The following is my personal notes / reflections on Gospel parallels with the MCU Iron Man trilogy. Theses notes formed the basis of my discussion on the podcast “The Inner Light Project,” episode 2. I focused on four major themes that emerged as I watched the character of Ironman develop. If you would like to listen to the podcast here is a link.
Theme 1 – Crisis Brings Change
Tony Stark is deeply flawed character, which is why he is so relatable. In the beginning, he is a sarcastic, selfish arrogant “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” Outwardly successful, Stark is really a “a man who has everything, and nothing.” In many ways, Stark perceives himself to be God-like. He stretches out his arms at a weapons test and, at his command, the mountains melt like wax (Psalm 97:5; Micah 1:4; Nahum 1:5). His latest and most advanced weapon is named “Jericho” after the biblical battle in which God himself flattened the city walls (Joshua 6:15-20).
Stark does not really understand or care how Stark Industries weapons are creating death and destruction around the world. It is only when his caravan is attacked and he is taken hostage does he see how his creation is brining evil into the world, because his weapons are finding their way into the hands of terrorists. Its in captivity that he can no longer rely on his money, comfort, or connections to save him. The cave experience is also a time to reflect on his life choices.
(This same trope is used again in Iron Man 3. Stark loses everything in an attack, including his swanky home and high-tech lab. He crash lands in a po-dunk town and his suit malfunctions. Once again, he stripped down to nothing and Stark must find his identity again.)
Many times, in life we are not ready to deal with our personal sin and the hurt brought about by our decisions until we are cornered into a crisis and all our pride, health, resources are stripped from us. The reality is that personal crisis is the greatest agent of change.
We don’t realize the hurt we have caused others until God kicks the props out from under us. None of us plans for the calamity to strike, but when it does it can be the greatest force for transformation in our lives. Change and repentance will only take place in the “cave” when we are forced to look inward at our own flaws and brokenness.
The Scriptures are full of examples of people who were humbled by crisis and changed as a result—Jacob (Gen. 32 – wrestling with God), David (murder and adultery exposed in 2 Sam. 16), Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2 and 4 – made to live as a beast for 7 years). Paul (blinded on the road to Damascus, Acts 9).
Theme 2 – A New Heart
One of the hallmarks of Stark’s character is the arc reactor that he creates and imbeds in his chest. The reactor is meant to stabilize fragments of metal in his heart and keep these shards from going deeper and killing him. Although he is a hero capable of good deeds, Tony Stark is man with a broken, corrupted heart. The reality of death constantly dogs his steps. Were it not for advanced technology he would be dead.
Likewise, the Bible says that we are all fallen creatures and our hearts are corrupted by sin. When the Bible used the term heart, it’s not referring to the organ in our chest responsible for pumping blood. But heart refers to our soul—the seat of mind, will, emotions and morality.
In fact, the Bible has a lot to say about heart condition. “The heart is desperately wicked, who can know it” (Jer. 17:9). During the time of Noah, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matt. 15:19).
When it comes to humanity, the heart of the problem is a problem of the heart. It is our corrupted nature dooms us to failure, and even the penalty of death. What we need is heart change, which God promises us, “26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ez. 36:26). “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
The Gospel addresses man’s sin problem, offers forgiveness and new nature, 2 Cor. 5:17 “If anyone be in Christ He is a new creation.”
Theme 3 – A Hero with Scars
Iron Man 2 has an interesting line spoken by the villain, Russian super-genius Ivan Vanko. Vanko says that it’s not necessary to kill Tony Stark to make him ineffectual: “If you make God bleed, then people will not believe in him.”
By the way, Vanko likely acquired this theological conviction from watching an episode of Star Trek entitled, “The Paradise Syndrome.” After landing on an earthlike planet, Captain Kirk revives a stricken child with artificial resuscitation, causing the natives to think he is a god who has the power of resurrection. Later, the village medicine chief cuts Kirk on the hand and, seeing the blood, claims he cannot be a god by stating, “Behold a god who bleeds!”
This is an interesting counter-perspective to Christianity, because Jesus is the only leader of a major faith who 1) claims to be God and 2) shows vulnerability. In his incarnation we see Jesus exhibit every form of human weakness—he weeps (John 11:35), he gets tired (Mk. 4:38), he hungers and thirsts (Matt 4:11; John 19:28), he feels stress (Luke 22:22), he bleeds and dies.
The Bible says, “15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Jesus is fully God and fully man. It is through weakness that He gains victory. Jesus defeats His enemy by the greatest show of weakness possible—death on a cross. Christianity is the only faith that adequately deals with the problem of evil and suffering because God in the person of Christ enters into the suffering of humanity and partakes of the pain fully.
Theme 4 – Self-Sacrifice
In the first Avengers movie we see a clash of ideologies between Iron Man (Tony Stark) and Captain America (Steve Rogers). In many ways, Stark is the opposite of Steve Rogers. Stark is a man with limitless resources, yet in the beginning he lacks the moral character of a hero. Rogers on the other hand, who in the beginning is a man with no resources, yet he has all the moral character to be a hero.
These two men come from different times and have differing perspectives on nearly everything. One of the charges that Rogers levels against Stark is that he doesn’t have the true strength of a hero, which is the moral fiber to sacrifice oneself for others. Rogers does this in his first movie, by crashing the HYDRA flying wing into the North Pole to spare the people of NYC.
However, at the end of the movie we see Stark making the big sacrifice flying through the wormhole during the Battle of NY to redirect the nuke missile away from the city. Tony does find the moral strength to give his life, even though he falls back through the wormhole and lives to fight another day—we see that he is willing to give his life.
Tony’s big sacrifice comes in Avengers: Endgame when he sacrifices himself by taking on the infinity gauntlet and snapping Thanos and his cronies out of existence. The energy unleashed by “the snap” takes Tony’s life, while saving his friends.
Of course, sacrifice is at the core of the Gospel message. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends” (John 15:13). Jesus as the sin-bearer, Lamb of God, laid down his life for fallen humanity, taking our sin and punishment on the cross. “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit” (1 Pet. 3:18). It’s interesting that Thanos is Greek for “death.” Tony defeats the embodiment of Death by sacrificing his life, Jesus defeats death by giving His life, “9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9). -DM
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