They just haven't done anything with the Mandarin yet, beyond All Hail The King I previously mentioned.
All these years later and I am still amazed that Marvel is pulling off nods to each of their movies and seasonal shows as existing in the same setting. The amount of depth to which that gets after a while (which means sure, they are going to miss some stuff but by that same token that means writers can make some pretty fantastic pulls out of the Marvel ether) suggests to me that you can't really count out them being done with anything unless they are straight up not legally allowed anymore because they sold those rights what feels like ages ago.
Like, I didn't expect HAMMER from IM2 to still be a thing, but there it was in Luke Cage.
Ten Rings is a thing that exists in the MCU. Writers can use that if they so desire, potential exists that it could show up in future shows.
"Classic" Mandarin was never really going to happen in the modern political environment. A Chinese villain would not have flown for the big Chinese movie market, and there was also the issue of the comic character being pretty caught up in racist stereotypes.
That being said, the "Mandarin" of IM3 was pretty tremendously lousy on every front. His goal was stupid, as was his planning and motivation. He was like Dr. Evil, except without any comedic delivery; he wasn't some brilliant mastermind type, he was just a rich, offended asshole with a pretty dumb agenda. Coupled with dumb crap like the flying person pyramid rescue, I found it pretty much impossible to get engaged with the movie.
The IM2 villains at least had major personal motivations for hating Stark, beyond "he left me standing on a roof".
Nah, the Mandarin in IM3 was great. Interesting, surprising and yet dovetails perfectly with what the movie is talking about.
Definitely a "your opinion" bit there. Whether the guy was a great "Mandarin" is obviously not an issue, because they tossed that idea out the window as a one-off twist. And that's fine; I would've preferred some magic rings and a giant dragon for Iron Man to fight, but I can live with the more grounded approach of the MCU, especially if it means they make a real effort to avoid things like painfully-racist characters.
But at the very least, they could've made the guy a real mastermind criminal with something actually interesting he's after. The Kingpin from Daredevil is an enormously more compelling villain because he really believes in something, instead of just being a dick that lucked into something that made him rich and powerful. Both of the previous Iron Man movies had already stomped pretty hard on the already well-tread ground of "rich asshole corporate bad guy", doing it for third movie was weak as hell. Even Stark is a better villain, because he screws things up because he really believes he's doing the right thing, not because it's just going to give him more money or control or anything dumb like that.
It's his macho bullshit that leads to him getting dragged into the whole thing in the first place whereas the villain literally just wanted to keep going about his business.
The guy sets up a rocket strike that annihilates Stark's cliffside mansion with him inside, then sets something up later to swipe a Stark suit as a pretty integral part of his overly-convoluted scheme. Also, assassins out for Stark. That's anything but "going about his business" in regards to Stark.
Yeah, Stark isn't really the goal of the whole plan and he definitely caused the problem for himself by being an asshole several years earlier, but like you said, that's a running theme for Stark (all the time, he's an idiot). It's still pretty pathetic that the guy got superpowers and super-rich, and then makes killing Stark a part of his big silly plan to get marginally more of shitloads of what he already has.
A villain that was actually worth something would've looked back on what Stark did, shrugged at the high-school grade bullshit it was, then tried to do something worthwhile with all his power and money other than just trying to get more power and money, while not giving Stark a second thought.
EDIT: All of which I'm not saying because I think your point of view is invalid, I simply saw a rather trivial, petty villain of a type we've already seen multiple times before, particularly in the Iron Man films.
This I find is a core problem with people on IM3 because it's clear a lot of the time they didn't really get a lot of the subtler details of that was going on in the film.
Killian doesn't give a shit about Stark except to show off to him at the beginning. He only attacks Stark after Stark mouths off on television to the Mandarin, forcing Killian to go after Stark to maintain the Mandarin illusion. If Stark had kept his mouth shut, Killian would have left him alone because he's got nothing to do with what Killian is trying to accomplish.
Killian's entire plan is really simple: he wants to develop Extremis and also make a shitload of money. The problem is extremis blows shit up randomly so he invents the Mandarin as a coverstory for that. Then he's going to steal the War Machine suit and kill the President and get his puppet VP installed in his place. And ... that's it. That's the whole plan.
