The Iron Man movies are lots of fun, but it’s an unsettling kind of fun.
These Iron Man movies have always been pretty out in the open about their big issue – the weapons we make end up being used against us. This gives the movies an air of anti-weaponized violence. They have just enough of a conscience that you can feel good about yourself for enjoying them. However, the movies really only think weapons are bad when they end up being turned against their makers. A more noble thought would be that weapons are bad even (and perhaps especially) when they’re used against others. The Iron Man movies aren’t that deep.
Tony Stark’s true nemesis is always himself, his colleagues, and the military industrial complex he sits atop, but the movies are all constructed to make the audience think someone else is the villain in the first two acts. Then, in the third act, the curtain is pulled back, and the true American identity of the villain is revealed. The effect in all three movies is that the third act seems less scary/suspenseful/dire than the previous acts. The movies are all somewhat of a let-down.
They shouldn’t be. When it is revealed in the third act that Tony Stark’s enemy is really just another guy like him, we ought to be more troubled, not less. After all, what’s more terrifying, that our enemies are foreign, far away, and freakish or that our enemies are domestic, next door, and no different than us? Which is worse, that there is a terrorist group bent on our destruction or that the terrorists are nothing more than a marketing scheme to get us to buy more bombs?
Honestly, the former is scarier. Other-worldly terrorists bent on U.S. destruction is more terrifying than white guys in suits trying to boost the American economy. Left unchecked, the former results in a lot of us dead unexpectedly. The later results in more of us with jobs. No wonder the third act of an Iron Man movie feels hollow. There’s nothing at stake anymore other than which white guy gets to sit behind the biggest desk.
However, “Which is scarier?” is the wrong question to be asking. As Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight triology taught us, we need not run from fear. We must embrace what we fear, put it behind us, and use it to spur us forward. Most importantly in every situation, we must make the most ethical/loving/just decision we can make.
The question becomes, “What is right?”
Is it right to make a foreign people our enemy, to kill them (men, women, and children), so we have a reason to make more bombs and make more money? Even if there really are people in other countries plotting against us – people who want to be our enemies – is the right action to blow them up? The American way of life is not synonymous with the Kingdom of God, so even if the American way of life is threatened by terrorists, we don’t have to protect it. The American way of life – a way of selfish ambition – is, arguably, more threatened by the kind of other-loving peace-making proposed and practiced by Jesus.
Is it right to use fear to gain support for military spending programs as Obadiah, Hammer, Killian do, to boost military recruitment as the Iron Patriot does, to destroy communities right here at home like that small town in Tennessee that Tony visits in Iron Man 3? Is it right to involve the next generation in these practices as Tony does and as these movie do by marketing themselves very explicitly to kids? Is it right to use a line like “That was really violent!” to evoke laughter rather than tears?
Don’t be distracted by fear, either while watching these Iron Man movies or in the real world. Embrace it. Move past it. Act justly. Love mercy. Fear only God.
There’s a neat little pair of images in Iron Man 3 that are used to bracket the events of the story. In the beginning, Tony Stark’s Iron Man suits are blown up by his enemies as his Malibu mansion is destroyed. At the end of the movie, Tony decides to blow them up himself, turning their destruction into a firework show for him and Pepper, celebrating and cementing his decision to stop being Iron Man.
In the first case, his suits are destroyed in a moment of terror and promise more terror to come. In the second, his suits explode in a moment of peace and the explosions are a promise of peace to come. To achieve the second, Tony has to move past fear. He does this by destroying his enemies, a work which is always incomplete, because there are always more enemies.
How might a more permanent peace be established? It would, necessarily, involve moving past fear. It would also, necessarily, involve the destruction of all weapons. It would also involve continuously rejecting violence, loving neighbors and enemies especially when they are the same person, finding creative ways to protest the injustice around us, and all at the hazard of our lives.
It would of course take more than that, but I appreciate movies like these Iron Man movies for providing a small part of the picture. I lament that movies like these possibly obscure more than they reveal. I have to keep returning to Jesus, because no non-violent resistance has ever proven as effective as his. I have to keep hoping that the credits will roll and the only promise tacked on to the end will be for peace.
Key Scenes
Clip 1
Clip 2
Clip 3
Discussion Questions
Adults
Watch Clip 1, and read Isaiah 2:4.
1) Is there any sense in which you actively promote violence in your life?
2) How might our attraction to weaponized violence relate to our humility or lack thereof?
3) Are there times when weapons are helpful? Why or why not?
Watch Clip 2, and read Micah 6:8.
1) What role, if any, does violence play in our attempts to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly?
2) In such a violent world, is it realistic to “act justly” without turning to violence?
3) Is it real justice if we respond to perpetrators of violence in non-violent ways? Why or why not?
Watch Clip 3, and read Matthew 5:38-40.
1) How did Jesus respond to a violent world?
2) How does that compare to Tony Stark destroying his army of suits? How is it similar? Different?
3) What are the real risks of responding to violence like Jesus did? What do you most fear about following Jesus’s command to turn the other cheek?
Families
Watch Clip 1, and read Isaiah 2:4.
1) Is there any sense in which you actively promote violence in your life?
2) What kind of weapons do we use with each other –our words, thoughts, or actions?
3) Are there times when the use of these weapons is justified? Why or why not?
Watch Clip 2 and read Micah 6:8.
1) What role, if any, should violence play in our attempts to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God?”
2) In such a violent world, is it realistic to “act justly” without turning to violence?
3) Is it real justice if we respond to perpetrators of violence in non-violent ways? Why or why not?
Watch Clip 3, and read Matthew 5:38-40.
1) How did Jesus respond to a violent world?
2) How does that compare to Tony Stark’s destruction of his army of suits? How is it similar? Different?
3) What are the real risks of responding to violence like Jesus did? What do you most fear about following Jesus’s command to turn the other cheek?
Students
Watch Clip 1, and read Isaiah 2:4.
1) Do you actively promote violence in your life?
2) What kind of weapons do you use?
3) Are there times when the use of these weapons is justified? Why or why not?
Watch Clip 2, and read Micah 6:8.
1) What role, if any, should violence play in our attempts to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God?”
2) In such a violent world, is it realistic to not be violent?
3) Is it real justice if we respond to violent people in non-violent ways? Why or why not?
Watch Clip 3, and read Matthew 5:38-40.
1) How did Jesus respond to violence in his life?
2) How does that compare to Tony Stark destroying his army of suits? How is it similar? Different?
3) What are the real risks of responding to violence like Jesus did? What scares you the most about following Jesus’s command to turn the other cheek?
Children
Watch Clip 1, and read Isaiah 2:4.
1) Do you ever enjoy destroying things? Why or why not
2) Besides guns and bombs, what are other kinds of weapons?
3) Are there times when using these kinds of weapons is ok? Why or why not?
Watch Clip 2, and read Micah 6:8.
1) What do you think it means to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God?”
2) If someone takes what belongs to you without asking, how do you normally respond?
3) How should you respond? Why?
Watch Clip 3, and read Matthew 5:38-40.
1) How did Jesus respond to violence in his life?
2) How does that compare to Tony Stark destroying his army of suits? How is it similar? Different?
3) What do you most fear about following Jesus’s command to turn the other cheek?
Related Scripture
The Lord will mediate between nations
and will settle international disputes.
They will hammer their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will no longer fight against nation,
nor train for war anymore.
(Isaiah 2:4)
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
(Micah 6: 8)
You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too.
(Matthew 5: 38-40)
Related Resources
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