Honestly as someone who loved Iron Man before the movies (started with backissues of O'Niel's run and the 90s cartoon when I was a kid) I was so excited when I heard about the Ten Rings in 1. I knew what it was building up to.

I like the Mandarin. I think it goods hands he's as good as Dr. Doom or Magneto or the Red Skull. Hell Tony's villains were kind of cool in ArmoreAdventures (I wish the comics used that Whiplash and Blizzard). The yellow menace charge kind of falls flat when Mandarin hasn't been a stereotype in decades. Thats like saying Red Skull is offensive for being a Nazi when he ditched the uniform for a suit and tie in the 80s.

>>37244
Yeah that Blizzard had a great design even if his head was based on a frige.
No wait that make it better.
Its sad what Hammer did to him...
Also was his "real" name used for a hengeman in 3 or not?

>>37245
Actually most of AA's designs are better than their current ones. Except for scrawny dirty Ghost, when I think about it. I loved Blizzard basically using Mr. Freeze's backstory to fuck with Tony. I did hate their version of the Melter though. Especially when the movie game had a cool design.

I know Firepower was in the movie. I think Stane was really the only great villain of the trilogy. Jeff Bridges was fantastic. Kind of wish they stuffed a chessboard in his office as a nice little nod but I was happy with what we got. Vanko wasn't really played up as much as he should have been, Hammer was a joke. As for 3, I don't think the Mandarin was needed since they pulled a Bane with him. Killian really wasn't that great either, considering his motivation.

Oh well. I have to say, ten years ago I'd never believe they'd make an Iron Man movie, let alone that it would launch a universe. It's had its ups and downs and as a fan of the Avengers in general, I'm happy. Plus the movie was at least ok, could have better, but its not the worst thing to happen to the character. That honor would have to go to The Crossing.

So favorite armor?

<My favorite. The artbook stated Thumper was supposed to represent Tony's hard as nails, craftsman side.

>>37247
>Hammer was a joke.
It's not just that he was a joke, it was a joke they repeated over and over, as if they were afraid someone wouldn't get it. That's a fair analogy for the whole movie, actually.

>>37242
See, when you say "Cosmic Entities" or "Space Gods", one can tell they're big shit. You know there's stuff out there beyond human understanding.

When you say "Space Gods who created mankind, also the only reason why there are mutants is why they programmed it to happen", that kinda kills the mystery a bit, messes up the concept of genetic mutation and also removes the chances that things "just happened". Might be a pet peeve of mine, because I simply don't like the concept. Kinda like with Thor, the whole movie could have gone without the "lol our magic is just SCIENCE! way beyond your understanding" and it wouldn't lose anything.

Well damn it's Prometheus all over again.

>>37251

The Mutants should have had their own universe to begin with, lumping them in with Marvel's other superheroes and space gods has marred the whole message of the X stories for decades.

Just saying. First Class did it right.

>>37304
Yea they are the only one that shouldn't be brought into the cinematic fold if they get the rights back. I mean they treat them like separate entities anyway in the comics why not just keep it that way in the movies.

I agree with keeping the X-Men separate too, but for a different reason.

Their cast is so large already. Crossovers work better with characters who have small casts in their universe.

>>37231
I wasn't aware Mandarin purists were even a thing before Iron Man 3.

>>37309
Every character, no matter how lame they are, has a few fans at least. I likehim. The white washing didn't bother me as much. I was happy Mandarin was in. Then that twist came and I wonder why they even bothered adding him

>>37315
Probably so they could actually surprise comic book fans. I read an interview with the writer where he said that, as he sees it, "The Mandarin" is a mantle passed down to various terrorist leaders over many generations, and that, in this case, AIM co-opted the name for their own purposes. So the "real" Mandarin could show up later in the series without conflicting with what had already been shown, he said.

Was the bombing of the Chinese theatre intentional (as in they gave the Extremis soldier a bum dose) or accidental like what some of the Mandarin bombings were?

>>37320
So in essence, they didn't think a damn thing through then.

>>37323
I....fail to see your logic.

