Marvel Movies Thread - Holy Shitballs

Bill

@RobbyBevard:

You could have pulled exactly the same thing with the Joker. Note for note.

! This crazy madman in clown makeup is blowing up buildings, making threats, filming videos and causing chaos for no apparent reason. An hour into the film, you find out he's actually just a stoned british actor that wants to get laid, who has no idea any of the destruction is real, that was hired by one of Bruce Wayne's corporate rivals so he can take advantage of the chaos and profit… Batman was never really part of the equation. Then the rest of the movie focuses on the mob boss who was actually using the threat of the Joker to control the other mob bosses!
! See, because its a movie, it's not beholden at all to typical interpretations of Joker as a crazy mad dog main adversary of Batman... it's okay to just have him be a minor note red herring of no real significance and pretend the movie is going to be about Batman's greatest adversary, when really you're doing a story about a C-list character instead.

It would be the exact same treatment and waste of the character. If you think it would be a bad waste of one character, how is it any different for another?

Yes of course it you could have pulled it off the same with the Joker, I never meant that you couldn't what I meant is that you really shouldn't with a character like the Joker. Mandarin is a character so loosely defined that he is generally more apt for such a radical interpretation since he just does not have the rich material of history like the Joker has. Not to mention how iconic the Joker is, unlike Mandarin who's only really known to comic fans so you have lot of room there. Furthermore, the Mandarin is Aldrich(who actually has the same name as a French poster on this site oddly) and when you look at it both Trevor and Aldrich are the Mandarin(only split). I like the twist, call that a bias if you want but I never liked the Mandarin and frankly he was never as good a villain as Green Goblin, Dr. Doom and Magneto. Like Kaiolino said he wasn't worthy enough a villain to do an adequate comic adaption and frankly I like the twist quite a bit.

Kaiolino

@RobbyBevard:

Nobody even batted an eye when they merged Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash. That's a huge change, and no one cared. Movie version, whatever. Thor's world is made more technological, less fantasy. Everyone's cool with it. X-Men takes who knows how many liberties with its comic stories, no problem. Fans are fine with movies having different takes. This change however was… weird.

People complain about huge (or "huge", depending on who you ask) changes all the time. Spider-Man's organic webshooters, X-Men leather costumes, Wolverine not being an ugly dwarf, Electro being blue, the various nationality changes in the X-Men…

The difference is that people will analyze to death a change made by Sony or Fox (because those changes come from a disdain for the source material and because they care more about money than craft), while Marvel Studios always gets a pass (because they make changes to show their deep appreciation for the source material and to make the movie flow better).

bountyhunter

@RobbyBevard:

You could have pulled exactly the same thing with the Joker. Note for note.

! This crazy madman in clown makeup is blowing up buildings, making threats, filming videos and causing chaos for no apparent reason. An hour into the film, you find out he's actually just a stoned british actor that wants to get laid, who has no idea any of the destruction is real, that was hired by one of Bruce Wayne's corporate rivals so he can take advantage of the chaos and profit… Batman was never really part of the equation. Then the rest of the movie focuses on the mob boss who was actually using the threat of the Joker to control the other mob bosses!
! See, because its a movie, it's not beholden at all to typical interpretations of Joker as a crazy mad dog main adversary of Batman... it's okay to just have him be a minor note red herring of no real significance and pretend the movie is going to be about Batman's greatest adversary, when really you're doing a story about a C-list character instead.

It would be the exact same treatment and waste of the character. If you think it would be a bad waste of one character, how is it any different for another?

The Joker is one of if not the most popular and beloved villains in ALL of pop culture, let alone comics. To compare him to the Mandarin is kind of ridiculous.

! More people would be pissed because more people care about the Joker than the Mandarin. And for good reason. The Mandarin kind of sucks. For those who did think he was a great villain in the comics and really liked him, they are entitled to be pissed somewhat. I see where you're coming from. But honestly, I think it was worth pissing off a few people to make the overall story more unpredictable and exciting. Who cares THAT MUCH about the Mandarin? There's a reason they waited three movies to feature "Iron Man's Greatest foe."

Robby

@Megadoomer:

but the more cynical side of me thinks that it was solely for merchandising, particularly when he started referring to them by names.

