Only time will tell just where Iron Man will fall within the pantheon of comic book superhero flicks. However, basking in the warm afterglow of my screening, I can only surmise that it will rank pretty highly among origin films, not to mention among the overall library of superhero flicks.

To say that Iron Man flies high and sticks the landing would be an understatement. There is a strong undercurrent of energy, realism, and just plain old fun. The bottom line is that Iron Man delivers on the potential that superhero films contain. It pushes the boundaries of what a superhero film can be in much the same way that Batman Begins did, bringing a maturity to the material and allowing it to develop in an organic manner.

As Iron Man opens, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is being transported via Humvee back to a military base in Afghanistan. They never make it. The convoy comes under attack and Stark is taken captive. Flashback to 36 hours prior to the attack and we catch up with Stark, learning about his past and being taken into his present.

Stark is revealed to be some sort of fusion of Bill Gates, Hugh Hefner, and Howard Hughes (whom Stan Lee has stated was a big influence on the creation of the character). He is a brilliant scientist, a hard drinker, and a womanizer, making him a pseudo-celebrity who always has an in to the hottest parties. As the head of Stark Industries, he is one of the largest suppliers of weapons to the world stage. We follow Stark as he is seen doing his thing in Hollywood, working in his shop at his home, and being shipped off to Afghanistan to demonstrate his latest weapons breakthrough, the Jericho missile. It is after this demo that the attack happens.

Back in the present, we catch up with Stark and another prisoner, Yensin (Shaun Toub), held inside a cave deep in the Afghani mountains. He awakens to find his chest wrapped in gauze and hooked to a car battery. The attack leading to his capture resulted in shrapnel becoming embedded in his chest that cannot be removed, requiring a specially designed electromagnet to be implanted in his chest to keep the metallic barbs from entering his heart and killing him. Raza (Faran Tahir) is forcing the scientist to construct a Jericho missile for his nefarious use. Rather than comply with this request, Stark takes the available materials and crafts a weaponized, bulletproof suit of armor that allows for his escape, not to mention a more efficient power supply for his chest magnet. And so Iron Man is born in a dark cave, not out of genuine desire to create such a suit, but as a necessity to escape.