ENTER: IRON MONGER


Episode #36 - Enter: Iron Monger
Original Airdate - October 31st, 2011
Stane has perfected armor more powerful than Titanium Man: Iron Monger. Tony and Rhodey need to use their brains to defeat their foe … before they get bashed to pieces!

Written By Eugene Son, Story by Thomas Barichella and Romain Van Liemt
Directed By Stephane Juffe and Phillipe Guyenne
Review by Arsenal


IMAGES



Review:
Enter: Iron Monger gets the big stuff right and the details wrong.

This episode introduces Obadiah Stane’s Iron Monger, which is basically a building-sized version of Iron Man.

Now, the creators of this show were smart enough to know that they didn’t want to use Iron Monger to recreate Titanium v. Iron. They already did an armor vs. armor smackdown and it was excellent.

However, it would be difficult to top while that episode was still fresh in the audience’s memory.

Instead, the creators clearly differentiate Iron Monger from all the armors that preceded it by making it the size of an apartment building. Then, instead of having Iron Man and War Machine shoot different color lasers at it, they have Tony Stark outsmart Stane.

This is a good idea but unfortunately its execution is poorly handled.

Stane invites Tony to partner with him because he thinks it will impress Stark International’s Board of Directors. (Still not a bad idea.) Then, Stane leaves Tony alone in his office so he can steal the Iron Monger blueprints.

Yes, you read that right. We’re supposed to believe that Stane is stupid enough to leave his rival completely unwatched in his office. (Seriously, does someone as paranoid as Stane not have security cameras?)

Did I mention this is right after Tony accused Stane of almost killing an innocent bystander in front of the board?

So they argue and instead of – I don’t know – kicking Tony out, Stane leaves him unwatched in his office with his top secret project.

In a world of flying armored teenage supergeniuses, this strains credulity too far.

This episode is filled with all sorts of logical shortcomings that I thought this show left behind last season. Why would Stane cop almost killing what amounts to an innocent bystander in public? What city would allow a 60-foot death robot to walk down its occupied streets?

I’m about to levy a criticism against this show that I used to say all the time during the first season but haven’t had to say lately:

This script needed at least one more rewrite to tighten up its bad ideas and emphasize its good ones.

The problem isn’t that Enter: Iron Monger is a bad episode; it’s that it easily could have been a good one.

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