The TV Addict 

With IRON MAN on Blu-Ray having reached my greedy little hands, I eagerly popped the disc in and threw myself into watching the film for a second time. Needless to say it held up incredibly well. No surprise, given that it was my No. 2 choice for greatest superhero movies of all time. In the process of watching the movie though I kept on coming across moments that just made me think “This is why this movie is awesome.” In the interest of sharing, I thought I would narrow them down to my Top 10. Yours will obviously differ, so please feel free to post your own Top 10 lists below in the comments.

Honorable Mention: After the Credits
I didn’t include this in the regular list just because I wanted to be fair and stick to in-movie moments for my Top 10. That being said though, this comic book fan practically had a hernia while simultaneously choking on a popcorn kernel when Samuel L. Jackson popped up as Nick Fury, promising us the Avengers.

10. The Reporter
Within minutes of meeting Tony Stark for the first time on screen, we get an almost instant and precise portrait of his millionaire playboy ways. It’s not just the money though, it’s his considerable charm and ability to diffuse any situation and turn it to his advantage. That’s never clearer then when a young reporter demands with outrage if Stark ever loses an hour of sleep at night, to which Stark cooly responds: “I’d be prepared to lose a few with you.” Cut to a bedroom romp.

9. The 1st Thruster Test
As both the audience and Tony Stark hotly anticipate the success of the first test of the thruster boots, they were instead hilariously greeted with a Stark flying right smack into a wall behind him, plunging to the floor, and then being doused by a robot fire extinguisher. A cheeky way to show invention success has its proper course, and saying to the audience: “We’re not there. Yet.”

8. Robot Saves Tony
Color me surprised that robots with personalities (that aren’t animated, a la WALL-E) could be such a gold mine of humor and emotion. In this case, a robot – with audible and adorable concern – reaches Stark his obsolete “heart” thereby saving his life. It’s a moment that should have been totally lame, but instead somewhat managed to warm my own heart.

7. Pepper Potts Handles Tony Stark’s Heart
Who knew someone reaching into a massive, metallic, gooey cavity in someone’s chest to exchange one science-fiction gizmo for another could be so darn romantic? It’s not just because of the intimacy of the scene, or Stark’s quiet proclamation that Pepper is all he has, but because the whole thing is surprisingly (and effectively) symbolic of their relationship and its tensions.

6. Iron Man in Action
Seeing a superhero in action for the first time is always a hurdle for filmmakers. You have to really to give the audience something that makes them thing “Yes, this was worth sitting through the origin for.” The IRON MAN folks didn’t let down, especially with two notable sequences: Iron Man diffusing a seemingly impossible hostage situation with precisely targeted missiles to the face, and Iron Man countering a tank’s big shell with a dinky little rocket that blows it sky high.

5. Tony Stark Gets Caught
“Let’s face it. This is not the worst thing you caught me doing.” Tony has many great lines in IRON MAN (compliments of its scribes, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway), but this one may be the best. If it can survive being played in trailers all the time, and still be funny when watching the movie, you know you’ve got a gem.

4. Pepper Potts Recalls “That Night”
Most superhero movies and – by extension – action movies, result in the end with boy and girl inevitably kissing, or falling in love, or capitalizing upon the sexual tension between them strung throughout the rest of the film. IRON MAN was refreshing not only because that doesn’t happen, but because of why. Specifically, just as the clichéd moment comes, and Stark dreamily talks about “that night” when the two kissed, Pepper impetuously reminds him whether he means the night where he stood her up and vanished, thereby closing the door on the matter. It’s an inventive, even a little subversive genre moment that feels earned and logical.

3. A Hero is Born
It was a moment I didn’t really fully appreciate (or truly notice) when I first saw the film in theatres. Watching IRON MAN a second time though, it really hit me – as it probably did Tony – that when Stark watches the news and discovers his weapons are being used directly for evil, Iron Man is truly born. Compliments of Downey Jr.’s performance, that immediate change he makes from a frivolous, purposeless playboy building the suit for fun, to one accepting responsibility and using it for a real moral imperative is perfectly visible in his face. It’s a powerful “with great power comes great responsibility” realization/moment expressed without a single word.

2. “Yeah … I can fly.”
Tapping into the same joy conveyed by the scene when Peter Parker learns he can swing across the city in SPIDER-MAN, Stark’s words after his first actually successful thruster test taps into that same euphoria we all would feel in the same situation. Of course there’s that slight cockiness to Tony Stark, making his statement a mixture of excitement and smug satisfaction. (After all, unlike Spider-Man he had to put in a lot of hard work to become superhero. I mean, come on, anyone can be bitten by a nuked up spider).

1. “The truth is … I am Iron Man”
Tony Stark’s decision to circumvent years of typical superhero secret identity angst, is pure Tony Stark: part arrogance, part self-assurance, part “doesn’t give a shit,” and part thrill addict. He’s Iron Man, he loves being him, so why not just be up front and admit it? It’s the best moment because it’s not also a perfect representation of Stark’s character, but because it’s an exciting way to end a film. Most of all, it signals something entirely new for the superhero film genre. Above all else though, it makes you want to practically scream: “I want to see the sequel now!”