Steel (1997)
Nomination Year: 2010
SYNOPSIS: For those of you who aren't total comic book geeks, Steel is a fairly obscure DC comics rip-off of Ironman. John Henry Irons is a brilliant army weapons designer who becomes disillusioned when his partner tries to sell out and accelerates the program outside safety margins, resulting in a few deaths and the crippling of Irons' assistant and best friend, Sparky. Irons (Tony Stark without the money) returns to his East LA home and tries to return to normal life, but his ex-partner is now selling weapons to LA's street gangs. Inspired by Superman, he builds himself a suit of power armor and a big ol' hammer with spare parts from his friend's junkyard, names himself Steel, and heads off to fight crime. The movie stays fairly true to the comic book in plot details. The issue, as ever with superhero movies, is the casting. The villain? Judd Nelson at his most (i.e., not at all) sinister. The hero? Shaquille O'Neal.
Greg Pearson