Questions about Iron Man on DVD

[Orrex]

I didn't get to see the film in the theater, but I rented the DVD soon after it was originally released. On a whim, I rented it again tonight, and I noticed two small but noteworthy differences between this version and the one that I viewed previously. Both DVDs were rented through RedBox.

The first difference I noticed was that the early scene inside the "Fun-Vee" was removed. I recall Stark to be inside the vehicle, joking with his security detail. One of them asked "if it would be cool" if he took a picture with Stark, to which Stark responded, "yes, it would be cool." This scene was omitted entirely from the disc I watched tonight. Instead, we simply see the convoy driving away from the Jericho demonstration, and the first Humvee is blown up within a second or two of being shown.

The second difference occurred during the battle between Stane and Stark, while the two are on the freeway. I recall a moment around the time that Stane threw Stark into a passing bus, when James Rhodes crashed his vehicle into Stane, toppling him (or at least distracting him momentarily). Soon after that, Stark said something to Rhodes while Rhodes was still within the vehicle. I seem to recall Stark tearing open the roof of the car, but I may be mistaken. In any case, this sequence was also omitted entirely.

What's the deal? Am I misremembering the scenes? Were two versions of the film released simultaneously with these small differences? Were these part of the "deleted scenes" on the disc that I didn't bother to watch this time? (RedBox versions often have minimal or no special features, so I didn't even check tonight, especially since I would likely have watched them last time, if they were on the disc).

This strikes me as somewhat bizarre. I remember being surprised when I watched Hannibal on DVD that the cutting-open-the-skull scene near the end was toned down slightly on the disc, compared to the theatrical release. But this is the first time I've ever watched a film two separate times on DVD and noticed such differences.

Has anyone else noticed this about Iron Man? Were there other significant changes? Any guess as to why?

Wiki offers little clarification on the matter, so I'd appreciate any insights or guesses that you'd care to put forth.


Thanks!

[Dr. Strange]

1. I rented Iron Man a few months back.

And I definitely remember the picture-taking at the beginning.

[Orrex]

4. It was really a sloppy jump from one scene to the next

Even if I hadn't noticed the missing scene, I would have wondered why it was such an abrupt chop.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

2. Your problem is Redbox

Redbox is marketing itself based on proximity to convenience or family-friendly locations, like McDonald's or Quickie Marts. You will notice that Redbox contains a dearth of r-rated pics, but apparently they also ruthlessly edit pg-rated films too, just like the airlines editing out plane crash scenes. Try Netflix or your local mom-n-pop vid store.

[Orrex]

3. Oh, great.

Just what I need--a bean-counter second-guessing the evil Hollywood editors and directors. Thanks for the warning! If only RedBox would give a similarly thoughtful warning, I wouldn't need to bother renting from them.

Your explanation makes perfect--though annoying--sense, but it's especially weird to me that the first time I rented via RedBox the scenes were there. Might they have gotten complaints, do you suppose?

[Broken_Hero]

5. I remember the funvee part

but this:

The second difference occurred during the battle between Stane and Stark, while the two are on the freeway. I recall a moment around the time that Stane threw Stark into a passing bus, when James Rhodes crashed his vehicle into Stane, toppling him (or at least distracting him momentarily). Soon after that, Stark said something to Rhodes while Rhodes was still within the vehicle. I seem to recall Stark tearing open the roof of the car, but I may be mistaken. In any case, this sequence was also omitted entirely.


I don't recall any of that at all. I got the super duper 2 disc set, and I don't recall Rhodes ever being in the fight at the end against Stane.