Throwback Thursday: Iron Man turns 55 years old this year

As March winds down to a close and the world prepares for Holy Week proper, this final Throwback Thursday is perfect to revisit and celebrate the 55th Anniversary of one of the most iconic and popular superheroes in comics - The Invincible Iron Man! Apparently on this very month in 1963, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby debuted the armored alter ego of Anthony "Tony" Stark on the pages of "Tales of Suspense #39". After suffering a chest wound and being abducted by terrorists who force him to build a weapon of mass destruction, Tony instead builds a powerful suit of armor that helps him escape his captors. Upon returning home, the experience changes him and he decides to become a superhero - adopting the name "Iron Man" and going through several adventures that sees him augment the armor over the years and become a founding member of Earth's Mightiest Heroes - The Avengers.

As the character's popularity soars to this day in comics and other forms of media, Iron Man is also the "heart and soul" of Marvel Studios' "Marvel Cinematic Universe" - with Robert Downey Jr. having played the role of Tony Stark and his heroic alter ego since the eponymous superhero film debuted ten years ago in cinemas. As Avengers: Age of Ultron prepares to hit theaters in less than a month - we should be thankful the Armored Avenger helped pave the way for superheroes to be celebrated as they are today! Happy 55th Anniversary, Iron Man!

Throwback Thursday: Celebrating 20 years of Mortal Kombat: The Movie

TEST YOUR MIGHT~!

Exactly 20 years ago this week, New Line Cinema, Threshold Entertainment, and director Paul W.S. Anderson adapted one of the most popular AND controversial video games into film -  a game conceptualized by Ed Boon and John Tobias and produced then by video game company Midway Games.

The end result was Mortal Kombat -  a 1995 movie that pretty much was everything that a video game movie should be and then some - over-the-top action with lots of violence and gore that saw a handful of warriors engaging in a tournament that determined the fate of the world.

If that formula sounds cheesy or ambitious, it certainly was for its time... But this film adaptation had all the elements that made the game it was based on extremely popular to those who enjoyed fighting games and finishing off their opponents in gruesome fashion. Not only that, it featured a trained cast that pretty much embraced their roles well and gave life to "Klassic Kharacters" that were essential to the plot of the games and movie in Robin Shou as Liu Kang, Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage, Bridgette Wilson as Sonya Blade, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung (YOUR SOUL IS MINE~!), and Christopher "Highlander" Lambert as Rayden.


Mortal Kombat 1995 Trailer
As one of the earliest and highest grossing movies based on a video game, Mortal Kombat succeeded in becoming #1 in the box office and inspiring a franchise of live-action adaptations based on the series. It's follow-up, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, was more of a forgettable sequel than anything else and failed to live-up to expectations. Fortunately in 2011, a reboot of the live-action series was realized after the release of the short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, which inspired the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy that ran for two seasons. The reinvigoration of the Mortal Kombat video game franchise under Ed Boon and NetherRealm Studios also helped to renew interest in the series, with a new Mortal Kombat film is now currently in development with James Wan signing in to produce it.

The Immortals - "Mortal Kombat" Music Video 1995
So let's end this Throwback Thursday journey with the Music Video that'll get everyone dancing... The theme song to "Mortal Kombat" as done by The Immortals.

Mortal Kombat was released in theaters in August 18, 1995.