They could have made him more interesting, that's pretty much one of the core weaknesses of the film, but he's not just generic business guy. His resentment of Stark and his current aims are basically a result of who Stark was and still is coming back around to cause him trouble again. And his overall plan is an interesting commentary on both the personal (in the case of Stark) and the public (in the case of the Mandarin cover) paranoid desire for security.
This is all very inline with Stark's stories in the MCU which are all about his own self-destructive ways. That's the core of his character and what they play to.
The problem with playing the Mandarin straight beyond how hilariously fucking racist the character is is that there's like zero interesting about him and nothing he does plays to any character beats in Stark. He's just a guy with magic rings. There's nothing the character itself brings to the table that really says anything interesting about our main character.
IM3 does interesting things with the idea of the Mandarin and in ways that comment on the main character.
No, I totally get that stuff, I just don't think it's much in the way of creative writing. It isn't really clever given that Stark's self-destructive nature is a major element of every movie he's in, and it's a really dumb situation compared to getting a genuine mastermind opponent for Iron Man. You keep bringing up how IM2 was a mess, but the "Mandarin" was just Hammer with charisma and a better handle on the tech he steals; in the end, he fucks up just as much because his plan is stupid and catches up with him. And in Hammer's case, at least his being a petty, jealous asshole sick of being overshadowed by Stark had some actual relevance to the story and his big plan.
Sure, IM3 had actual running themes to it past just trying to be a big dumb hero movie, which is good, but just because it has them doesn't automatically mean the movie is way better than it was. Winter Soldier also went with a theme of security versus freedom, except it bothered to do it with villains actually worth something and who wanted more than just a shitload more money (which is always just the dumbest, laziest cliche possible whenever movies have a super-rich white dude as the bad guy).
If they were never going to actually do anything with the Mandarin, then at least make a non-crap villain because honestly, the "evil wealthy white guy" thing has been tired and worn out for decades. The original Superman movie did that number better forty years ago.
Nah, the villains in IM2 and IM3 don't have much at all in common in how they are executed. And IM3's villain was very relevant to the plot and the themes the movie was going with. IM2 just ... has stuff that happens. It's entirely carried by the charisma of it's leads but the story and plot are stupid, badly paced and nonsensical.
And Winter Soldier is not a good example of what you are talking about since that's a movie that threw out it's themes half-way through in exchange for mega-nazis who are evil for the sake of evilness.
While I agree that the MCU "mandarin" wasn't exactly the height of compelling writing, it was at least a somewhat interesting idea. It's also impossible to mourn the comics-mandarin because he has never been anything interesting (and removing the 'yellow peril' trappings jettisons much of the reason he's a Stark antagonist anyway.)
I will always wonder if there's like, a three hour cut of IM2 that ties the vankhos together with Stark's "reconciliation" with his father; it seems like that ought to be what the film does but 2/3s of the way through it just abandons the thread.
it was the smallest on the list but
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
Was the whole "Iron Man as mentor to Spidey" thing ever done in the comics? I really dig it.
In Ultimate Spider-Man, the Ultimates dig their heads out of their asses long enough to realize that the next generation of heroes is already in the field. So they set Peter up for mentoring with Cap and then with Tony. Unfortunately,
they then firmly entrench their heads back in the ass position and get in a street war with a second team of Avenger level characters. Spider-Man shows up and takes a bullet meant for Cap and then stumbles home where the Sinister Six have decided to attack. He handily crushes them, then dies from the accumulated injuries.
"Classic" Mandarin was never really going to happen in the modern political environment. A Chinese villain would not have flown for the big Chinese movie market, and there was also the issue of the comic character being pretty caught up in racist stereotypes.
That being said, the "Mandarin" of IM3 was pretty tremendously lousy on every front. His goal was stupid, as was his planning and motivation. He was like Dr. Evil, except without any comedic delivery; he wasn't some brilliant mastermind type, he was just a rich, offended asshole with a pretty dumb agenda. Coupled with dumb crap like the flying person pyramid rescue, I found it pretty much impossible to get engaged with the movie.
The IM2 villains at least had major personal motivations for hating Stark, beyond "he left me standing on a roof".
Nah, the Mandarin in IM3 was great. Interesting, surprising and yet dovetails perfectly with what the movie is talking about.