The Mandarin is one of the most offensive characters in Marvel just by existing. He represents fear of the "yellow peril" and exoticism of Asian culture.

We're just so damned used to it that it doesn't offend us.

>>37330
Well, not really. He had a bunch of contemporary Cold War villains from Russia which held pretty well later on, too. If Marvel wasted a decent enough concept and specifically avoided keeping a chinese villain around just because he's from China, couldn't that be wrong, too?

Also not sure, but wasn't he a bit reimagined as an unscrupulous business billionaire in the regular comics too?

>>37334
It's not that he's from China, it's that he's basically Fu Manchu, and the Fu Manchu character is more or less the asian equivalent of blackface.

>>37337
Fu Manchu style villains are actually worse than blackface; Blackface mocks and parodies African Americans, sure... but Yellow Peril outright states that CHINAMEN ARE COMING TO STEAL YOUR WOMENFOLK AND ADDICT THEM TO VILEST OPIUM, TO TURN THEM INTO PROSTITUTES.

>>37337
>>37338
Just saying, Marvel has an ACTUAL Fu Manchu, but at least he and Mandarin have no ties to the chinese government or opium anymore, as far as I know. One could say Luke Cage has always been a serious case of blackface one way or another, Dr Voodoo and etc... a lot of the good comic book characters are just stereotypes taken to the extreme.

(...To clarify, not that I think Luke Cage or Dr Voodoo, or necessarily Mandarin and Fu Manchu are among the great characters. Best Luke Cage stories I've read were in Wizard's Toyfare anyway.)

>>37334
There's also the fact that apparently the Chinese government is backing these films, so it wouldn't be wise to portray a villain whose major schtick is "evil Chinese guy whose name and backstory places a great deal of emphasis on the fact that he's Chinese".

>>37248
I do have a soft spot for movie Titanium-man but thats mostly my love for green.
But for the ones in 3 its has to be the frontman number 42, it may look shit but it did do tons of cool stuff.
And the worst I can say about IM:AA'svillains is that alot of them is forgettable.
So forgettable in fact that a have forgotten them.
Like how most guardian statues were supposed to be guy.
Other then that its the Living Lasers crappy being a dude with crappy special effects and Crimson Dynamo having a boat door for face.
But they had good storys so whatever.

>>37334
Yeah he's ditched the robes for the most part for a sharp suit. Same thing with Red Skull.
>>37356
My brother of African American heritage.

I loved that Titanium Man suit. It's blocky as all hell, which is a nice contrast to Tony's sleek armor. I loved the Crimson Dynamo armor from the other game too.

Melter and Firebrand were guardians if I remember. I would have loved to have seen actual villains though.

My friend saw the movie and loved the Gemini space armor. It looks way better than the space armor Tony is using in the comics right now. I agree.

>>37374
Yeah I so want that toy of him.
Most of the design suit from the games were good as far as have seen.
Guess that the best you can say about the game, trollolol~
Also AA Rescue > Comic Rescue.
Its the purple instead of samey red, jagged chest instead of weird orbs and not having a "sad bug" face.

And the guardian that got shafted the harded was the Gray Gargoyle.
"Watch out Tonys dad, this guy is a badass that can turn you to stone with one WHAT THE?!"
>Dr. DOOM was here
>Gene is a loser
"FFFFFFFFFFFFFF-"
Ahahahahaha~ Good times.

>Yeah he's ditched the robes for the most part for a sharp suit
I still hope we get a Mandarin 2 with the magic rings from space and fuck all other thing about him...
Because they have already done the other stuff sort off...
*sigh*
Aw well.

There's some really beautiful concept art online for the Iron Man movies, but I was looking through one artist's work in particular, and Black Widow looks very "oh no!" and non-action-girl in every painting.

Are...are we thinking of the same character?

>>37481
Post a piece ot two to see what the hell are you talking about.

>>37482
I'm trying to refind it, but it's by Phil Saunders.

