Agreed on Favreau as a good choice for a comic book flick. He is a real fanboy. I mean, who else could play Foggy Nelson as well as he did? No one, that’s who!
Yeah, that’d suck. The whole Iron Man premise is that technology=asskicking. None of that “Use the Force, Tony!” crap.
The joking rapport Downey shows with the soldiers in the clip is promising, since it hints at “explosion GOOD! HOO-AH!” without delving into deeper philosophical implications about whether or not war is bad and such.
I was never a big fan of Iron Man, to be honest, but I doubt the series would’ve had such enduring popularity if it relied entirely on such a weak premise. The thing about Iron Man is that he seemingly has it all, yet in truth, he’s had a mostly empty and/or disappointing love life, and he has an ongoing struggle with alcoholism.
We have heroes who are angsty about the duty of being a hero (Spiderman), we have heroes who are scarred by their dark history (Batman), we have anti-heroes who have flexible morals (Punisher), heroes whose struggles are a metaphor for the fight against prejudice (X-Men), and heroes who aren’t really heroes at all, just protagonists (Hulk). How many Superheroes are people with ordinary, mundane real life problems, and the crippling effects that can cause, even for someone who can invent a super-advanced mechanical suit and fights crime?
As for me, I’ve read a lot that makes me enthusiastic for the film, but I didn’t care for the trailer at all (past the point where the army caravan he’s riding in gets attacked). Also, I thought it was lame to have Balck Sabbath’s Iron Man in it. I love the song, but it isn’t thematically appropriate for the Marvel character, and while I knew it would be used in any Iron Man movie that gets made, I still think it only adds to the schlocky feel of the trailer.
To be fair, every comic book movie discussion inevitably turns, very quickly, into a thread on Batman.
Well, I liked it the first time I saw it, but they called it “The Shadow” and Alec Baldwin was in it.
From the looks of the Iron Man trailer, it looks like Tony Stark is going to have his face rubbed in the realities of being an arms merchant and the Iron Man personage is going to be his attempt to atone. But who knows? You know, for once it would be nice to have a superhero who doesn’t have a tortured backstory and just likes flying around in a stainless steel jet pack.
Ludicrous. First, The Shadow sucked dead donkey balls. Second, it wasn’t the same movie or the same plot.
Batman can hijack any thread – if he’s prepared.
I was fourteen or so when Batman came out, and it was a good six years before I made the connection between the guy who kills Thomas Wayne and the Joker. Even with the “dance with the devil line,” which should have made it obvious even to me. But it was just such a staggeringly stupid plot decision, I couldn’t believe that it had actually happened.
Well…I don’t know about Iron Man, but unfortunately I now know there is going to be an Aliens vs Predator 2 
There was one. He was called The Rocketeer 
. And he was damn awesome, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.
Batman…I always felt that Clooney was a good Bruce Wayne, but a terrible Batman. And kid sidekicks are just not an idea that can be translated onto the big screen (though current comic Robin is badass IMHO). Joel Schumacher killed it. Batman should not be campy-the time for that is done.
Batman Begins: Yes please. Batman should be scary. It should be him against the town. And Michael Caine is a great Alfred
Iron Man I am looking forward to because Jon Favreau is a geek, has done good movies, and generally hasn’t any warning signs that he’ll screw it up. I agree that the music was hokey, though. (Wonder what they’ll use for Thor?)
Don’t worry, this one is going to be rated R, and Paul Anderson is in no way involved.
That right there guarentees it will be 20 times better than the first one.
…just, why? 
Dark Horse did it right with the comics, but given how bad Predator 2 and AvP where, I kind of wish that Hollywood would leave our dreadlocked alien menace alone. Honestly.
Aliens? even when it’s “bad,” it’s still pretty entertaining. 3 and 4 both were better than your average action/horror type flick, so they can go right ahead.
/agree
Also, never mind the potential for sequels, go check the IMDB credits for this movie (go ahead, I’ll wait).
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury? Not quite right for the character, IMHO, but damn if that isn’t spin-off-eriffic!
And Terrence Howard as War Machine also strikes me as inspired casting.
Overall, I have a (surprisingly) good feeling about this movie.
And since this thread is pretty well hijacked already (not that I’m complaining), here’s the the AVP Requiem trailer. (http://moviesmovies.ign.com/movies/video/article/815/815296/avp_trailer_082307_qthighwide.mov)
Note/Warning: I didn’t make it a link because the trailer is rated R. Bloody and sweary and all that.
I don’t think it’s necessary for Iron Man to be likable as long as he’s interesting and 100% kickass. This is America – we LOVE smug dicks with cool toys, as long as they’re on our team.
I think that footage looks incredible and I can’t wait to see that movie. I’m almost as excited about it as I am about *The Dark Knight * (because all comics threads lead to Batman).
Actually, there is a separate Marvel Universe called the Ultimate Universe, which has updated takes on all the familiar characters, but started from scratch about five years ago for the benefit of newer and younger readers. In the Ultimate continuity, Nick Fury is African-American, and the artist, Bryan Hitch, based him directly on Samuel L. Jackson (another avowed comic book fanboy). So this is Ultimate Nick Fury we’re seeing in the Iron Man movie, or at least a wink and a nod to fans of the Ultimates.
Yeah, but if they have the “regular” Nick Fury in another movie, how will the non-comic fans understand it? And could Sam play the same character in two diffirent studio’s movies without any trouble?
Oh, don’t worry, I knew Fury was African-American in the Ultimates universe. It’s just that I always think of Sam Jackson as being…“angry” for lack of a better word, while Fury always struck me as being more level-headed. (And I know Jackson has more depth than that, and should be able to pull the character off easily, but it still feels a little weird in my head. More his SoaP character than, say, his xXx one, you know?)
Notwithstanding the Hasselhoff incarnation of Fury (and, really, who remembers that?), this shouldn’t be a problem. Starting with Iron Man, Marvel Entertainment is producing all of its own movies, so they can have as much cross-title interaction they care to pay the actors for. (The exception would be properties which have recently been movie-fied, so having Fury show up in X-Men/Wolverine or Spider-Man would be trickier.)
It’ll be interesting to see what Marvel decides to do with Fury, as he pops up all over the place besides being a pretty cool character himself.
Someone remind me, is it Fury that pulls the Avengers together in the Ultimates universe? On a related note, Ant Man (which is an IP that Marvel has already said they’re going to give the movie treatment) is part of the Ultimate Avengers, no?
Michael Keaton sucked.
Refresh my memory: 20 times nothing is…?
I also didn’t like Keaton, as Bruce Wayne or Batman. He lacked the sauveness of the former and the menace of the latter.
Gad, if only the move had been made in 1983 as promised, and starred Rutger Hauer.