By now I’m sure you’ve all heard about “The Ledge.” A movie that’s coming to theaters in just 2 days, that is if you’re in LA or NYC. For the rest of us, we’ll be lucky to see it in theater, ever. It’s been called the “Brokeback Mountain” for atheists, being the first movie to feature an overtly atheist protagonist with an A list cast. I am really hoping it will come to theaters in the Boise area, if so I’ll be watching it with the West Valley Freethinkers, otherwise we’ll be waiting until it comes out on Blue Ray/DVD for the movie party.

This of course isn’t the first movie that has been freethought or atheist friendly, although they may have been a hell of a lot more subtle. I watched “Iron Man 2” on Netflix a few days ago and at first I was getting a little tired of some of the overly religious language, particularly during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. It was almost getting grating, especially considering the context of the scene (and the spider over my head, but more on that later).

Let’s look at the villains are portrayed. There’s Senator Stern and Justin Hammer who use overtly religious language at every opportunity, living their lives in service of God and Country. There’s also Ivan Vanko, who doesn’t say much, let alone anything religious, but is always wearing a massive, gaudy crucifix. It seems almost as if every time some nefarious plot is in the works that they have to bring God into it. I know a lot of Christians would complain that they don’t represent “true” Christians, but that’s not the point.

Then I started to notice that the hero, Tony “Iron Man” Stark never uttered a single religious statement. His life purpose was the pursuit of scientific advancement. Along the way he provides service to his country and gives generously to charity. The song that starts the closing credits is really just icing on the godless cake, “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC. I think it’s safe to say that Iron Man as portrayed in “Iron Man 2” is at least non-religious, if not a non-believer.

In “Iron Man 2,” it’s the “good” Christian characters who are the dirty villains. The hero on the other hand, is a much better person and as far as I can tell lives his life by science and reason. Like I said, it was subtle, but the undertones were still clear.