Guards

I was watching Iron Man 2 last night for the umpteenth time. I'm a bit of the a comic book nerd (although I'm more into the Japanese Comics to be honest) and so I love all those kinds of movies. Batman, Blade, Spiderman (yes, even 3), Hulk (the one with Edward Norton, most under appreciated actor ever) are all movies I love. There's just always something about a superhero that is badass and goes out of their own way to help out others regardless of what happens to themselves that intrigues me. That complete devotion to mankind. They have their own trials and tribulations that they must wake up and face. Batman had his parents taken away, Blade is one of the very things he sets out to kill, Spiderman and...well, he just has a problem existing most of the time as Peter Parker, and Hulk with the whole Gamma Radiation.

Though there is one thing that I noticed last night when I watched Iron Man that happens not only in superhero movies, but in probably every action movie ever. In just about every movie, there's always some place that has to be infiltrated. Whether it be some kind of military/government facility, a temple, a base of some kind, there comes a point where the hero or at least one of the 'good guys' goes, "Okay, we gotta sneak that shit yo". Maybe not word for word, but it does happen in a good majority of the time.

In Iron Man 2, this part comes in the form of when Scarlett Johansson in the role of the Black Widow goes to the main building of the company Hammer Industries. When she gets there, she has to fight past a bunch of guards that are trying to prevent her from invading and doing whatever she's going to do (or in that case go and catch Ivan, the evil Russian guy controlling a shit ton of robots trying to blow up Iron Man).

So she goes in there, does a bunch of flips, throws a couple weapons, hits a guy with an electrical wire in the crotch, and even hangs a guy up by his neck with a wire! She does it with such acrobatic skill and finesse. It is able to appear sexy and deadly at the same time. Something that you could say describes the Black Widow very well and why she's given the name in the first place.

While the first couple of times I saw this movie, I saw it and was always wowed at everything she did. It was an amazing feat of physical skill; something to be admired. Though this time around, something hit me that I never really took the time to consider beforehand.

The people she just beat the shit out of were guards. They were paid to do what they were doing. It's not like they were henchmen; a bunch of assholes who go out of their way to be dickheads and shoot anyone in the face just so that they can get a cut of stolen goods. These guys got hired to prevent trespassers from just barging in and blowing up the place, which for all they knew is exactly what she could have been doing.

Thinking back on it, some guy getting tasered in the balls might no longer have kids now. What if him and his wife were trying to have kids? What if they really wanted to have kids, or maybe even one, a little girl of their own? Now they can't because she decided to shock him in the balls.

One of the guys might not have even been scheduled for work that day! His friend might have just called him up and asked him to cover his shift.

"Hey, Jake, listen, I got a mad hangover from this club I went to last night and hooked up with this chick...you think you can cover my shift tonight?"

"Yeah man, no problem at all. You know I got yer back. No worries."

"You sure? I do feel kinda bad about this."

"Nah, go ahead, go get some. I need the extra hours anyway. My wife is in the hospital. It's lookin' pretty serious so I need all the extra cash I can get to take care of Vanessa and Charlie. Besides, it's not like anything happens that often anyway, hahah"

"Yeah man, I know, tell me about! It's such a boring job! Anyway, thanks bro, I owe you one!"

"Don't mention it!"

Next thing he knows, some random bitch just shows up, kicks everyone in the face and hangs him from his neck in the ceiling. Now, not only might he possibly face severe damage to his throat, but he's probably going to get fired, not going to get paid, and is going to have to find a new job while trying to support his family. And in this economy, it's going to be hard to find a new job.

That scenario can pretty much apply to any scenario in movies. It always happens. Some guy is just doing his job, not even a bad guy at heart. He might do charity work. Maybe helps out the homeless down at the soup kitchen. Then what happens? Some guy comes in and shoots them or otherwise beats the shit out of them!

Now, I'm not saying she should've tried to talk her way in there or gone all Mission Impossible and sneak in through the ceiling and crawl through the ducts for five hours. She didn't have to go overkill on them though. They're just doing their jobs.

Man, it's a really good thing for security guards that superheros don't exist or they'd be fucked.