Definitely a "your opinion" bit there. Whether the guy was a great "Mandarin" is obviously not an issue, because they tossed that idea out the window as a one-off twist. And that's fine; I would've preferred some magic rings and a giant dragon for Iron Man to fight, but I can live with the more grounded approach of the MCU, especially if it means they make a real effort to avoid things like painfully-racist characters.
But at the very least, they could've made the guy a real mastermind criminal with something actually interesting he's after. The Kingpin from Daredevil is an enormously more compelling villain because he really believes in something, instead of just being a dick that lucked into something that made him rich and powerful. Both of the previous Iron Man movies had already stomped pretty hard on the already well-tread ground of "rich asshole corporate bad guy", doing it for third movie was weak as hell. Even Stark is a better villain, because he screws things up because he really believes he's doing the right thing, not because it's just going to give him more money or control or anything dumb like that.
It's his macho bullshit that leads to him getting dragged into the whole thing in the first place whereas the villain literally just wanted to keep going about his business.
The guy sets up a rocket strike that annihilates Stark's cliffside mansion with him inside, then sets something up later to swipe a Stark suit as a pretty integral part of his overly-convoluted scheme. Also, assassins out for Stark. That's anything but "going about his business" in regards to Stark.
Yeah, Stark isn't really the goal of the whole plan and he definitely caused the problem for himself by being an asshole several years earlier, but like you said, that's a running theme for Stark (all the time, he's an idiot). It's still pretty pathetic that the guy got superpowers and super-rich, and then makes killing Stark a part of his big silly plan to get marginally more of shitloads of what he already has.
A villain that was actually worth something would've looked back on what Stark did, shrugged at the high-school grade bullshit it was, then tried to do something worthwhile with all his power and money other than just trying to get more power and money, while not giving Stark a second thought.
EDIT: All of which I'm not saying because I think your point of view is invalid, I simply saw a rather trivial, petty villain of a type we've already seen multiple times before, particularly in the Iron Man films.
This I find is a core problem with people on IM3 because it's clear a lot of the time they didn't really get a lot of the subtler details of that was going on in the film.
Killian doesn't give a shit about Stark except to show off to him at the beginning. He only attacks Stark after Stark mouths off on television to the Mandarin, forcing Killian to go after Stark to maintain the Mandarin illusion. If Stark had kept his mouth shut, Killian would have left him alone because he's got nothing to do with what Killian is trying to accomplish.
Killian's entire plan is really simple: he wants to develop Extremis and also make a shitload of money. The problem is extremis blows shit up randomly so he invents the Mandarin as a coverstory for that. Then he's going to steal the War Machine suit and kill the President and get his puppet VP installed in his place. And ... that's it. That's the whole plan.
They could have made him more interesting, that's pretty much one of the core weaknesses of the film, but he's not just generic business guy. His resentment of Stark and his current aims are basically a result of who Stark was and still is coming back around to cause him trouble again. And his overall plan is an interesting commentary on both the personal (in the case of Stark) and the public (in the case of the Mandarin cover) paranoid desire for security.
This is all very inline with Stark's stories in the MCU which are all about his own self-destructive ways. That's the core of his character and what they play to.
The problem with playing the Mandarin straight beyond how hilariously fucking racist the character is is that there's like zero interesting about him and nothing he does plays to any character beats in Stark. He's just a guy with magic rings. There's nothing the character itself brings to the table that really says anything interesting about our main character.
IM3 does interesting things with the idea of the Mandarin and in ways that comment on the main character.
Except Killian did care about Stark since
he needed Stark's help to stabilize Extremis.
Killian inexplicably gave himself Extremis and was presumably at risk of exploding.
I thought the exploding bit was only a risk when first injected? I don't remember any bits where someone exploded well after they were injected. It's been a while since I saw the movie though.
Foo, tags.
Maya's plant at the start of the movie exploded after it regenerated from having a branch being ripped off, that implies there's a chance of explosion whenever an Extremis subject regenerates.
The guy who hurt Happy when he exploded acted like a junkie, which suggests Extremis is addictive. So even if they fixed it so that Extremis doesn't cause explosions after healing like with the plant, Killian will still have to keep injecting himself with Extremis and there will be a chance of exploding whenever he does.
Looks like we're getting Paltrow back for Pepper in Spider-Man.
I really hope this means she'll be in Infinity War.
