Of Iron Men and Pepper Potts

So I've just recently returned from my viewing of Iron Man, and I have to say I was surprised by it, for the following reasons specifically:

1. It didn't suck.
2. It was awesome.

Let us be honest for a second. As much as I used to be a Marvel fanboy (now fully reformed and on the DC side of things), Marvel movies don't have a habit of turning out that well. Stop and think for a second. The Punisher. X-Men 3. Daredevil. I haven't seen Spider Man 3, but I understand that it sucks pretty spectacularly, too. So needless to say, I didn't have the highest of hopes for this one. I was never even particularly fond of Iron Man--I just happened to pick up some of his trivia by way of tangential geekdom.

What I discovered when I saw Iron Man was a film that was structured very tightly plotwise--every scene had a purpose to it. There was no meandering, no tedious exposition on superpowers and the place of heroes in the world. You start out with a "hero" who's a weapons manufacturing magnate with a blood alcohol level high enough his bodily fluids could be used as jet fuel, and you damn well go from there, holding on to the plot by your fingernails as it swerves periodically into oncoming traffic.

The other thing Iron Man had going for it was Virginia "Pepper" Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow and pictured above. I now have a serious fanboy crush on Pepper, because she is adorable. I suspect that I am also a big Gwyneth Paltrow fan as a consequence, but that's fine by me.

The world could use more 5'10" tall pretty.

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Let's face it. This isn't the worst thing you've caught me doing.