Before this weekend, few people knew much about Iron Man other than he was a comic book superhero in a red-and-gold suit that might or might not actually be iron. After a $100 million-plus box office opening, though, it’s safe to say Marvel has a new franchise on its hands.

He is Iron Man: Who knew that a real life
of addiction would set him up so well in
his acting life to play Tony Stark?

The movie starts off with action, then jumps back a bit with a flashback to set up the characters. It’s a good way to let people dive into the movie. The action scenes are well-paced in the movie and the CG looks great. Even the quieter scenes are entertaining thanks to the film’s good sense of humor. (Robert Downey Jr.‘s back-and-forth with his robotic/computer assistants is genuinely funny.)

The cast is great — Downey’s portrayal of the brash Tony Stark is spot-on; Gwyneth Paltrow makes a good assistant to Stark — clearly smitten by him, but also willing to stand up to him; and Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges (yes, that’s really him) provide solid characters as well.

With so many entertaining and “that was suh-weet” moments, it’s hard to criticize the movie. I just hope they follow it up with equally strong sequels. The last thing we need is something like Iron Man vs. Smelting Man.