Paltrow, RDJ, and Tomei in the same scene should be snarktastic. "No way Pepper! I'm totally mentoring this rando from Queens because I care about kids, not because his aunt is crazy hot. Did I say that last bit out loud?"
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
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TTODewbackPuts the drawl in ya'llI think I'm in HellRegistered Userregular
Looks like we're getting Paltrow back for Pepper in Spider-Man.
I really hope this means she'll be in Infinity War.
still waiting on that reveal that she has Extremis powers ;D
Actually kinda torn on her coming back so soon after the stuff in Civil War about them being "on a break" - thought that was a really elegant way to write around an actor not being up for it, and it fed well into Tony's whole miserable deal in that movie.
Oh brilliant
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
It kind of smells of her coming back just for money and not story.
While I agree that the MCU "mandarin" wasn't exactly the height of compelling writing, it was at least a somewhat interesting idea. It's also impossible to mourn the comics-mandarin because he has never been anything interesting (and removing the 'yellow peril' trappings jettisons much of the reason he's a Stark antagonist anyway.)
I will always wonder if there's like, a three hour cut of IM2 that ties the vankhos together with Stark's "reconciliation" with his father; it seems like that ought to be what the film does but 2/3s of the way through it just abandons the thread.
This is written by someone who hasn't actually read Mandarin stories in a long time, if ever. Some of his most recent stuff has been really interesting and not at all predicated on his race, just his desire to wipe out his enemy.
Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
Always liked the Mark 42 armour on Pepper, it didn't have any weapons at the time she wore it, just like Rescue! Plus it had a very weird colour scheme, was almost like it was designed for her rather than Tony. ;P
Oh brilliant
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
While I agree that the MCU "mandarin" wasn't exactly the height of compelling writing, it was at least a somewhat interesting idea. It's also impossible to mourn the comics-mandarin because he has never been anything interesting (and removing the 'yellow peril' trappings jettisons much of the reason he's a Stark antagonist anyway.)
I will always wonder if there's like, a three hour cut of IM2 that ties the vankhos together with Stark's "reconciliation" with his father; it seems like that ought to be what the film does but 2/3s of the way through it just abandons the thread.
This is written by someone who hasn't actually read Mandarin stories in a long time, if ever. Some of his most recent stuff has been really interesting and not at all predicated on his race, just his desire to wipe out his enemy.
Not to mention how huge an opportunity was lost for the "twist" of IM3, given that Mandarin and the Ten Rings are already tied into alien technology in the comics. Wouldn't even have needed any semi-shenanigans like Thor's "technology so advanced it's magic" to skip around the notion of magic, because the Ten Rings already worked that way.
While I agree that the MCU "mandarin" wasn't exactly the height of compelling writing, it was at least a somewhat interesting idea. It's also impossible to mourn the comics-mandarin because he has never been anything interesting (and removing the 'yellow peril' trappings jettisons much of the reason he's a Stark antagonist anyway.)
I will always wonder if there's like, a three hour cut of IM2 that ties the vankhos together with Stark's "reconciliation" with his father; it seems like that ought to be what the film does but 2/3s of the way through it just abandons the thread.
This is written by someone who hasn't actually read Mandarin stories in a long time, if ever. Some of his most recent stuff has been really interesting and not at all predicated on his race, just his desire to wipe out his enemy.
I disagree that the recent mandarin material (ex: the relatively recent invincible iron man arc) was terribly interesting
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
it was the smallest on the list but
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
I wouldn't trade Iron Man 3's "Terrorism is just a specter to keep you afraid and distract you from the real conflict" message for anything else, especially a racist stereotype villain who runs completely counter to that.
But looking at the discussion here it seems like that went over most people's heads anyway...
it loses some credit for being hamfisted, which is too bad because in a lot of ways it was really clever
it would have been fun to see whether people in theaters interpreted the faux-mandarin as a middle eastern pastiche, because for all appearances he could also have stepped off the set of duck dynasty
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
it was the smallest on the list but
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
I wouldn't trade Iron Man 3's "Terrorism is just a specter to keep you afraid and distract you from the real conflict" message for anything else, especially a racist stereotype villain who runs completely counter to that.
But looking at the discussion here it seems like that went over most people's heads anyway...