They have names in the comics too. He doesn't refer to them as "Mark __", they have specific uses and he names them for such. Depending on the writer it's often as simple as "Stealth suit" or "Space suit"… but he names them.

Hulk Buster was totally underused and unnamed though.

@bountyhunter:

The Joker is one of if not the most popular and beloved villains in ALL of pop culture, let alone comics. To compare him to the Mandarin is kind of ridiculous.

Fine. Replace the name with "The Penguin" or "The Riddler" or "Talia Al Ghul" or "Lex Luthor" or "Zod" or "Sabertooth" or "Mystique" or "Magneto" or "Hobgoblin" or "Green Goblin" or whatever floats your boat.

The idea is the same. Any character with decades of history. unique origin, powers and goals, that is generally treated as the main recurring enemy of a hero, treated with that plot would be weird.

wolfwood

Seems like a perfect opportunity to bring up that i never really liked the green goblin that much

I much prefer hobgoblin when it comes to the goblins

Bill

Hobgoblin is yet another villain a thousand times better then the Mandarin. What sane Asian guy would actually choose the villain name THE MANDARIN? It's kinda like getting an African villain to call himself THE SWAHILI. Or a Israeli villain to call himself THE HEBREW. I think it was a smart move not to get an Asian actor to play the role. Imagine the chuckles of the Chinese audiences.

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@RobbyBevard:

Fine. Replace the name with "The Penguin" or "The Riddler" or "Talia Al Ghul" or "Lex Luthor" or "Zod" or "Sabertooth" or "Mystique" or "Magneto" or "Hobgoblin" or "Green Goblin" or whatever floats your boat.

The idea is the same. Any character with decades of history. unique origin, powers and goals, that is generally treated as the main recurring enemy of a hero, treated with that plot would be weird.

Eh, but most of those villains are better and more well known than the Mandarin though and are part of a group of rogues that are well developed, more so then Iron Man's rogues.

Robby

So. Everyone dismissing the Mandarin change are all people that have not read the comics, don't know what the change is, or thought he was a lame character to begin with, is that the general consensus I'm getting here?

@Bill:

Hobgoblin is yet another villain a thousand times better then the Mandarin. What sane Asian guy would actually choose the villain name THE MANDARIN? I think it was a smart move not to get an Asian actor to play the role. Imagine the chuckles of the Chinese audiences.

What kind of guy names himself Captain America?

wolfwood

Doctor octopus sure is a dignified name

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@Bill:

Hobgoblin is yet another villain a thousand times better then the Mandarin. What sane Asian guy would actually choose the villain name THE MANDARIN? It's kinda like getting an African villain to call himself THE SWAHILI. Or a Israeli villain to call himself THE HEBREW. I think it was a smart move not to get an Asian actor to play the role. Imagine the chuckles of the Chinese audiences.

He isn't namned after the language. He's taken up an old title from imperial china

They even brought that up in the movie

Cyclone_Baroness

Let's face it…Super heroes aren't too creative with their naming.

Hmm...bats are scary, I'll dress as a giant bat and be called...BATMAN!

People say I'm a super man....Heeeey. Superman is a great name!

My name is Thor...I am THOR!

I live in the sea...I like water...AQUAMAN!!! Guys, did you write that down? I'm awesome.

Bill

@RobbyBevard:

What kind of guy names himself Captain America?

Here's my updated post– What sane Asian guy would actually choose the villain name THE MANDARIN? It's kinda like getting an African villain to call himself THE SWAHILI. Or a Israeli villain to call himself THE HEBREW. I think it was a smart move not to get an Asian actor to play the role. Imagine the chuckles of the Chinese
audiences.?.
The fact that any ethnic, foreign character chooses a villain name based on his language or whatever he speaks is hilarious. Almost every superhero has a dumb name, its staple since superhero's a ridiculous characters--BATMAN anyone? That's not what I'm getting at.......

Robby

To be fair, almost all of Spidey's recurring villains has a pretty stupid name that blatantly describes what they look like. Rhino, Vulture, Green Goblin, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, Sandman, Hydroman, Kingpin, Lizard, Venom, Mister Negative, Puma, Mysterio, Spot, Stiltman…

The guy has had like 4 different Goblin themed enemies! THREE GUYS as Green Goblin, FIVE DIFFERENT GUYS as Hobgoblin, (One of whom was first Jack O'Lantern) Demogoblin, Grey Goblin...

