Guess what? Iron Man, the Marvel Cinematic variety, is ten years old this May! Well, technicaly late April, but that was recently changed by Robert Downey JR. I think he gets a small say-so about that.

A lot has happened in that amount of time. Back in 2008, the craziest thing we saw was a man with a glowing chest walk out of a cave in a metal suit. He did so to survive captors he had no intention of helping. Mad Money was still a thing, randomly included in there somwhere. And cellphones still had physical keyboards; at least Tony did before the Funvee was blown up. This is the beginning of the film, yes, but also of his story arche. Don'tcha just love traditional movie storytelling?

Stark's character arche begins when he is kidnapped. I'm writing this article before the Infinity War movie (or Avengers III) debuts. His story quite possibly ends with this film. He says in his first film that "I've been called many things. Nostalgic is not one of them." Well, during the third installment he gains an unhealthy dose of Post Tramatic Stress and goes down a slippery slope of protection and mentorship (like he ends up doing in Civil War and in Spiderman Homecoming). His need to change his company seems radical within the first film. But his insistance to be accountable for company secrets is pretty damn heroic once he starts saving people. It's a rocky beginning, but I'm glad it happened to this particular bratty billionaire philanthropist.

"Was that so hard? It was fun, right?" Tony to Pepper Potts after Arc-Reactor Heart Surgery.

There are several scenes devoted to Tony's mistakes and trial runs before a pretty good payoff: he gets to fly. Not that this was purposeful foreshadowing, but he even flies to the moon. He fails, but it's because of ice build up. Though Jarvis introduces calibrations that include other planets. At the time, I assumed it was another moment of dry humor. Don't worry, his second time to the moon was much better. But there's recently been speculation that he will travel into space, like in the comics.

"Mr. Stark, you've become part of a larger universe. You just don't know it yet."

--Nick Fury

Some of the other Marvel films, while they needed to pick up a much faster pace and build the world around Tony, don't have the touching moments that this first Iron Man film has. My case in point is Pepper Potts gifting Tony the stand with his old arch reactor, with a sign around it saying, "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart."

Ten years after the release of Iron Man, there is more at stake than weapons being sold to the wrong side in political wars. There's more to it than a specialized air missile hitting the wrong target. This new threat will hit everyone, and everywhere. And there's been enough buildup. We know so many great heros, villains, and secondary characters (I mean civilians). Now we have a Purple Titan coming to town in an impending, universal doomsday situation. And this may be Tony Stark's last hurrah.

Despite what he says in his first two hours of screen time, he is nostalgic. He cares quite a bit. Just didn't know that until shrapnal entered the situation,and his heart. He will save Spiderman, and enact some brave deed to help the rest of the Avengers from afar. Even the one he disagrees with. *cough Steve Rogers *cough* In Avengers: Age of Ultron, he had a vision that everyone had died by the hands of Thanos. Instead, he may perish on the planet Titan (that's a theory circulating around YouTube at the moment), or continue traveling in space for one reason or another. Either way, this two-part close to the Avengers films will be his official last hurrah as one of the main heros.

Nick Fury states in the post credit scene that, "Mr. Stark, you've become part of a larger universe. You just don't know it yet." Well Nick, ten years in, he sure as hell knows it now. And hopefully he'll live long enough to explore more of this Marvel(ous) Universe.

Tony Stark. Genius. Billionaire. Robert Downey Jr. Firstish Avenger (Cap was really first, but Nick Fury spoke to Tony first; details, details). He shot for the moon. Almost ten years exactly, he'll go past that heavenly body and reach new ones.

Avengers: Infinity War will crash into theatres like a moon on April 27, 2018 instead of May 4, 2018.