IRON MAN 3

[fantastic_four]

An Asian guy in a robe fit into the GROUNDED sensibilities of his films? What's he smoking. NONE of his films have any grounded sensibilities. It's a freakin comic book movie. The guy wants to keep everything tech based. No monsters, magic or myths allowed. I wish he'd go back to making Elfs. He's a tool.

 

 

I agree with him and have thought that same way for decades, which is why it took me twenty years to accept Thor at all within the more pseudo-scientific context of most of the other Marvel superhero origins. I attribute a great deal of the success of both Batman and Iron Man as the suspension of disbelief for the audience being easier because they identify with the hero more because he's more human and in a more realistic world than fantasy-based or magic-based fiction creates. Not that I dislike magic or fantasy, but mixing it with tech is goofy.

 

This is also the reason I dislike a lot of Japanese role-playing games such as Final Fantasy--sci-fi and fantasy get mixed a lot. I generally prefer them distinct.

[fantastic_four]

Isn't Thor going to throw a wrench in to this "grounded sensibility"? Iron Man and Thor are going to exist in the same universe. Thor comes out before IM3. Now that the silverscreen groundwork is laid for IM, I would think the movies can venture off in to the less "sensible" areas that the comics took us...

 

A big wrench, yes. That wrench has been there causing problems for fifty years now--it's the main reason I never liked the Avengers as a kid, having Thor in there seemed goofy, he was too differently far-fetched from the other heroes.

[Tsimanga]

To have a truly succesful hero, you need the bad guy to be at least equally as powerful, preferably more powerful than the hero. Iron man has failed to do that. Simply putting IM against lager or multiple versions of himself is getting old. Especially when we all know the outcome. Never in doubt.

 

Now I dig crazy characters with no real powers who are a major threat to the public as much as the next guy.. characters like, Lex Luthor and the Joker are awesome. But there comes a point where you can't have too many LL or Jokers... they need to differ. And the way to differentiate them is in their powers and abilities, not in thier intentions.

 

If people can accept a radioctive spider, a drunk millionare creating a new element which he places in his heart to keep him alive, a man who can control magnetic forces, a woman who can control the weather and on and on... they can accept the freakin mandarin. It is a comic book movie after all. It's not real.

[bronze_rules]

To have a truly succesful hero, you need the bad guy to be at least equally as powerful, preferably more powerful than the hero. Iron man has failed to do that. Simply putting IM against lager or multiple versions of himself is getting old. Especially when we all know the outcome. Never in doubt.

 

Now I dig crazy characters with no real powers who are a major threat to the public as much as the next guy.. characters like, Lex Luthor and the Joker are awesome. But there comes a point where you can't have too many LL or Jokers... they need to differ. And the way to differentiate them is in their powers and abilities, not in thier intentions.

 

If people can accept a radioctive spider, a drunk millionare creating a new element which he places in his heart to keep him alive, a man who can control magnetic forces, a woman who can control the weather and on and on... they can accept the freakin mandarin. It is a comic book movie after all. It's not real.

 

Of course, it's called suspension of disbelief. Just watching the trailer footage, I couldn't help but think.. why the spoon didn't iron man just fly backwards a safe distance from whiplash, crank up the repulsor rays, and boom... crisis averted, one unconscious foe. Very implausible the way it was done, but people accept it via SOD.

 

To disallow magic is simply ignoring the milieu of the marvel universe. If they want to incorporate Dr Strange and all others, then magic is a must. Mandarin could be made into a very good foe, IMO. In fact, there is a great dynamic between magic and technology, i.e. could technology ever hope to defeat such a foe? In planet hulk, we (wrongly IMO) see Dr. Strange get pummeled by raw physics based power. However, one of my favorite stories was when Strange battled Dracula, and we discovered Dracula had a fear of magic.

[lscomics]

His ego is getting big. he just HAD to write a fight scene for himself in Iron man 2...

A good/great director knows to stay behind the camera.

 

I disagree, I think Hitchcock and and Clint Eastwood are both good examples of directors that made appearances in front of their own cameras.

[fantastic_four]

To disallow magic is simply ignoring the milieu of the marvel universe. If they want to incorporate Dr Strange and all others, then magic is a must.

 

It's quite easy to ignore Dr. Strange, I've done it for decades. It required an entirely new suspension of disbelief to introduce him into the same universe...these books are better when you suspend your disbelief once at the beginning about how the heroes got their powers, not multiple times throughout about entirely different concepts. I anticipate audiences unfamiliar with the Avengers being confused about why a Norse god is in there with the mortals.

[bullseye]

is it just me or is Favreau funny? but he kills me in daredevil and The Replacements.

[Tsimanga]

To disallow magic is simply ignoring the milieu of the marvel universe. If they want to incorporate Dr Strange and all others, then magic is a must.