Actually, its Spidey's B-listers that have actual thoughtful and clever names... maybe that's why they get forgotten, not obvious enough.

@Bill:

Here's my updated post– What sane Asian guy would actually choose the villain name THE MANDARIN? It's kinda like getting an African villain to call himself THE SWAHILI. Or a Israeli villain to call himself THE HEBREW. I think it was a smart move not to get an Asian actor to play the role. Imagine the chuckles of the Chinese
audiences.?.
The fact that any ethnic, foreign character chooses a villain name based on his language or whatever he speaks is hilarious. Almost every superhero has a dumb name, its staple since superhero's a ridiculous characters--BATMAN anyone? That's not what I'm getting at.......

HE DIDN'T NAME HIMSELF AFTER THE LANGUAGE. Its an imperial china title. The movie even points that out.

It's not Captain English, or Captain Esperanto, or Captain Shakespeare. its Captain America. There's a huge difference in contexts between the two. Saying "Captain" signifies a rank. Saying "America" entails a lot of history, culture, ideals, the entire country. Not just its language.

Its the same with Mandarin.

It's like assuming that because your name is Bill, clearly you were named after a legal document, or perhaps someone waiting for a check to clear. Or that a girl named Sakura is literally named "Cherry Blossom". Its the same word, but its not the same thing.

Bill

@wolfwoof:

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He isn't namned after the language. He's taken up an old title from imperial china

They even brought that up in the movie

Well that's almost as funny!

wolfwood

He is one of these dudes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_(bureaucrat)

Also Kraven the hunter is fricking badass and anyone who disagree's is dead inside

Panda Bear

@RobbyBevard:

…Stiltman...

Comic book characters, especially villains, having ridiculous names is hardly anything new to me, but that one might take it to a new level, methinks.

At any rate, there's something I'm curious about, Robby, so a question for you. Hypothetically, which would you have found more 'offensive', if you will, as a fan of the comic books: the Mandarin being treated as he was in this movie, or if this series of Iron Man movies never had used, and never ended up using, the Mandarin as a villain at all?

Bill

I still stand that Ben Kingsley is the best thing to ever happen to the character of Mandarin. Ben Kingsley is too good a actor for the character to be honest.

Robby

@Panda:

At any rate, there's something I'm curious about, Robby, so a question for you. Hypothetically, which would you have found more 'offensive', if you will, as a fan of the comic books: the Mandarin being treated as he was in this movie, or if this series of Iron Man movies never had used, and never ended up using, the Mandarin as a villain at all?

I'd have been fine if they never used him at all. That includes not teasing the "ten rings" setup in the first movie. The marvel universe has plenty of villains to pick and choose from. Killian is even his own character and did fine carrying the weight of the movie with the extremis plot and would have worked great as a solo act.

You take a high level villain that rules a country, multiple corporations, is super rich, diplomatic immunity, has almost started world war three on multiple occasions, has his own flying fortress, a weapon dealer that can organize a league of villains, that has sword fighting and martial arts skills and a ton of charisma, from a country with goals almost completely in opposition to the lead's own… (power for its own sake, the strong feeding on the weak, and the subjugation and domination of the world) who earned all of it on his own with his own intelligence and hard work from scratch after growing up in poverty?

That's a compelling, interesting unique character there... even before you get to the stolen alien tech that makes his "magic" rings or the use of alien dragons and what not.

Strip away his ethnicity for being racist and the alien tech rings for being too out there, (though after Thor and Avengers it shouldn't be) there's STILL a really good interesting character there that's basically the evil opposite of Tony, a fantastic counterpoint. Even losing the "science versus magic" angle which the comics eventually stripped down to alien tech... He's NOT just "the racist magic rings guy". (And considering they had a guy breathing fire and exploding stuff ANYWAY...) To take all of that, decades of history and influence, and strip it down to just a joke?

(In short, he basically has all the stuff people like about Doctor Doom, just without the cool mask and from a real country.)

