apogee award ceremony celebrating Stark to naturally dump exposition. Here the audience learns about Stark’s genius level intellect, about his father Howard Stark who founded the billion-dollar company Stark Industries, that Howard’s friend and colleague Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) became leader of the company after Howard’s passing until Tony turned twenty-one and took over the reins, and how Stark Industries is “protecting America” as its chief weapons manufacturer.
The backstory’s emphasis of Obadiah being shoved into the background while Tony takes the spotlight foreshadows, perhaps a bit too heavily, his surprise role as the main antagonist. Of course, any fan of the comics would already know this off the bat, but for those new to the series—and for mainstream audiences there were a lot—this somewhat ruins the twist…or it would have had Jeff Bridges and the writers not done a fantastic job at making Stane come across as three-dimensionally uncliché as possible (and believe me, I’ll be discussing a lot more on that later). In his introduction, Stane comes across as a rather jovial, chill businessman—clapping happily at Tony’s tribute montage and making some lighthearted jokes while accepting the award in the absent Tony’s place. It immediately dispels some of the suspicions towards his role as a villain. “The best thing about Tony Stark is also the worst thing.” Obadiah states to the ceremony crowd, “He’s always working.”
Right on cue, the scene immediately cuts to Tony playing dice at a casino. Whereas the opening scene focuses on what makes Tony’s so positively charismatic, it is here the audience sees what makes him so negatively charismatic. The guy’s a playboy and a drinker (implied alcoholic)—egotistical and full of arrogance. Tony is disregarding and disrespectful towards both strangers and friends alike—missing his own tribute ceremony where his close friend and U.S. Air Force liaison Rhodey (Terrance Howard) was personally delivering the award. When Rhodey shows up at the casino, Tony show faux sadness for missing the ceremony while sarcastically remarking about the award; “That’s something else...I don’t have any of those laying around”—handing it off to a Caesar impersonator on the way out.
There are a lot of similarities between Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne here—rich, brilliant, playboy, etc.—the big difference, however, is that the “public” Bruce Wayne’s merely a persona used throw people off from suspecting he’s Batman. There is no persona with how Tony acts—he truly views himself as king and only looks out for himself. Not only that, but Stark's in the business of making lethal weaponry, something Wayne would never do given his moral code. Stark here is very much the anti-Bruce Wayne, yet he has the charisma to make everyone love him, and Downey makes this believable for the audience. There’s not one moment in Iron Man where I hate or get mad at Tony Stark the character, even when he’s acting like a complete jackass.
Like in this scene, where Tony’s confronted by reporter Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb), a fairly minor supporting character that strangely appears more than one would expect—not just in the movie, but the MCU in general. When asked if she can interview him, Tony—without turning around—whispers to his bodyguard and chauffeur Happy Hogan (played by Jon Favreau himself) if she’s cute. When he gets the A-OK from Hogan, a welcoming Tony spins around to talk to her. Iron Man is great with giving every scene a storytelling purpose, and this one is no exception as it showcases Tony’s skill at handling confrontation. The interview turns out to be a trap, Everhart starting with some innocent remarks—inquiring Tony’s thoughts about being called the modern day Davinci (“That’s ridiculous. I don’t paint”)—before trying to blindside him by asking about his other nickname: The Merchant of Death. Tony, however, doesn’t fall into her trap, immediately bouncing back with his own retorts in a completely composed manner and turning the situation around in his favor:
Christine: And what do you say to your other nickname? "The Merchant of Death"?
Tony: That's not bad. Let me guess. Berkeley?
Christine: Brown, actually.
Tony: Well, Ms. Brown, it's an imperfect world, but it's the only one we've got. I guarantee you, the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals.
Christine: Rehearse that much?
Tony: Every night in front of the mirror before bedtime.
Christine: I can see that.
Tony: I'd like to show you first-hand.
Any savvy viewer realizes where this “heated” debate between the opposite sexes is going and, expectedly, the next scene has the two going at it in Tony’s bed. The next morning, the audience gets a glance at a nude Miss Everhart, half-clothed by a blanket (something I highly doubt would have been shown had Disney been in control then), waking up alone. Tony had, naturally, left her alone in his beautiful ocean-side mansion in Malibu California. While exploring the house, Everhart comes across two more of the film’s central characters—Tony’s personal AI system J.A.R.V.I.S. (voiced by Paul Bettany) and his personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who tells the snooty reporter that she does “anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including, occasionally, taking out the trash.” Pepper is one of the first characters shown that can not only dish back what Tony’s saying but also someone Tony seems to genuinely respect—though, not enough to remember her birthday:
Tony: What are you trying to get rid of me for? What, you got plans?
Pepper: As a matter of fact, I do.
Tony: I don't like it when you have plans.
Pepper: I'm allowed to have plans on my birthday.
Tony: It's your birthday?
Pepper: Yes.
Tony: I knew that. Already?
Pepper: Yeah. Isn't that strange? It's the same day as last year.
Tony: Get yourself something nice from me.
Pepper: I already did.
Tony: And?
Pepper: It was very nice.
Tony: Yeah.
Pepper: Very tasteful. Thank you, Mr. Stark.
Tony: You're welcome, Miss Potts.
Their chemistry is immediately noticeable and quite charming. Cutting the overseas, Tony shows off his Industries’ latest weapons technology—The Jericho—giving the film its epic trailer shot. Tony speaks with dignity and tenacity here; he sells the presentation and shows why he’s not only the boss behind the scenes but also the frontman. The flashback gives the audience everything they need to know about Tony Stark’s backstory, and with that, can move on to his origin story of becoming a superhero.
LINK TO PART 3: The Birth of Iron Man
LINK TO PART 3: The Birth of Iron Man
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