Nick Fury and Tony are posing like badasses in the front, while Natasha looks almost worried and dainty in comparison. It just kinda pissed me off.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/20/robert-downey-jr-avengers-2_n_3473765.html

>though you will never never see RDJ scream out "HERE'S MY SUNDAY BEST - PROTON CANNON!"

>>37794
> "HERE'S MY SUNDAY BEST - PROTON CANNON!"

But War Machine says that in the games, not Ironman.

Also, I can't beleive people were seriously thinking that RDJ wouldn't be hired again, or worse, that he didn't want to repeat being Tony. The guy obviously was bluffing to squeeze more $$$ out of Marvel Studios.

>>37886
I know that, but havin RDJ do it is just cooler.

>>37894
Are...you implying RDJ is cooler than Don Cheadle?

>>37895
Well, fuck, now I'm picturing Andre 3000 as War Machine.

>>37895
IMO Don Cheadle didn't do a very good job as War Machine. He seemed to have forgotten he's not still in Hotel Rwanda. He was a little better in IM3 though.

Speaking of Marvel movies I'm surprised there isn't a thread about Guardians of the Galaxy yet, there's been some stuff released on it.

>>38561
Once the teaser is officially released (instead of shit quality footage taken from a mobile phone) you will see a thread around here, you can count on that.

>>38561
>>38586
We talked a bit about it at the Marvel general on +/co/, there's also a "Marvel movies general" here somewhere. As much as I loved GotG in the comics, I just don't see it being too popular before we see the actual movie.

I think that the problem wasn't that it wasn't THE Mandarin, it's that what was a replacement wasn't able to top Ben Kingsley as a terrorist in robes and scary videos.

Iron Man movies have always been about how Tony Stark makes his demons. His alcohol, his narcissism, his snobbery, all make the Iron Monger and Whiplash and the Extremis guy, but the blow wasn't so great because it wasn't a character we'd seen be scraped through the mud constantly. We didn't get to build with shit getting pulled, we don't see Tony Stark's attempts to fix things just lead him to miss initially minor bits build into... this. This could be scary if we knew who he was. This could top Ben Kingsley if we had the time to sit down and sort out things. But one movie, and a 'I planned all this now fight ME' is not enough to top Ben Kingsley.

Have I pointed out enough that they're fighting the appeal of Ben Kingsley villainy? It's a great idea, a big hook then misdirect to a much more personal story of a betrayal you don't feel coming because it's a misdirect with Mandarin.

And shit if you really want the HE BECOMES THE MANDARIN, have him playing a bluff and feeding on that discontent, so our Mandarin is this street performer dude but he is much more powerful than he lets on. He's not braggy or boisterous or a modern twist, he's just objectively smarter and fucking with everyone very matter of factly. And maybe he does like living in a mansion in Florida with hookers because what kid from Croydon wouldn't? He's Coyote from Gunnerkrigg, he's much more powerful than he likes to act, and he's not going to need yellow peril to do it.

>>38801
Forgot the pic.

>>38801

I kind of like that idea, and it would have made the ending better if they went for a double fake out with Killian eventually realizing that, at some point, The Mandarin began controlling him and not the other way around. Like you think he's just this goofy mother fucker, and not an actual threat to anyone, and they go after Killian, who still believes he's the one in charge, only to find that his men are not his men. That the Ten Rings truly belong to The Mandarin, a farce turned force, and in the end all the blame will fall squatrely on Killian while the Mandarin, drunk on the power being the Madarin grants him, exerts direct control over the terrorist organization.

That might have been more entertaining.

Uhm, wouldn't Kingsley's character still be in prision for a long, long time? He still helped terrorists and benefited from them, even if it wasn't entirely by his own accord.

>>38803
I don't mean like a fake out in THIS movie. More playing just a 'yeah I'll play the fool for now, prison's fine, I'll get acquitted with the mento-rings, and lockbox the rest for later'. He's not about dramatics, he's about surviving and playing with everyone with a power he's clearly not using the whole force of.

The Trevor Slattery persona is real, it's just how he defuses people about the power he holds. The misdirect of the clearly trumped up Mandarin actions. He can be forboding and monstrous, he just doesn't like to because it's much easier playing the fool and pulling the strings, and if worse comes to shove and he's found out... well he's still got a good nine rings to fuck around with.