Yeah, I'd prefer to not include him at all.

Bill

! Mandarin wasn't really reduced to a joke, since Guy Pearce was the Mandarin but yeah the proxy Mandarin was more fascinating then the Kiledarin. Though when I think about it, Guy Pearce seems more in line with the comic character actually.

Gizmo

@Bill:

! Mandarin wasn't really reduced to a joke, since Guy Pearce was the Mandarin but yeah the proxy Mandarin was more fascinating then the Kiledarin. Though when I think about it, Guy Pearce seems more in line with the comic character actually.

First spoiler tags.

But yeah Apprentice actually pointed that out a bunch of times on this thread.

Not only that, it was said in the movie that is the case (though that line was actually pretty weak and didn't really mean anything in the long run since we don't know what that line implies), and if that wasn't enough Shane Black himself said that was the intention. That interview though does reveal something interesting about the Mandarin's original role in Iron Man 1.

! Apparently from the beginning Marvel was going to play the Mandarin from a corporate angle. Still think overall that makes more sense given the terrorist aspects have been downplayed throughout all the Iron Man films, but yeah this goes back to the hypotheticals since the movie could've been rewritten to make the 10 Rings more prominent.
! And after reading up on the 10 rings I really do wish they made an appearance. Given the events of the Avengers the notion of alien tech doesn't seem any more ridiculous then nanotechnology. If this wasn't meant to be an "end" to the trilogy I would've liked a sequel hook at least having Killian running into the 10 rings or something.

I think that's another bit that bothers me. The ending felt like a sequel instead of a conclusion to the Iron Man saga. I understand providing a true conclusion would've closed the books on Iron Man for good which is not what anybody wants, but it makes Tony's actions at the end, not as earned.

Robby

If they'd just called him a brand new character name there'd be zero problem. Take away the title "The Mandarin" (and thus the history, the empire, the associated clout, the backstory, the powers, etc) and then the character as presented is perfectly fine.

Could even call him "Zhang Tong" (one of his aliases) and then that combined with his outfit, you get the nod, without all the baggage of a much more impressive character than what the movie gave, and sidestep all the issues of wasted potential entirely.

We already got giant lizards in Avengers, so its okay that Fin Fang Foom never shows up.

I'd love to see how they would adapt MODOK though, given his traditional look wouldn't work at all. They were already using AIM after all…

Bill

I suggest for the next slate of the films they go all out and just create original villains. Iron Man has a weak rogues gallery to mine in the comics so why not be creative?

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An idea bulb just lit up for me, instead of Guy Pearce playing the role of Aldritch Killian what about Ken Watanabe? And renamed him Aldrich Kurosawa?

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Asians react to the Mandarin

wolfwood

@RobbyBevard:

They were already using AIM after all…

Oh that was what i had forgotten. I remember i was annoyed by how what i assume were the AIM guys were just dudes with glocks.

Give me some high tech shit if you are gonna include AIM you dinks

The Namekian Clown

@RobbyBevard:

If they'd just called him a brand new character name there'd be zero problem. Take away the title "The Mandarin" (and thus the history, the empire, the associated clout, the backstory, the powers, etc) and then the character as presented is perfectly fine.

Could even call him "Zhang Tong" (one of his aliases) and then that combined with his outfit, you get the nod, without all the baggage of a much more impressive character than what the movie gave, and sidestep all the issues of wasted potential entirely.

Here's an idea I thought of. How would you feel if say in Phase 3, after Doctor Strange, they make Iron Man 4 and the villain is comic Mandarin in all but name? All the character background of comic Mandarin but he goes by his real name if he has one or an alias such as Zhang Tong as you bring up.

Would you like this, or would you feel like it was just backpeddling and dislike it?

Robby

@The:

Here's an idea I thought of. How would you feel if say in Phase 3, after Doctor Strange, they make Iron Man 4 and the villain is comic Mandarin in all but name? All the character background of comic Mandarin but he goes by his real name if he has one or an alias such as Zhang Tong as you bring up.

Would you like this, or would you feel like it was just backpeddling and dislike it?

Well that'd be weird. They already opted to not use that character in anything but name, so it just makes more sense to move onto other characters that can do similar things. (Of course, they totally botched Doctor Doom too.)

