Today's film superheroes, flaws and all

REMEMBER when popcorn movie heroes only had to worry about beating their nemeses? Now they have to also overcome their neuroses. Bullets may bounce off their chests, but the real challenge is flying high enough to overcome relationship problems, mental-health challenges and, scariest of all, reaching AARP age. Here's a look at some of the summer's conflicted good guys and their season of discontent.

-- Geoff Boucher

'Iron Man'

Opened: May 2

The Hero: Iron Man is another of the classic Marvel Comics heroes, though not as well known as Spider-Man or the Hulk. He's basically a weapons tycoon who has a sweet, high-tech flying suit with more firepower than NATO. Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark, the man in the iron mask.

The Flaw: Narcissism issues. Stark is a crass billionaire playboy who parties hard and has zero guilt about the blood and pain inflicted on the world by his lucrative weapons business -- but that changes when he gets injured in Afghanistan and is taken hostage by a militant group.

The Enemy: Jeff Bridges is Obadiah Stane, the bald, sinister advisor to Stark who takes over his company during the kidnapping and then dons his own suit of armor to become the Iron Monger (who comes up with these names?).

The Lowdown: There is no movie this summer that has the fan-boy audience more geeked than "Iron Man." Downey's hero is rakish and funny, the special effects look strong and director Jon Favreau ("Elf," "Zathura") has romanced genre fans for more than a year to win them over. This one looks huge.

' Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'

Opens: May 22

The Hero: Harrison Ford is back in the hat.

The Flaw: Aging issues. It could have been called "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Metamucil." Ford turns 66 in July and his roguish archaeologist is becoming, well, a bit of a relic. The filmmakers answer with a wink: In the trailer, Indy swings on his whip, misses a landing and crashes hard. "Damn, I thought that was closer," he mutters. Hey, it's fun rooting for the grizzled old guy! He's like Brett Favre with a whip.

The Enemy: Cate Blanchett is the black-clad Soviet agent Irina Spalko. "She came on set with her character fully formed," Ford told The Times. "She could have done this sort of exaggerated Russian accent, but she took it in a different direction."

The Lowdown: It's been 19 years since the last Indy film, as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg searched for the right screenplay. Karen Allen is back, Shia LaBeouf is in (perhaps as Indy's secret son?) and the trailer crackles with fun, so don't be surprised if it's the biggest movie of the year.

'The Incredible Hulk'

Opens: June 13

The Hero: The un-jolly green giant is back. No, not Shrek. It's the Hulk, the mouthwash-colored Mr. Hyde from Marvel Comics. Edward Norton stars (and, we hear, did quite a bit of script rewriting) in this story of Dr. Bruce Banner, the gamma guy who undergoes a strange change in times of duress.

The Flaw: This guy has some serious anger issues.

The Enemy: Tim Roth is Emil Blonsky, a cruel British special-forces agent who doses up on gamma radiation to transform himself into a huge, nasty thing called the Abomination. Uh, the Abomination? Finally, a summer movie that helps the kids with their SAT words.

The Lowdown: Ang Lee's 2003 film "Hulk" was a glum affair with a monster that looked as if it had wandered out of a 1990s Sega game. You can imagine there is plenty of skepticism about this re-boot, but director Louis Leterrier (the "Transporter" films) is going for a more stirring spirit and fan-pleasing action. Insiders tell us that Norton "hulks out" in the first five minutes of the film.