 

It's quite easy to ignore Dr. Strange, I've done it for decades. It required an entirely new suspension of disbelief to introduce him into the same universe...[font:Arial Black]these books are better when you suspend your disbelief once at the beginning about how the heroes got their powers, not multiple times throughout about entirely different concepts.[/font] I anticipate audiences unfamiliar with the Avengers being confused about why a Norse god is in there with the mortals.

 

But once you break the universal laws of reality, and preferably do it early, you are free to do it whenever you want. It's just the first one that's the toughest. But if that is accepted then it's almost an obligation to do it throughout. You don't put magic in a movie at the begining, and then never show it again. The audience will feel cheated. Once the 'laws' are broken, there is no going back to pure reality. So you might as well milk it.

[bronze_rules]

To disallow magic is simply ignoring the milieu of the marvel universe. If they want to incorporate Dr Strange and all others, then magic is a must.

 

It's quite easy to ignore Dr. Strange, I've done it for decades. It required an entirely new suspension of disbelief to introduce him into the same universe...[font:Arial Black]these books are better when you suspend your disbelief once at the beginning about how the heroes got their powers, not multiple times throughout about entirely different concepts.[/font] I anticipate audiences unfamiliar with the Avengers being confused about why a Norse god is in there with the mortals.

 

But once you break the universal laws of reality, and preferably do it early, you are free to do it whenever you want. It's just the first one that's the toughest. But if that is accepted then it's almost an obligation to do it throughout. You don't put magic in a movie at the begining, and then never show it again. The audience will feel cheated. Once the 'laws' are broken, there is no going back to pure reality. So you might as well milk it.

 

There have been plenty of successful story-lines that incorporate new concepts of suspension of disbelief along the way; Dark Tower immediately comes to mind. To paraphrase Tsimanga, once you've crossed the boundary there's no limits. It's all in how you execute, IMO. Most people are satisfied if there is some setup earlier on in the film that leads to a payoff; that way there isn't so much of disappointment when the actual sod scene is revealed; they call this the macguffin in screenplay parlance:

and once revealed, it's quite satisfying as it allows the viewer to connect the dots.

[Turtle]

Of course, it's called suspension of disbelief. Just watching the trailer footage, I couldn't help but think.. why the spoon didn't iron man just fly backwards a safe distance from whiplash, crank up the repulsor rays, and boom... crisis averted, one unconscious foe. Very implausible the way it was done, but people accept it via SOD.

 

I just chalked that one up to the fact that it was a different suit. His suitcase suit obviously wasn't as bulky. It's possible that flight was sacrificed to allow for portability.

 

To disallow magic is simply ignoring the milieu of the marvel universe. If they want to incorporate Dr Strange and all others, then magic is a must. Mandarin could be made into a very good foe, IMO. In fact, there is a great dynamic between magic and technology, i.e. could technology ever hope to defeat such a foe? In planet hulk, we (wrongly IMO) see Dr. Strange get pummeled by raw physics based power. However, one of my favorite stories was when Strange battled Dracula, and we discovered Dracula had a fear of magic.

 

I think you're talking about World War Hulk #4, and if you are, remember that when Dr. Strange really unleashed his power, there wasn't anything the Hulk could do. He was getting his tail kicked all over the city. It wasn't until Dr. Strange realized that he was letting the Dark Arts get the best of him (he was channeling Zom at the time) that he was distracted enough to get pummeled by the Hulk.

 

Or if you're talking about WWH #3, Strange let his guard down when he thought he made a breakthrough with the Hulk (who reverted to Banner on the Astral Plane, where they met). When Strange came out of his Astral form to a physical one, that's when the Hulk came back and crushed him. Both times Strange lost, it was because he let his guard down, not because the magic was overpowered. My

 

[bronze_rules]

Of course, it's called suspension of disbelief. Just watching the trailer footage, I couldn't help but think.. why the spoon didn't iron man just fly backwards a safe distance from whiplash, crank up the repulsor rays, and boom... crisis averted, one unconscious foe. Very implausible the way it was done, but people accept it via SOD.

 

I just chalked that one up to the fact that it was a different suit. His suitcase suit obviously wasn't as bulky. It's possible that flight was sacrificed to allow for portability.

 

To disallow magic is simply ignoring the milieu of the marvel universe. If they want to incorporate Dr Strange and all others, then magic is a must. Mandarin could be made into a very good foe, IMO. In fact, there is a great dynamic between magic and technology, i.e. could technology ever hope to defeat such a foe? In planet hulk, we (wrongly IMO) see Dr. Strange get pummeled by raw physics based power. However, one of my favorite stories was when Strange battled Dracula, and we discovered Dracula had a fear of magic.

 

I think you're talking about World War Hulk #4, and if you are, remember that when Dr. Strange really unleashed his power, there wasn't anything the Hulk could do. He was getting his tail kicked all over the city. It wasn't until Dr. Strange realized that he was letting the Dark Arts get the best of him (he was channeling Zom at the time) that he was distracted enough to get pummeled by the Hulk.