I have no huge love for Mandarin or anything, I just got excited when they announced they were using him, because with that announcement, come a couple expectations. It was more expecting a couple things about the character that were exciting (Tony taking on an actual leader ruler of a huge organization with a different kind of tech than his own… possibly an air fortress) rather than a huge desire to actually see Mandarin on screen.

Basically, I didn't care about Mandarin until they said they were using him, and now that he's passed, I won't care again in the future. But while he was there, there was something bigger they could have really tapped into.

I'm more interested in seeing them take on other characters than taking a second shot at the same one. They've got 50 years of history and characters to draw from, should use the library as much as possible.

Bill

Iron Man doesn't even have a good rogues gallery Robby, I don't think there is any other villain you could put on screen which I why making some new ones is the way to go.

The Namekian Clown

Yeah not saying they should, just an idea because it seemed like the biggest reason for complaint was less on the use of the name but that the actual character really isn't there and now they can't use the comic Mandarin as a result of using the name.

wolfwood

What is the commies of modern day? I mean who'd build high tech stuff to steal from or just sabotage the shit out of Stark industries

But ghost might be the kind of villain the movie people would like. He's super grounded for a dude who walks through walls

mpz777

I think the way the Mandarin is use in the comics in current times is actually quite good. For those of you not as familiar with how he's been represented more recently, I suggest you check out this free digital comic:

http://marvel.com/comics/issue/31245/invincible_iron_man_annual_2010_1

I think this digital comic shows a lot about what most fans like about the Mandarin and how he is also a villain of deception and controlling his image. If they had used this version of him in the movie, I think it would have worked out in a way that everyone could be happy.

Ubiq

@wolfwood:

I mean who'd build high tech stuff to steal from or just sabotage the shit out of Stark industries

Whatever is left of AIM for one thing; I know they're goofy, but I want my beekeepers with energy weapons, damnit. Plus it's possible that Hydra might be still be kicking around in universe since Arnim Zola survived the first Captain America movie.

There's also Roxxon, which has had references in every Iron Man film but hasn't appeared yet; the guy who runs in it the comics is connected to the Red Skull so it might pop up in the next Cap film.

Kind of a short list beyond that though where Marvel organizations are concerned. I doubt that the Mandarin business would have bothered as many people if not for the fact that Iron Man just doesn't have a long list of memorable villains; the Mandarin was a big fish in a really small pond.

Plus their previous choices really limit where they can go from here. They combined the original Crimson Dynamo with Whiplash for the second film so that character's likely out; Titanium Man would just seem like a retread of Iron Monger from the first film so that's probably out as well. Of course, there's the Unicorn, but, well, he's the Unicorn.

Waffles

Where was my AC/DC or Black Sabbath song? Iron Man NEEDS it!!!! -My nitpick

Cyan D. Funk

Iron Man 4: Starring Christopher Lee as Stiltman.

Ubiq

@Cyan:

Iron Man 4: Starring Christopher Lee as Stiltman.

Man, talk about terrible villain rosters. Poor Daredevil; his most iconic foe is a second-tier Spider-Man villain.

Though, if they were going to steal a Daredevil villain (which they can do since the rights lapsed back to Marvel) for Iron Man, The Owl would actually work rather well.

Nobodyman

@Cyan:

Iron Man 4: Starring Christopher Lee as Stiltman.

Actually, I'd like to see that. But only if there's a scene where, during their first encounter, Iron Man mocks and completely dismisses him, after which Stiltman beats the tar out of and disables Tony in about 10 seconds.

valiantt

Yeaaaah, now that I think about it, Iron Man is starting to run out of villians that might end up as a retread of a previous villain (or simply too goofy or antiquated to be in a film).

Rogues' Gallery

@Ubiq:

Kind of a short list beyond that though where Marvel organizations are concerned. I doubt that the Mandarin business would have bothered as many people if not for the fact that Iron Man just doesn't have a long list of memorable villains; the Mandarin was a big fish in a really small pond.

Plus their previous choices really limit where they can go from here. They combined the original Crimson Dynamo with Whiplash for the second film so that character's likely out; Titanium Man would just seem like a retread of Iron Monger from the first film so that's probably out as well. Of course, there's the Unicorn, but, well, he's the Unicorn.

