Review by Arsenal

IMAGES

Both episodes of Iron Man: Armored Adventures feature one of Tony Stark’s corporate villains – Obadiah Stane in “Mettle” and Justin Hammer in “Hammer” – going absolutely buggy when they are on the verge of losing their industrial empire.

However, “Mettle” never coalesced – partly because it depended too much on clichés and partly because Stane was a boring, one-dimensional character. Consequently, any episode that depends on him is going to drag.

Meanwhile, “The Hammer Falls” is pretty much critic-proof. I mean, how can someone hate Hammer threatening to drop a bomb filled with zombie gas on New York?

But, even more than the zombie bomb, “Hammer Falls” succeeds because of Justin Hammer.

Hammer is entirely id, which makes him a great counterpoint to thinkers like Stark, Stane and the Mandarin. Moreover, Hammer is entertaining – something that can’t always be said about Stane or Mandarin – and he’s doubly so when paired with his incredulous sidekick Sasha.

It’s a lot of fun to watch Hammer get progressively crazier (and watch Sasha react to his craziness) in “Hammer Falls.” And, if 1 ½ seasons of Mandarin and Stane-centric episodes taught us anything, then it’s that Armored Adventures almost never suffers from too much fun.