At least he didn't steal the rain.

I do enjoy the movie Iron Man, but I always have to giggle during the slideshow they use at the awards ceremony toward the beginning of the movie. While they're trying to establish a backstory, all I can see is this:

I'm pretty sure this has already been covered in a book somewhere, but just to review:

Reign
v. Rule or govern.
n. The period of time during which a king rules over the land.
The king reigns over the land, and that's how you know he's in charge.
His reign lasted for forty years.

Rein
n. A long narrow strap attached to a horse's bit that allows a person to control the horse.
He steered the horse by his skillful handling of the reins.

Aside from the simple homophonic issue, another reason these can get confused is because of the expression "to take the reins," which means to take control over leading something. But because a king who is in control is "reigning," you can see how it might be easy to confuse the spelling in the idiom.

Which is probably exactly what happened to the production crew of Iron Man.

Tony Stark is taking control of the company, so it should read "Tony Stark Takes Reins at 21."



I also like to imagine that maybe the magazine cover is not an awkward grammatical mistake but that Tony Stark is actually usurping several thrones. Really, it wouldn't surprise me if he did.