Tony Stark is older than I thought.

I'm not a math whiz, so help me out. Salon talked to Dominic Cooper (you don't know him, so just assume he's young and handsome), who said he'd be playing Howard Stark (Tony Stark's papa) in Captain America (I'm not calling it The First Avenger unless a congressional mandate specifying me by name says I have to). That's all well and good, until you start adding. What do I mean? Okay, let's fudge some numbers a little. Let's say that Captain America takes place at the verrrrry end of the German conflict in World War II. That's 1946. We know from Iron Man 2 that Howard Stark was creating technology and stuff during that war. Okay, that's fine, we all know he probably built Cap's shield. Nice to have on your resume. So if Howard Stark were a GENIUS, like a GENIUS GENIUS, he'd be what, 17 years old in 1946? That means he was born in 1929. Again, Dominic Cooper has got himself a baby face, but he don't look 17, but watch the math play out. Provided that Howard got his reproduce on at a late age, let's say 40 years old, that means Tony Stark would be born in 1969, which makes him 41. Again, that's provided that Howard was 17 while designing war technology and had Tony when he was wicked old (I mean, not Larry King old, but you get the idea).

So what does this mean? Well, nothing. I don't care if Tony Stark is 41...or 50. It's fine either way. But it does illustrate a concern of mine with this Marvel universe they're creating: They have to be careful not to shoehorn too many connections in. Comic books do this stuff organically, and I know it's not second nature to these guys, but maybe some more comic book writers should be involved. Someone should be asking what it really adds to the story to have these connections going on, not "hey, you know what would be cool." Friends don't ask friends "hey, you know what would be cool." Friends just do cool things and have other friends appreciate the coolness. This has been a blog-version of a "More you Know" NBC PSA.

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