This is the week of Iron Man, with a new trailer making its debut during the new episode of Lost. Some people are still grumbling about aspects of the new footage revealed during the Super Bowl, so expect to potentially hear more complaining at the end of the week if people don’t like what they see.
One place that isn’t complaining about Iron Man is First Showing who were privy to Jon Favreau’s presentation at WonderCon. Thanks to some new footage and some of Favreau’s enthusiasm, they are saying Iron Man could be the best comic book movie of the year, even over The Dark Knight. I’ll reserve judgment on that. Batman Begins was pretty awesome and I just can’t see Tony Stark beating out Bruce Wayne on the coolness factor.
Favreau showed three new scenes from the movie at WonderCon, which have been described as being a good mix of excitement and comedy as Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) builds the Mark II version of the Iron Man armor. For the unaware (which included me), the Mark II is the phase between the original rough, unpolished version of Iron Man and the colored red and yellow Iron Man most people identify the character as. Apparently Stark’s endeavor to build the suit is not without its trials as he argues with the robotic pieces, crashes into the ceiling when he underestimates the power of his repulsors, and wrecks one of his high priced cars after enjoying a joy ride in the armor.
Comedy seemed to be a recurring theme for Iron Man talk, which is just a tad bit disconcerting. Favreau described Terrence Howard’s character, Jim Rhodes, as the comedic foil to Tony Stark. We’re talking about a character who finds out about Stark’s big secret and even takes on the mantle of Iron Man to keep going when Stark is out of the picture in comic book lore, and now he’s a comedic foil? That worries me a bit. Thankfully, the movie won’t explore that aspect of Stark and Rhodes’ friendship, as Stark’s alcoholism has been left out to keep the movie more “family friendly,” although Favreau doesn’t rule out the possibility of that being covered in a sequel.
Yes, Favreau said the word “sequel,” which is certainly a possibility, as is a War Machine spin-off that would follow Rhodes. You’re not surprised, are you? A sequel is a possibility for any move that makes enough money. Favreau is certainly hoping Iron Man falls into that category, as he flat out admitted he has a shot at that Avengers movie if Iron Man makes enough dough – something he’s alluded to before.
While the enthusiasm about Favreau’s report on the movie is good, I can’t help but wonder if Iron Man is being made a little too family friendly. I don’t know how dark the character is on average because I’m not a frequent reader, but a character known for alcoholism and building a suit of armor to save his life isn’t exactly light material. The mention of all of the comedy makes me worry about too much of the same thing that killed Spider-Man 3. That franchise only survived the light-hearted fare because it had a strong foundation. I’m fairly certain too much of that in a first picture could kill Iron Man where it stands, without those sequels, spin-offs, and too much opportunity for Favreau joining the Avengers.
