If I were to compare Iron Man to other recent movies, it would have to be Transformers meets Batman Begins. Like last year's Decepticon filled summer hit, Iron Man is full of big explosions, cool technology, and impending destruction. It is a blockbuster with a serious popcorn vibe. And it definitely has an action figure franchise going for it.

But where Transformers is about the surfacing of a legend, Iron Man is about the birth of an entirely new superhero. Unlike Clark Kent or the Autobots, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is not born with superpowers. The origin of his new power comes from none other than the destructiveness of the power that has defined his life up to the point at which the movie begins. And like Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark's transformation from indifferent billionaire into weapon of freedom comes from not only seeing the complex nature of evil for what it is, but by also recognizing his ability to do something about it and making the decision to step up to the task.

If you're not familiar with the story of Iron Man, the basics go something like this—Tony Stark is the billionaire head of Stark Industries, the leading weapons manufacturer in the world. Soon after he completes development of his ultimate weapon, The Jericho, Stark is kidnapped by insurgents and ordered to make them their own. Instead, he makes an iron suit in which he escapes and returns to his company a new man. And of course there's also the tiny little detail that the weapons the insurgents were using were his; when he was captured, the Stark Industries shrapnel that had pierced his body should have killed him, and when he gets away, the only thing keeping him alive is the power-core in the middle of his chest that has replaced his failing heart.

And from there begins a story of man who realizes that he has much more to offer the world than what he has been giving, who recognizes a greater purpose for his life, and who uses what he has to make that happen. As Stark says at a press conference immediately following his return, "I've come to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up." To the chagrin of almost everybody at Stark Industries and in National Defense, he proclaims that Stark Industries will no longer make weapons. And instead, he sets to work building an armored suit a bit more sophisticated than the one he built in his desert cave.

But as much as Stark believes that his new direction is far superior to his previous one, not everyone agrees with him. While Stark wants to use his creation to better combat evil and protect freedom, there are those who simply want to use it to amass more power for themselves. Although he sees a more responsible use of weaponry as the key to hope, others just want the security of knowing that the United States has the biggest bombs and most destructive missiles around. And even though Stark begins saving lives before he has even given his new suit a full test drive (with him literally inside the very weapon he has designed to seek out evil and protect those it enslaves), there are also those who question whether it is actually something worth risking his life for.

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