Iron Man 2 – Movie Review

Iron Man 2

Movie Review by Stacey Tuttle

“If you can make God bleed, then people will lose faith in Him.”

Tony Stark has created a suit which gives him remarkable powers—powers which have given him an almost god-like status among men.  Mind you, the correlation between Tony Stark and God end with the suit.  His character, his temperament, his wisdom and understanding—none of these smack of deity.    But in terms of his power and ability to save the multitudes, he does share some resemblance to God.

It is his enemy, Vanko, who makes the comment that, “If you can make God bleed, then people will lose faith in Him.”  His point is that the people believe in Iron Man as long as he seems invincible.  So long as Iron Man is the strongest, most powerful thing in existence, they will continue to believe in him.  So Vanko plans to upstage Iron Man.  He wants their god to bleed before them, to show his weakness, his humanity. He wants the world to lose faith in their god. 

Of course, in the end, Vanko is defeated.  However, his plans aren’t totally foiled.  Iron Man discovers he cannot do it all on his own.  He receives some help from his best friend, from a mysterious secret agency and even from his dead father who had discovered an element without which Iron Man would die (as his present power source was ultimately killing him).  So, the faith of the masses isn’t ultimately solely in Iron Man in the end.  It’s in Iron Man and his new sidekick.  He still enjoys some degree of god-like status, but ultimately it’s more demi-god-like status.  He’s great and very powerful, but he can’t really do it all on his own – at least not all the time. 

The God of the Bible has an enemy named Satan.  Like Vanko, Satan has been trying (since the existence of mankind) to get people to lose faith in Him.  He too has been trying to make God bleed in ways both metaphorical and literal.  He has done his best to appear more powerful than God, to discredit God, to make us doubt God, to make God seem unloving, unfair, unkind and ungenerous.  He lies to us constantly, making God’s character seem dubious, as if God lies, is cruel, spiteful, egotistical and needy.  He is always trying to make it seem that God has failed us as a savior and as a Father in some way or other.  He has tried to make God appear human in his failings—to make him a very human, bleeding, God. 

He also, literally, made God bleed when he nailed Jesus to the cross.  The irony of that is Jesus’ death on the cross didn’t rob mankind of their faith in God as Satan supposed it would.  Rather, it strengthened mankind’s faith in God, because Jesus didn’t just bleed and die on that cross—he rose again.  We have a God who, in the end, is ultimately and supremely victorious!   Not only are Satan’s plans foiled, but he finds himself a pawn in the plans of God.  For Christians, it is the bleeding of God in which we renew our faith.

Questions for Discussion

• In which ways do you see Satan trying to make God bleed (through the world, Hollywood, media, politics, education, etc…)?
• Do you feel that you have lost (some of/ all of) your faith in God?  If so, why?  In what ways did God bleed in your eyes?
• How do you view the blood of Jesus?  Does it restore your faith or rob you of it?