TV Review: Iron Man Armored Adventures: Season 2 Vol. 1
Tony Stark’s life used to be pretty good for a teenage boy. As the son of multimillionaire industrialist Howard Stark, Tony had access to the technology and resources his inventive mind needed to create an experimental armored suit. It wasn’t quite ready to show his father, but did save Tony’s life when their plane exploded, and he only got a chest wound bad enough to require an experimental pacemaker.
More bad news for Tony: his father’s will requires him to go to and graduate from an ordinary high school, or he can’t inherit control of Stark International. The acting director, Obadiah Stane, is highly unpleasant (and would like to stay in charge), and someone is after the Makluan Rings Howard Stark had discovered clues to. Oh, and random supervillains.
With help from his friends Patricia “Pepper” Potts and James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Tony must survive high school while fighting baddies in the guise of…Iron Man!
This 2009 Canadian/French co-production was released following the success of the first Iron Man live-action movie, but uses almost none of that film’s continuity, instead working with a teenage version of the character and some of his supporting cast. It takes elements from various plotlines in the Marvel Comics version, including the poorly received “Teen Tony” era.
My randomly acquired DVD has six episodes from the beginning of Season Two. “The Invincible Iron Man” is a two-parter. It’s been several weeks since the finale of Season One, which featured Tony being betrayed by someone he thought was a friend. He’s spent some time away to get his head together. A mysterious figure hires gadgeteer Mr. Fix and his cyborg minion Whiplash to abduct both Obadiah Stane and new villain Justin Hammer as well as kill/capture Iron Man.
This results in Tony’s armor being trashed so he has to upgrade to a new Mark II model (while looks like the one from the second live action movie.) In subplots, Justin Hammer, the smug young CEO of Hammer Industries, plans to sell dubiously acquired advanced weaponry to make himself the richest man in the world (what’s left of it), and the Mandarin is seeking the remaining Makluan Rings with a surprise assistant. Once the Mandarin has all ten rings, he will surely have ultimate power!
“Look Into the Light” brings back the Living Laser, who supposedly reformed at the end of his last appearance. So why’s he attacking Iron Man now? When he and Tony next meet, Living Laser claims to be not the person who attacked, but Tony’s still smarting from a previous betrayal, and not ready to trust.
“Ghost in the Machine” unsurprisingly features industrial spy The Ghost, who is hired by Obadiah Stane to steal Iron Man’s armor. The Ghost is one of the more competent villains on the show, and this is the best episode on the DVD. The status quo is shaken up.
“Armor Wars” is a take on a favorite plotline from the comic book version. Stane uses the stolen technology to create cheap mass-producible versions of the Iron Man suit called Guardsmen. Tony must find a way to shut down the Guardsman project despite the knockoffs acting far more heroically than he does. Fun stuff!
“Line of Fire” brings back T’Challa, King of Wakanda, better known to outsiders as the Black Panther. He’s on the trail of “blood vibranium”, so called because it’s been sold to finance a war in his part of Africa. Both Hammer Industries and Stark International have some of it, and the Black Panther is going to get it back, no matter who stands in the way.
T’Challa is not good at accepting help or explaining himself, so Tony spends much of the episode working at cross-purposes with the king.
The CGI is cel-shaded to give it a more comic-booky appearance, but it still works far better for armored fighting scenes than human faces. The stylistic choice is made to have all the characters wear the same clothes at all times unless they specifically switch for plot reasons. This works okay for many of them, but is hideously obvious when jock Happy Hogan wears his basketball uniform on a restaurant date.
The writing is a bit clunky in places, but the weaving in and out of subplots and future dangers is done well in the mighty Marvel manner.
Teen Tony has the advantage that some of Tony Stark’s less palatable personality traits seem less obnoxious in a teenager, while others can be removed altogether. He’s still a jerk sometimes, but it’s more understandable.
Rhodey as War Machine doesn’t really work, since he’s missing both his military background and Tony Stark’s past as an arms dealer. Pepper gets to be mission control for these episodes, though she’ll probably get an armor by the end.
The show is more ambitious than good, but if you’re in the mood for a teen superhero, this one is decent.