No one said they couldn't keep that. In fact it was part of the original comic story as well.
I'd say it was even more relevant than what we got in the movie (and even more so today).
Not only was Mallen (the extremis injected villain in the comic) not some big bad agent of some shadowy super power or country... he was just a very angry and disillusioned American citizen. He'd probably have wound up in prison or dead eventually, or just some angry guy on a watch list somewhere pissing his life away as he did nothing of any consequence.
Maya used him in her own agenda, and it was only via her direct actions that Mallen was able to get a hold of extremis and become a real home grown domestic terrorist.
Most of that is in IM3 in some way, I personally just think the details chosen were not as interesting or relevant as the ideas already outlined in the comic.
it loses some credit for being hamfisted, which is too bad because in a lot of ways it was really clever
it would have been fun to see whether people in theaters interpreted the faux-mandarin as a middle eastern pastiche, because for all appearances he could also have stepped off the set of duck dynasty
I don't remember Duck dynasty being intercut with shots of people firing AKs in the desert or middle easterners chanting in a crowd. Besides, the Ten Rings was set up as a terrorist organization way back in Iron Man 1.
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daveNYCWhy universe hate Waspinator?Registered Userregular
It kind of smells of her coming back just for money and not story.
If she's able to put in a quality 5-10 minutes of screen time, I don't particularly care. I like the little touches that help establish that these movies take place in a setting that exists outside the events of the movie.
It kind of smells of her coming back just for money and not story.
If she's able to put in a quality 5-10 minutes of screen time, I don't particularly care. I like the little touches that help establish that these movies take place in a setting that exists outside the events of the movie.
Very much agree with this, doubly so because otherwise we'd already have two important female characters that just disappear from the MCU.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
it loses some credit for being hamfisted, which is too bad because in a lot of ways it was really clever
it would have been fun to see whether people in theaters interpreted the faux-mandarin as a middle eastern pastiche, because for all appearances he could also have stepped off the set of duck dynasty
I don't remember Duck dynasty being intercut with shots of people firing AKs in the desert or middle easterners chanting in a crowd. Besides, the Ten Rings was set up as a terrorist organization way back in Iron Man 1.
Ten Rings is in Iron Man 1?
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daveNYCWhy universe hate Waspinator?Registered Userregular
it loses some credit for being hamfisted, which is too bad because in a lot of ways it was really clever
it would have been fun to see whether people in theaters interpreted the faux-mandarin as a middle eastern pastiche, because for all appearances he could also have stepped off the set of duck dynasty
I don't remember Duck dynasty being intercut with shots of people firing AKs in the desert or middle easterners chanting in a crowd. Besides, the Ten Rings was set up as a terrorist organization way back in Iron Man 1.
Ten Rings is in Iron Man 1?
Was there a banner or name drop or something in Tony's kidnappers' ransom video?
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
it loses some credit for being hamfisted, which is too bad because in a lot of ways it was really clever
it would have been fun to see whether people in theaters interpreted the faux-mandarin as a middle eastern pastiche, because for all appearances he could also have stepped off the set of duck dynasty
I don't remember Duck dynasty being intercut with shots of people firing AKs in the desert or middle easterners chanting in a crowd. Besides, the Ten Rings was set up as a terrorist organization way back in Iron Man 1.
Ten Rings is in Iron Man 1?
Was there a banner or name drop or something in Tony's kidnappers' ransom video?
The crates were definitely labeled. Probably other stuff as well.
Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
IIRC the premise was like ten cells, and Tony's kidnapper had a ring they showed off pretty prominently, so it was like the Mandarin had these distinct groups in operation, the leaders of each holding one of his rings?
it loses some credit for being hamfisted, which is too bad because in a lot of ways it was really clever
it would have been fun to see whether people in theaters interpreted the faux-mandarin as a middle eastern pastiche, because for all appearances he could also have stepped off the set of duck dynasty
I don't remember Duck dynasty being intercut with shots of people firing AKs in the desert or middle easterners chanting in a crowd. Besides, the Ten Rings was set up as a terrorist organization way back in Iron Man 1.
Ten Rings is in Iron Man 1?
Was there a banner or name drop or something in Tony's kidnappers' ransom video?
Tony: How many languages do you speak Yinsin: Oh not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Hungarian, Mongolian, Pashto, Russian and Urdu." Tony: Who are these people?" Yinsin "They are your loyal customers, sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings."
