2008 may very well be remembered as “the year of the superhero”.  This is the year that gave us the immaculate “The Dark Knight”, the crowd-pleasing “Incredible Hulk” (although it did everything BUT please me), and of course the surprisingly strong “Iron Man” starring Robert Downey Jr.  The latter has just been released on DVD and Blu-Ray, with a 2-Disc “Ultimate” Edition that’s sure to satisfy the millions of fans the film garnered since its release this past May.

This hugely entertaining comic book adaptation about Tony Stark (Downey Jr.), a smarmy and sarcastic narcissist of a billionaire playboy who comes from a long line of weapons manufacturers who donates those weapons to the war effort.  But when Tony is captured and held captive in a terrorist camp for three months, he plans an escape by constructing a suit of iron equipped with some nifty devices and an assortment of weapons.  After being rescued, Tony returns home with a renewed set of morals and a fresh new purpose: he wants to protect the people he put in harm’s way by modifying his original suit design.  But Tony is soon swept up in a plot being orchestrated by his shady business partner Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), who wants to use Tony’s suit design for more sinister purposes.

This 2-Disc DVD is jam-packed with bonus features, starting with a slew of deleted/extended scenes that are good to say the very least, but while watching them it’s obvious why they were cut.  Most of these scenes are extended versions of scenes in the final cut, such as more interaction between Tony and Rhodes (Terrence Howard) at Caesar’s Palace and on the plane ride to Afghanistan.  However, there are some entirely new scenes that are pretty nice, including more Iron Man action from the film’s finale and a scene in which Obidiah Stane chastises his workers for not building his own suit quick enough.

But the bulk of the bonus features are on the second disc.  Things really kick off with an elaborate 7-part making-of documentary entitled “I Am Iron Man”.  This documentary chronicles every single part of the process of bringing “Iron Man” to the big screen; it certainly takes a while to get through, but it’s still a worthy special feature.  Another one, “Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man”, gives us a gander into how the filmmakers created the impressive special effects of the movie, as the title would suggest.  “The Invincible Iron Man” is another multi-chaptered documentary, this one a 6-parter which details the history of the character Iron Man, from the initial conception to what he has now become.  Also included is Robert Downey Jr.’s Screen Test for the film, a short feature entitled “The Actor’s Process”, still galleries and more.  This Special Edition DVD is the type collectors dream off: full of quality features that showcase the hard work put into a really good film.

Of course, Paramount has also released a standard one-disc edition which includes only the film and the deleted/extended scenes, but this is the version more deserving of your money.

Movie Rating: 4 stars

DVD Rating:  4.5 stars