3. It’s Not Actually Meant for Children
With all of these plot holes and abandonment of visual consistency, the writers of Iron Man were able to slip in some seemingly adult themes.
The first indication that this show was not meant for the TV Y-7 crowd is hidden in Stan Lee’s live-action intros to the show. In these introductions, Stan Lee essentially gives away 90 percent of the plot that occurs in the episode to follow, addressing the audience as “cultural enthusiasts,” which is a fancy way of saying adult comic-book fans who need to watch a children’s cartoon to satisfy their Iron Man lust, or simply, nerds.
Of course I just assumed that this was a means of obtaining the largest possible audience for this show without alienating a particular age group of fans. I did however start to notice some odd references that were clearly not meant for children; jokes about Madonna’s marriages, or Liv Tyler’s efficiency in obtaining ex-husbands, references to the “Goliath, online” quote from Starcraft, and the fact that Bill Clinton appears as himself as Tony Stark’s boss. All adult references sure, but nothing too far out of the ordinary.
Then The Mandarin called Fing Fang Foom, a dragon under his employ that constantly has smoke coming out of his mouth in a way that makes it look like he has lit cigs caught in his teeth, a reptilian jackass.
I didn’t know you could say jackass in a children’s cartoon. So I started to really watch this show closely, much to the chagrin of my sanity, and sure enough, this wasn’t just one instance that slipped through the censors.
Take for example, Hawkeye. Hawkeye is supposed to say “they [heroes] take out the garbage,” and yet it sounds exactly like, “they take out the guard bitch.” I replayed it three times; this is exactly what he says. No, I have not the slightest clue what he means by this phrase as he readies himself for an attack by Hypnotia, who is a grown woman wearing a Rainbow Brite costume, nor if Hawkeye means he takes out the guard-bitch, or takes out the “guard, bitch!”
And then Hawkeye says, not two minutes later, “I hate squishy women,” before firing an arrow that’s attached to a small electric fan in order to blow back Hypnotia’s telepathic waves. I just want you to think long and hard about that sentence, really drink it all in. Okay, now did you nod your head because that made complete and utter sense to you? That’s great. Second question: do you smell pennies?
