I disagree, but agree with Johnc above. Actually, I think the movie (and the character of Tony Stark) is an excellent example of the American Conservative. He’s not coming back as a peacenik, as some reviews have said. While he’s trying to figure out how to keep his weapons from getting into the wrong hands, he’s going to diversify his company. But he never disavows his weapons. And as Johnc notes, he creates a better weapon. He doesn’t trust anyone else to do the work, so he does it himself.
In my mind, the best scene was when Stark is watching the news report of the town in Afghanistan being taken over by terrorists. He gets pissed off. Not just because his weapons are being used, but because of a profound sense of injustice. And then he goes and f’s up the badguys. And I can imagine that many American conservatives (and pro-war libertarians) could identify with that desire. And when Stark takes out the terrorists in the town the whole audience in my theater cheered. Badguys dead. I didn’t see anything in the movie that blamed the US for war.
Yes, the ending was a little weak, but I’ve yet to see any superhero movie endings where there wasn’t something contrived to bring it all to an end. This movie shows the military trying to do it’s job the best it can, it shows that kicking badguy ass is sometimes not only necessary but noble, and it celebrates the ingenuity and bravery of a single man who (despite his obvious flaws) really does believe in justice. I thought it was by far the most conservative superhero movie Hollywood has created in a very long time.
