in the first Avengers movie Steve Rogers asks a pretty scathing question of Tony Stark - "Big man in a suit of armour. Take that away and what are you?" - with the implication being that Tony is nothing without the suit. That couldn't be further from the truth, but not for the reason Tony provides in his rebuttal.
Yes, Tony is a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist, but he's also a man whose put his life on the line for all of humanity at great cost to his own wellbeing. He's constantly battled his own inner demons to be the hero he is today, and though the character certainly possesses an abundance of unlikeable qualities, he has always tried to do what's right, whether that be divesting from the arms industry, or by taking on his friends to contest his beliefs.
No, he hasn't always gotten it right, but Iron Man is still far and away one of the most inspirational Marvel characters going. He's constantly learning and developing, ensuring that, even though he may be ensconced in a suit of armour, he's actually one of the most human heroes in Marvel's library.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