It kind of smells of her coming back just for money and not story.
If she's able to put in a quality 5-10 minutes of screen time, I don't particularly care. I like the little touches that help establish that these movies take place in a setting that exists outside the events of the movie.
Very much agree with this, doubly so because otherwise we'd already have two important female characters that just disappear from the MCU.
So recast Pepper and bring McAddams over.
I like Pepper, Paltrow is detriment to the character.
It kind of smells of her coming back just for money and not story.
If she's able to put in a quality 5-10 minutes of screen time, I don't particularly care. I like the little touches that help establish that these movies take place in a setting that exists outside the events of the movie.
Very much agree with this, doubly so because otherwise we'd already have two important female characters that just disappear from the MCU.
So recast Pepper and bring McAddams over.
I like Pepper, Paltrow is detriment to the character.
Jane.... well, no one likes Jane. But same deal.
Neither of those are really the actresses fault. Neither has been given a damn thing to work with in quite some time and them refusing to show up to be props isn't something I really feel you can condemn them for.
Some sort of story. They were both fine to good when they had some sort of arc to their characters but in later movies they were used as props more than people.
The Portman casting was bizarre because the films have stuff she could be doing, but they give it over to bit players instead. Like why do the interns in Thor 2 even exist? Why does Selvig get to do so much of the interplanetary science-ing rather than Foster? etc.
Like you've shelled out for Portman to be in your film, why not try and use her for something
it was the smallest on the list but
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
The Portman casting was bizarre because the films have stuff she could be doing, but they give it over to bit players instead. Like why do the interns in Thor 2 even exist? Why does Selvig get to do so much of the interplanetary science-ing rather than Foster? etc.
Like you've shelled out for Portman to be in your film, why not try and use her for something
Yeah Portman was criminally underused in both Thor movies. I don't blame her for bowing out of everything after them.
Some sort of story. They were both fine to good when they had some sort of arc to their characters but in later movies they were used as props more than people.
Portman never really had an arc in either movie. Heck, Paltrow doesn't have that much of an arc either (she goes from unofficially running the company to running the company?), but she at least has a role and activities in the setting. Plus the banter with RDJ is pretty fun.
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
Portman wasn't interested and it comes through in her performance, she had stuff to do she was the main love interest, she just chose to do nothing with it. She thought/thinks she's too good for that comic book stuff.
Paltrow is just bad in general, again a weird choice that reeks of early Marvel trying to grab a name.
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All these years later and I am still amazed that Marvel is pulling off nods to each of their movies and seasonal shows as existing in the same setting. The amount of depth to which that gets after a while (which means sure, they are going to miss some stuff but by that same token that means writers can make some pretty fantastic pulls out of the Marvel ether) suggests to me that you can't really count out them being done with anything unless they are straight up not legally allowed anymore because they sold those rights what feels like ages ago.
Like, I didn't expect HAMMER from IM2 to still be a thing, but there it was in Luke Cage.
Ten Rings is a thing that exists in the MCU. Writers can use that if they so desire, potential exists that it could show up in future shows.
Nah, the villains in IM2 and IM3 don't have much at all in common in how they are executed. And IM3's villain was very relevant to the plot and the themes the movie was going with. IM2 just ... has stuff that happens. It's entirely carried by the charisma of it's leads but the story and plot are stupid, badly paced and nonsensical.
And Winter Soldier is not a good example of what you are talking about since that's a movie that threw out it's themes half-way through in exchange for mega-nazis who are evil for the sake of evilness.
I will always wonder if there's like, a three hour cut of IM2 that ties the vankhos together with Stark's "reconciliation" with his father; it seems like that ought to be what the film does but 2/3s of the way through it just abandons the thread.
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
In Ultimate Spider-Man, the Ultimates dig their heads out of their asses long enough to realize that the next generation of heroes is already in the field. So they set Peter up for mentoring with Cap and then with Tony. Unfortunately,
So uh, hopefully this goes better for MCU Spidey.
The guy who hurt Happy when he exploded acted like a junkie, which suggests Extremis is addictive. So even if they fixed it so that Extremis doesn't cause explosions after healing like with the plant, Killian will still have to keep injecting himself with Extremis and there will be a chance of exploding whenever he does.
