Iron Man 2: Sins and How it Affects Us

I became a huge fan of Iron Man when the first one came out in 2008. It is still one of my favorite movies in my collection today. I always find it interesting the spiritual allegories we find in movies. Sometimes it’s a stretch to name them allegories but sometimes they just jump off the screen at you. The whole time I was watching Iron Man 2 this morning (midnight – 2:45am) I kept thinking, “What a great way to show sin, the effects of it and how deadly it is.” Hear me out – IM2 is NOT a Christian movie and there’s plenty of things in the movie to remind us it’s not. However there are some strong allegories we cannot ignore.

I love the character of Tony Stark I think mainly because he reminds me of myself when I become selfish and focussed on myself. We both do a great job of that. Tony definitely has a issue with pride that comes with his success both in the business world (Stark Industries), the persona of Iron Man and helping to single handedly secure world peace. The first movie left off with Tony coming clean to the press that he was Iron Man and that’s where IM2 picks up at.

Within the first 10 minutes of the movie we see Tony testing his blood toxicity level. It’s not secret that Tony like his alcohol so my first thought was he was under some self-inflicted company self-help program as the CEO of Stark industries. As the plot unfolds we find that Tony is testing for levels of toxins in his blood due to the palladium chips that power the miniature arc reactor in his chest that powers the Iron Man suit. See the effects of the palladium chips are like the effects of sin when we allow ourselves to live in sin. Sin often starts out small and seemingly has no effect on us but over time we start to see the effects of sin in our lives – much like tony started seeing the effects of the palladium chips emitting deadly toxins into his body. In John 8:34 Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” As Tony is realizing the effects of the palladium (sin) on his body he starts to realize he’s dying and he starts to panic which leads further down the path of sin becoming a danger to himself and others. Tony had definitely become bitter and was becoming even more of a captive to the lifestyle he was living (Acts 8:23).

Eventually Tony is so down on his luck we find him sitting in a donut on top of the local coffee shop where the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson) finds him. Jackson and his team put Stark on a house arrest of sorts and give him a luggage box that is full of his fathers belongings where Tony is supposed to find the cure to reverse the effects of the palladium. Long story short Tony is able to create a new element that is purer and stronger than the palladium chips that he had been using to power the Iron Man suit. While we cannot create an element to cure us from our sin problem God has – his son Jesus Christ. I love Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” I’m not implying that Tony Stark is a believer – I think he’s far from it personally. That’s the beauty of Romans 5:8 though – the fact that God sent Christ to die for guys like Tony Stark. He thought of them and loves them even AS they are caught up in sin and continue to live a sinful lifestyle – God chose to send Christ to die for them giving them the cure (the death and resurrection of Christ) to the palladium (sin) that they have been powering their lives with. It’s part of the mystery of God I will never understand but am so thankful for.

It’s interesting how sin will entangle us and trip us up. That’s what the character Whiplash reminded me of in the movie with his rods of electric current that he used to trip up Stark. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” How true this verse is. As we live lives, caught up in sin, we get entangled by it – much like Stark was entangled by Whiplash’s rods of electric current towards the end of the movie. I am so glad that God gave us a way out of our lives of sin through his son Jesus Christ – if we take it.

So what happens to Stark and the rest of the movie? I’m going to let you find that one out on your own.