 

Or if you're talking about WWH #3, Strange let his guard down when he thought he made a breakthrough with the Hulk (who reverted to Banner on the Astral Plane, where they met). When Strange came out of his Astral form to a physical one, that's when the Hulk came back and crushed him. Both times Strange lost, it was because he let his guard down, not because the magic was overpowered. My

 

Good comments on Strange/Hulk. (thumbs u I'll have to go back and re-read.

Although, regarding IM, I didn't watch the entire film yet, but I had the same feeling when he and War Machine were surrounded by a gauntlet of robots: why not just fly up into the atmosphere and fire away, rather than get sandwiched? I loved the scene in Matrix, where Neo just touched the ground and flew off, leaving the agents with that puzzled look on their faces.. like, err.. there were a thousand of us, and I think we just got dismissed.

[Turtle]

I also dug that scene in the Matrix. (thumbs u

 

When IM and WM were discussing it just before they got there, they were talking about how tactically, the spot they were standing in was "where you go to die". They were kind of between a rock and a hard place. They were either going to stand their ground and fight on the ground, or take to the air and have a 10:1 dog fight. Maybe they were confident in their abilities and wanted to contain the damage as much as possible. Never thought about it before this post, but it's just a thought.

[kdoginohio]

His ego is getting big. he just HAD to write a fight scene for himself in Iron man 2...

A good/great director knows to stay behind the camera.

 

I disagree, I think Hitchcock and and Clint Eastwood are both good examples of directors that made appearances in front of their own cameras.

True, but Hitch and Eastwood payed their dues before they stepped in front. Besides, as far as i know Hitchcock did cameos and Eastwood is usually the star in the movie.

[Mephisto]

Isn't Thor going to throw a wrench in to this "grounded sensibility"? Iron Man and Thor are going to exist in the same universe. Thor comes out before IM3. Now that the silverscreen groundwork is laid for IM, I would think the movies can venture off in to the less "sensible" areas that the comics took us...

 

How badass would a Thanos/Drax IM movie be out on a distant plant?

 

Yes I have also heard that Thor may be using a magical wrench instead of a hammer in order to make the film more technological and realistic.

[TSwift25]

What I took out of it - and apologies to Mr. Favreau if I misunderstood - is simply that the depiction of the Mandarin is based in 1960's racism and simply cannot be easily ported to this era of overly sensitive political correctness.

[littlebill]

from everything i have read iron man three will be after the avengers movie. if thats the case it puts it a minimum of two years out. i think when they do the avengers it will change a lot of stuff as far as the marvel universe movies. im curious as to what they will do with hulk. norton is still upset over how the film turned out that he was in. they are inking the stars of all the other movies to multi movie deals up front like they just did with chris evans. norton owes them nothing and is not under contract.

[kdoginohio]

What I took out of it - and apologies to Mr. Favreau if I misunderstood - is simply that the depiction of the Mandarin is based in 1960's racism and simply cannot be easily ported to this era of overly sensitive political correctness.

Do the Chinese own Marvel/Disney also?

[AtlasFan]

I see no issue with having the Mandarin as a villian -- it would be cool to see him dressed up in the classic silk robes like Fu Manchu (maybe they could get Nick Cage to play him!). But, I suspect he will be in contemporary all black villian dress.

 

As for magic, I dont see it fitting in with the super high-tech storyline in IRON MAN ...I would think that the Mandarin's rings would be some kind of energy weapon rooted in comic book science...like the Green Lantern's ring.

[AtlasFan]

from everything i have read iron man three will be after the avengers movie. if thats the case it puts it a minimum of two years out. i think when they do the avengers it will change a lot of stuff as far as the marvel universe movies. im curious as to what they will do with hulk. norton is still upset over how the film turned out that he was in. they are inking the stars of all the other movies to multi movie deals up front like they just did with chris evans. norton owes them nothing and is not under contract.

 

There were some hints dropped in IM2 that Tony Stark (RDJr) would not be a member of the Avengers -- but Iron Man would. This would make me think that someone else will take over IM's armor and RDJr would (maybe) make a cameo.

 

As for Norton, they really dont need him for the Avengers, they could just use the CGI Hulk if they had to.

[kdoginohio]

I see no issue with having the Mandarin as a villian -- it would be cool to see him dressed up in the classic silk robes like Fu Manchu (maybe they could get Nick Cage to play him!). But, I suspect he will be in contemporary all black villian dress.

 

As for magic, I dont see it fitting in with the super high-tech storyline in IRON MAN ...I would think that the Mandarin's rings would be some kind of energy weapon rooted in comic book science...like the Green Lantern's ring.

Have you seen the Megatron Armor that they have him wearing in that terrible animated series? Sheesh!