California Governor Jerry Brown on Thursday pardoned actor Robert Downey Jr for drug and weapon offenses from the 1990s, following a request for clemency, according to a copy of the pardon on the governor’s website.
Jon Favreau (right) with Daniel Craig on the set of ‘Cowboys and Aliens.’ Image courtesy of Warner Bros.
We Jews like to pride ourselves on the many things we’ve invented: the ballpoint pen, blue jeans, and the atomic bomb, to name a few. (How about the theory of relativity — does that count?) We’ve also had a strong hand in shaping the world of modern entertainment, helping to build Hollywood, create the modern sitcom, and, not least important, invent that beloved American lowbrow figure, the comic book superhero. Whether you consider it a feat or a flaw, Jews dreamed up Superman, the Fantastic Four, Spider Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, the X-Men — in other words, nearly every big-name character that came to life during the Golden (late 1930s–1940s) and Silver (late 1950s–1970) Ages of comics.