I really hope this means she'll be in Infinity War.
Paltrow, RDJ, and Tomei in the same scene should be snarktastic. "No way Pepper! I'm totally mentoring this rando from Queens because I care about kids, not because his aunt is crazy hot. Did I say that last bit out loud?"
uh
uh
yeah that spiderman trailer was p good
still waiting on that reveal that she has Extremis powers ;D
Actually kinda torn on her coming back so soon after the stuff in Civil War about them being "on a break" - thought that was a really elegant way to write around an actor not being up for it, and it fed well into Tony's whole miserable deal in that movie.
This is written by someone who hasn't actually read Mandarin stories in a long time, if ever. Some of his most recent stuff has been really interesting and not at all predicated on his race, just his desire to wipe out his enemy.
Not to mention how huge an opportunity was lost for the "twist" of IM3, given that Mandarin and the Ten Rings are already tied into alien technology in the comics. Wouldn't even have needed any semi-shenanigans like Thor's "technology so advanced it's magic" to skip around the notion of magic, because the Ten Rings already worked that way.
I disagree that the recent mandarin material (ex: the relatively recent invincible iron man arc) was terribly interesting
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
Actually the cost of her being in the film was described as a "point of consternation" with Sony because they did not want to pay her day rates.
But Marvel won them over in the end.
But looking at the discussion here it seems like that went over most people's heads anyway...
Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.
I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.
it would have been fun to see whether people in theaters interpreted the faux-mandarin as a middle eastern pastiche, because for all appearances he could also have stepped off the set of duck dynasty
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
No one said they couldn't keep that. In fact it was part of the original comic story as well.
I'd say it was even more relevant than what we got in the movie (and even more so today).
Not only was Mallen (the extremis injected villain in the comic) not some big bad agent of some shadowy super power or country... he was just a very angry and disillusioned American citizen. He'd probably have wound up in prison or dead eventually, or just some angry guy on a watch list somewhere pissing his life away as he did nothing of any consequence.
Maya used him in her own agenda, and it was only via her direct actions that Mallen was able to get a hold of extremis and become a real home grown domestic terrorist.
Most of that is in IM3 in some way, I personally just think the details chosen were not as interesting or relevant as the ideas already outlined in the comic.
I don't remember Duck dynasty being intercut with shots of people firing AKs in the desert or middle easterners chanting in a crowd. Besides, the Ten Rings was set up as a terrorist organization way back in Iron Man 1.
If she's able to put in a quality 5-10 minutes of screen time, I don't particularly care. I like the little touches that help establish that these movies take place in a setting that exists outside the events of the movie.
Given Sony's track record, the fact that they were resistant probably means that getting her back in is a great idea.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Ten Rings is in Iron Man 1?
Was there a banner or name drop or something in Tony's kidnappers' ransom video?
The crates were definitely labeled. Probably other stuff as well.
Yinsin: Oh not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Hungarian, Mongolian, Pashto, Russian and Urdu."
Tony: Who are these people?"
Yinsin "They are your loyal customers, sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings."
So recast Pepper and bring McAddams over.
I like Pepper, Paltrow is detriment to the character.
Jane.... well, no one likes Jane. But same deal.
Neither of those are really the actresses fault. Neither has been given a damn thing to work with in quite some time and them refusing to show up to be props isn't something I really feel you can condemn them for.
The Portman casting was bizarre because the films have stuff she could be doing, but they give it over to bit players instead. Like why do the interns in Thor 2 even exist? Why does Selvig get to do so much of the interplanetary science-ing rather than Foster? etc.
Like you've shelled out for Portman to be in your film, why not try and use her for something
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
Yeah Portman was criminally underused in both Thor movies. I don't blame her for bowing out of everything after them.
Portman never really had an arc in either movie. Heck, Paltrow doesn't have that much of an arc either (she goes from unofficially running the company to running the company?), but she at least has a role and activities in the setting. Plus the banter with RDJ is pretty fun.
The script was a bigger issue, they literally gave her nothing to do. That's another reason Kat Dennings steals scene from her. Come back to us, Kat!
You mean a reason other than a delivery that's like a cheese grater to the ears?
Paltrow is just bad in general, again a weird choice that reeks of early Marvel trying to grab a name.