Prometheus

[Andrew]

What do you guys think of the comparison between Iron Man and the mythical figure of Prometheus? I've noticed all sorts of allusions or references to Prometheus in Iron Man, such as the armored suit from Project: Prometheus Rising, the Mandarin being the CEO of Prometheus Inc., and the scenes in The Invincible Iron Man animated movie where one can see the stained glass mural on the windows in the Stark Industries boardroom depicting Prometheus as he steals the fire from the gods.

From Wikipedia: "In Greek mythology, Prometheus is the Titan chiefly honored for stealing fire from Zeus in the stalk of a fennel plant and giving it to mortals for their use. For that, Zeus ordered him to be chained on top of the Caucasus. Every day an eagle would come and eat his liver, but since Prometheus was immortal, his liver always grew back, so he was left to bear the pain every day. He is depicted as an intelligent and cunning figure who had sympathy for humanity. To this day, the term Promethean refers to events or people of great creativity, intellect, and boldness."

[IMJ]

I think that it's a decent allusion.  The concept of Prometheus is the advent of a knowledge that permeates deeper than a surface understanding (which of course at the time could only be characterized as Godly, e.g., fire).  That kind of description is fitting of a character such as Stark who doesn't merely take an entrepreneurial role in his endeavors, but takes an inventive and unique one instead.

There is an ongoing debate in psychology regarding the true acquisition and acclimation of knowledge in people.  It is exemplified by a fascinating task called the Wason Selection Task (this is the basis of the majority of my own scholastic research), which is a logic task that is notoriously hard to solve.  The basis of the entire thing asks a very important philosophical question: Are we capable of truly original, truly new ideas; or is everything that we come up with a factor of mundane experience?  A character such as Stark is built on inventive genius that goes beyond experience.  He can look at molecules and engineer ways to make them do things that maybe even molecules weren't meant to do.  In that regard, Tony Stark is a Prometheus figure who is wielding a fire that for some time only the God's understood.

[Andrew]

I'm glad I asked about this because I wasn't aware about that issue in psychology or of the Wason Selection Task. Your work is really interesting, and obviously it offers you a unique perspective on Tony Stark.