Looking at Iron Man's villains page on Wikipedia, me thinks that the best (i.e. most natural/logical film-wise) set-up for villains in a fourth Iron Man film would be a team up/collaboration of Sunset Bain and Mallen.

Sunset Bain is a fictional villainess in the Marvel Comics universe. She is a shady business-woman who occasionally masquerades as Madame Menace. Although very technologically adept, she personally does not have any super-powers. Publicly she is the CEO of Baintronics. Privately she maintains her wealth through black market weaponry deals and other shady practices. She primarily is an adversary of Iron Man.

Sunset Bain is an underworld armorer who supplies sophisticated weaponry to an elite clientele of master criminals, terrorists, and revolutionaries.

Mallen's parents were killed in a shootout with the FBI over weapons violations in Texas. Since that, he grew up bitter, grew a sense of hatred for government and believed in white superiority aligning himself with a small cell of domestic terrorists. In Bastrop, they were given the experimental-Extremis drug by an then-unknown supplier. Mallen took it, and had a massive spasm, and was locked down by the other two. 2 days later, emerging from an external scab-like cocoon, he emerged as a superhuman threat.

In a fight with Iron Man, he badly injured Stark in his Iron Man's armor (shattering his right knee, cracking his chest plate, and crushing his right hand) and then set out to kill the U.S. leaders in Washington, D.C. before being defeated by Stark, he himself having taken Extremis, in their second fight,

It's a good way to follow up on the Extremis plot the latest film has left behind. In IM3, we have

! seen what happens when a soldier's body violently rejects Extremis, and they spontaneously explode. Killian infected Pepper with the Extremis virus to try and force Stark's cooperation into helping him (by give her life-threatening super-powers, I think); so in the fourth IM movie, we could see what happens when a soldier's body fully accepts and uses the Extremis powers, because I'm sure bits and pieces of the virus are still out there on the market even though Killian's gone. Plus, Sunset Bain would make a GREAT terrorist leader and ruthless/shrewd corporate rival to Stark Industries who could actually get shit done and be a legitimately serious business threat (and not just be a complete fool like Justin Hammer.)

Ubiq

!

Panda Bear

@Rogues':

Snip

If I may be allowed to make a near-worthless post, you have an amusingly appropriate user name for this particular conversation.

Cyan D. Funk

@Ubiq:

! http://i.imgur.com/USOLBEH.jpg

The Greatest Criminal Mastermind, eat dick JOKER

Robby

Iron Man's big problem is most of his big villains are… guys in armor. Or from a different era in history where representing a certain evil country (that we're now friends with) was okay.

Alongside Fantastic Four being the one superhero team I'd like to write, Stiltman is the villain I'd want a crack at.

Dead serious, I figured out how to make him awesome.

It bothers me when comics look at old characters from an earlier time, and just mock the characters... rather than try to take them and make them interesting or fresh. Alan Moore took the FLORONIC MAN and made him one of the scariest villains in the DC universe and turned Swamp Thing into an enduring character with a rich tapestry of history and a much better origin...

Other writers just see the C-listers as guys to be fodder or killed off or mocked. That's... not how you grow things or make them fresh or better. When you're working on a legacy title, you should alway try to leave it better than it was. Invent new things, refresh old ones. If you're that writer that killed off half the rogues' gallery, sure you'll be remembered... but you also broke all the toys.

I mean, when Brad Meltzer came on for Identity Crisis, he didn't go "Oh, The Calculator is sucha lame villain with that giant calculator on his chest", he went "Oh, that was a villain that tried a stupid thing on his first tiem out and got beaten... what if he switched his angle from there and became a mega planner that coordinated villains?" He also revitalized a few others like Elongated Man, Captain Boomerang and Dr. Light, but later writers dropped the ball on those. And that was like 10 years ago and no one learned that lesson!

