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Ramin Djawadi, of Blade Trinity fame, and co-composer of Batman Begins, delivers a score for the film both critics and audiences are hailing as the new king of comic-to-film adaptations. Does it take off?

Iron Man stands out for the particular reason that it has the Media Ventures stamp all over it; I could overhear elements from Face Off, The Rock and other efforts by the Hans Zimmer-led company of composers.

Those synths, by now the trademark of the above mentioned company, and a staple of modern action film scores, make their appearance early on in the tracks Merchant of Death and Mark II. If it’s an action movie, unless we’re in Dark Knight territory, give to us loud.

Which brings us to the other element worthy of note, which is that certain tracks mix rock music elements with a traditional orchestra, such as the cue Fireman. I am not referring to M:I-2 territory here, where Zimmer mixed orchestral elements with his guitar riffs and a collaboration from members of his garage band.

This is a heavy duty franchise and the composer surely must have known he couldn’t allow himself to disappoint. Certain cues, such as Arc Reaktor remind you of Elfman’s post-Burton strings and if you borrow you might as well do so from a seasoned composer.

As a fan of superhero scores, I must say often the compositions that surprise you come from the least expected of places. While the film is certainly high profile, the truth is that this score will probably be largely outsold by the surely to be mediocre “album” version.

After his success with the underplayed yet highly effective Prision Break score, Djawadi delivers what it takes to make Stark strong as Iron.