This Day in Pop Culture for May 2

The Marvel Cinematic Universe began on this day with the Marvel Studio’s first movie, Iron Man. Although Robert Downey Jr. has made many movies before Iron Man, he became a true pop culture hero in 2008.

2008: Iron Man Saves Marvel: This Day in Pop Culture History (May 2)

Iron Man opened in theaters on this day in 2008. The truth of the matter is this – the movie had been in the works is one form or another since 1990. Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage both expressed an interest in playing Tony Stark and at one time, Quentin Tarantino was in talks to write and direct the movie. The plotline and list of potential villains was long too.

Universal, 20^th Century Fox and New Line Cinema had all worked on it before Marvel Studios took over the project in 2005. Up until this time, Marvel had been selling the rights to multiple characters to different movie studios with questionable results. They decided that they knew their characters the best. Iron Man became the studios first independent feature and the start of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).

In a nutshell, Iron Man gave Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) a new origin story that involved him forced to build a weapon for terrorists in Afghanistan. Instead, he builds an amazing suit of armor to escape in. Unbeknownst to him, this suit not only gave Stark a new lease on life, but a whole new identity as well.

Jon Favreau directed Iron Man and appeared in the film as well playing Stark’s bodyguard. The movie also featured the characters of James Rhodes (Terrence Howard), Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb) and Ho Yinsen (Shaun Toub), Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

Making over $585 million, the movie became the eighth-highest grossing movie of 2008. Iron Man was nominated for many awards including two Academy Awards (Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects). The movie was followed up by Iron Man 2 in 2010, Iron Man 3 in 2013 and the character to appear in more Marvel movies.

1949: Arthur

Arthur Miller wins a Pulitzer Prize for the play, Death of a Salesman.

1938: Thornton

Thornton Wilder wins a Pulitzer Prize for the play Our Town.

1955: Tennessee

Tennessee Williams wins a Pulitzer Prize for the play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

1885: ‘Good Housekeeping’ Goes on Sale for the First Time

Good Housekeeping is one of the oldest magazines still in print which was founded on this day in 1885 by Clark W. Bryan. The cover was decidedly bare compared to today’s version. Initially, the magazine’s focus was that of housewives but has enlarged its focus over the years to all women. The Good Housekeeping Institute, founded in 1902, created the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval showing that all products advertised in the magazine were tested by the institute and backed by a two-year warranty.