More than 90 visitors joined American comic book author Paul Benjamin to watch the film. After the credits rolled (including the special Avengers movie teaser after the credits), there was a lively discussion of the themes inherent to Iron Man’s story, including the responsibilities of military dominance as well as peace and green energy.

Benjamin also spoke about the history of Iron Man: a character created in 1963 by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby. Over the last five decades, Iron Man has been an iconic figure, appearing monthly in Marvel publications as well as in movies, cartoons and video games.

“Marvel created Iron Man when America was involved in the Vietnam War,” said Benjamin. ”As a war profiteer, Tony Stark was a man who could be easy to hate. That makes his transformation into Iron Man - a hero who uses his super weapons to help people and keep the world safe - a uniquely compelling story that has stood the test of time.”

During the discussion, Benjamin gave books as prizes for correct answers to Iron Man trivia questions, including an autographed collection of Iron Man stories from his personal collection.

Through April, the embassy will screen a different superhero film every month. The next movie is “The Avengers” on 21 December, followed by “Superman the Movie,” “X-Men 2,” “The Incredibles” and “The Dark Knight.”