In The Beginning -- back during the Kennedy administration -- the comic-book gods at Marvel created Iron Man. He debuted in Marvel's "Tales of Suspense" as an anti-Communist weapons expert shot down and captured in Vietnam, whence he evolved into a Full-Metal Beret. Sort of a former-day John McCain.

He never quite made it to the top of the hero-heap, always taking a backseat to Super's gold, Bat's silver and Spider's bronze. But he did well enough to become the latest inductee into that pantheon of super-characters who've spawned multibillion-dollar franchises in film, TV, video games, toys, dolls and presumably cocktail napkins.

The first "Iron Man" movie adaptation at hand is as much about the man-behind-the-superhero (and his angst) as the supe himself. If Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man was edgy, Robert Downey Jr. is considerably edgier. As Tony Stark, he heads Stark Industries, America's biggest high-tech weapons maker. Unlike Spidey and Superman, he's no super-mutant, just a real human inventor, playboy and genius-at-large, sharing more than a few traits of Howard Hughes (who inspired creator Stan Lee's original character).

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'Iron Man'

3 1/2 stars = Very good
Ratings explained

• Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges.
• Rating: PG-13 for intense sci-fi action sequences, violence and brief suggestive content.
• Web site: ironmanmovie.marvel.com

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Stark's happy, boozy celebrity existence is brought up short by a nasty encounter and rendition stint with the Osama-type insurgents of Grand Wazooistan, or thereabouts, led by the ruthless Raza (Faran Tahir). Raza's tabula is not blank: He forces Tony to make the terrorists a Jericho missile.

Thus is necessity the mother of an invention to facilitate Tony's escape: an ironclad power suit. On the fiery way out, he takes a piece of shrapnel (from one of his own company's bombs) to the heart, becoming his own cardiologist as well as I.M., whose instant message to the world, henceforth, is that his company will no longer exercise its sacred right to bear and manufacture arms. And all past wrongs will be righted.

That comes as bad news to Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), Tony's right-hand corporate man. Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) -- his Girl Monday-through-Friday -- isn't thrilled about it, either. They're the King John and Maid Marian to Downey's Richard Lionheart here.

Director Jon Favreau ("Made," "Elf," "Zathura") is working with a well-written script -- set in glittering Los Angeles, giving poor old Gotham a break -- that takes its time in the telling and utilizes its stunning CGI special effects sparingly, to complement rather than dominate the show. You'll enjoy I.M.'s fab repulsor boots, whose rocket thrusters on the soles -- after some funny fine-tuning and nifty test flights over Los Angeles -- let him self-launch and fly at will. You'll be amused by the funky robot that looks like a mobile microphone and provides running-gag laughs.

Bridges -- one of my absolute favorite actors, from "Last Picture Show" and "Rancho Deluxe" through "Starman" and "Fabulous Baker Boys" -- makes for a strange, bald, quirky villain. Gorgeous Gwyneth has OK chemistry with Downey, though her distressed-damsel character is closer to Fay Wray than Gloria Steinem (or even Lois Lane). This is no "Shakespeare in Love" showcase for her talents. Nor for Terrence Howard as the inside Air Force brass man to Downey's Iron Man. So fine in "Hustle and Flow" and "Crash" (and currently co-starring with James Earl Jones in the all-black Broadway revival of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"), Howard doesn't have much to do here, but at least he's not a wisecrackin' sidekick.

Downey has had meatier title roles -- notably in "Chaplin" (1992) and in James Toback's brilliant "Two Girls and a Guy" (Never saw that one? Hardly anyone did. You run right out and rent it!). But his trademark dry, droll delivery works wonderfully here. Will this role do for him what Spidey did for Maguire? I doubt it, because -- except for the spectacular finale -- the F/X aren't as stunning and more of the good "virtual 3-D" computer stuff is concerned with assembling rather than battle-deploying the hardware.

The star looks great for his age (43), beefed and bulked up nicely, but is hindered by his metallurgical haberdashery. Let's face it, no matter how well you accessorize, that War Machine suit is unflattering -- hardly as svelte or sexy as Tobey's unitard, and at times reminiscent of a knight in rusting armor from Monty Python's "Holy Grail."

But never mind. Clothes don't make the "Iron Man." Robert Downey Jr. does.

Opens in select theaters tonight and everywhere Friday.