He likes attention and a stage presence. He's the Mandarin redesigned as Penn and Teller mixed with Nick Frost and Orpheus from Venture Bros., he's just better than people and has way more power than he's going to let on, but is more about the attention and the game than any sort of world conquest motif.

I'm having a hard time describing him, he's got power but he's not a villain that takes in how EVIL he is because of it, he just sort of flounders about and does what he wants because he's clearly on a higher level than people take him for.

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/leon-thomas/renegade-cut/40783-renegade-cut-iron-man-and-post-911-america
To bad he missed some importent plot point.

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2013/10/marvel_movies_rethinking_the_mandarin.php
Okay.
Hope that they take ideas from Armored Adventures like I said.
Lee Byung-hun could play him.

Finally saw it. Goddamn that was Spider-Man 3 levels of "I want my time back."

The movie was funny and had a lot of heart but that's where my interest stopped. It was chock full of bad decisions from left to right, top to bottom, nothing made any sense and they didn't even pretend that Tony was going to lose at any point.

Airing of butthurt grievances are as follows:
1) No Infinity Gauntlet/ring things? Fuck off. Come on, I was super psyched for some hokey science magic bullshit, and then they get grabbed by Thanos or something because it was all part of his plan in the after credits. Come ON.
2) Where was Shield Where was Shield Where was Shield Where was Shield WHERE WAS SHIELD THEY TOOK AIR FORCE ONE WHERE WAS SHIELD
3) Good call on the terrorism being a boogeyman, bad call on the vets being ticking time bombs (nice stereotyping there, so wait, they were just participating in an experiment but were willing to fight Iron Man to death in the climax because why exactly? A handsome scientist told them to?)
4) Oh holy shit you gave Pepper powers yes this is the best thing ever, wait fuck no why are you taking them away what are you doing how can this not be a lead-in to her being on Agents of Shield god dammit shit
5) Tony's anxiety just kind of. . . goes away? I guess? That was fast, good thing he didn't need any therapy, what a lucky guy
6) No Fin Fang Foom? Franchise dropped, dropped Marvel, dropped America, called the Army, called the President, called Stan Lee

And so on.

>>39198
If you admit the movie was "funny and had a lot of heart", that alone its it ahead of Spidey 3.... unless you also think that crap was funny and had heart.

1) Expecting Thanos and the infinity gauntlet in Ironman 3 is ridiculous. You alone are to be blamed for the disappointment.

The rings is a valid complain, but personally I loved the twist with The Mandarin. People are VERY divided on this matter.

2) SHIELD apparently was busy with whatever happens in the next Captain America film. The Phase Two movies allegedly happen very close chronologically.

3) Killian had the vets on a leash, they basically could do his bidding and remain superhuman, or be punished by blowing up. Even if they survived and Killian was stopped, the result would be returning to being a cripple, and be put in jail.

4) Because she did not want the powers? And why would you want her in that horrible show?

5) He got better, but it didn't fully go away. He still needed to talk about what happened with somebody.

6) There is a movieverse Fin Fang Foom, appeared in a mini

Can I just say the Iron Legion felt wasted on this movie. Especially after all the work the art team put in

>>39210

>bunch of awesome suits fly in
>it's dark as fuck so you can't see any of them properly
>catch a glimpse of Thumper, a few split seconds of JARVIS flying some kind of samurai suit
>the rest is just flying around and pew pewing in the dark

yep

kind of like how The Mandarin was wasted on the movie because he didn't exist

funny, that.

>>39210

>bunch of awesome suits fly in
>it's dark as fuck so you can't see any of them properly
>catch a glimpse of Thumper, a few split seconds of JARVIS flying some kind of samurai suit
>the rest is just flying around and pew pewing in the dark

yep

kind of like how The Mandarin was wasted on the movie because he didn't exist

funny, that.

>>39227
The art team had all this cool shit storyboarded but we just get like five minutes of them.

That, the Mandarin and War Machine's role were disappointing.