Or the fact that people STILL come in and treat Aquaman like a joke, because he was a lame character on the Superfriends 40 years ago. When you're writing Aquaman, you don't have a character actually state "Wow, he's silly looking" you just go "He's the damn King of Atlantis. He's King Arthur with a harpoon hand and psionic powers and total noblility ruler of the world!" Treat him with respect and like he's awesome and do cool things with him. Readers seeing him for the first time won't know that he's a joke, they'll just see the cool part. (Also, that goldfish scale armor, probably looks totally different underwater... something can be done with that visually.)

valiantt

That's a great attitude you got there robby and I fully agree that a whole bunch of villains/heroes can be redesigned to have more in-depth backstories, development, and design…but some super characters are a bit too ridiculous beyond repair:

Kaiolino

Mark Waid already made Stilt-Man great a couple months ago.

Supernova

I just want to know.

Any easter eggs, hints or forshadowing to Avengers 2?

Ubiq

@RobbyBevard:

Or the fact that people STILL come in and treat Aquaman like a joke, because he was a lame character on the Superfriends 40 years ago. When you're writing Aquaman, you don't have a character actually state "Wow, he's silly looking" you just go "He's the damn King of Atlantis. He's King Arthur with a harpoon hand and psionic powers and total noblility ruler of the world!" Treat him with respect and like he's awesome and do cool things with him. Readers seeing him for the first time won't know that he's a joke, they'll just see the cool part. (Also, that goldfish scale armor, probably looks totally different underwater… something can be done with that visually.)

There's only one right way to portray Aquaman.

!
! Outrageously!

Far as Marvel villains go, one I think would work well in the movies universe is the Mad Thinker since it wouldn't take a whole lot to make him fit in.

He hacks into the systems of various groups and uses computer algorithims to predict the various actions of his opponents with that data. He then sells that data to various other groups and either sells his predictions at a premium or uses them for his own ends.

Roxxon and Stark Enterprises in a slapfight over energy sources? The Thinker steals ARC Reactor information from Stark, sells it to Roxxon, and then plays the stock market.

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@Supernova:

I just want to know.

Any easter eggs, hints or forshadowing to Avengers 2?

Bruce and Tony are still hanging out at any rate so there's that. There were plenty of references to the last film, but I didn't notice much foreshadowing for the next.

Kaiolino

Hey! Convenient list!

http://www.newsarama.com/17731-the-10-worst-iron-man-villains-of-all-time.html

Bill

Y'know what's interesting about Iron Man, to me at least is that even though the character is arguably the biggest superhero in terms of box office (next to Batman of course) it's still massively unpopular in the comics sales. Unlike Batman where his comics are the top sellers on the market. In contrast, Iron Man barely sells. I find that deliciously ironic and ultimately attribute Iron Man's current popularity is due to Downey Jr. and the film's exposure.

But what I find perplexing is that Batman 89' increased the Batman comic sales right when the comics were in danger of being canned, while the Iron Man films have done really not much to increase the sales.

Kaiolino

Marvel's solo titles have never sold well. And the market was quite different in 1989 than it is now.

Hinscher

@RobbyBevard:

Or the fact that people STILL come in and treat Aquaman like a joke, because he was a lame character on the Superfriends 40 years ago. When you're writing Aquaman, you don't have a character actually state "Wow, he's silly looking" you just go "He's the damn King of Atlantis. He's King Arthur with a harpoon hand and psionic powers and total noblility ruler of the world!" Treat him with respect and like he's awesome and do cool things with him. Readers seeing him for the first time won't know that he's a joke, they'll just see the cool part. (Also, that goldfish scale armor, probably looks totally different underwater… something can be done with that visually.)

You apparantly haven't read the new 52's Aquaman.

Most of the world makes fun of him to his face and even cops are like "go back in the ocean, we got this" ect. Yet Aquaman is a total stud in the comics. He looks cool, acts cool and does a lot of stuff that surprises and changes peoples minds of him.

He is back to being an awesome superhero from the current comics. soon everyone is like wow he is badass, tough and the whole atlantis army is something that could wipe out our planet easy.

Cyan D. Funk

@RobbyBevard:

Dead serious, I figured out how to make him awesome.

Please tell me it involves elongated, Luffy-style roundhouse kicks.

Robby

@valiantt:

That's a great attitude you got there robby and I fully agree that a whole bunch of villains/heroes can be redesigned to have more in-depth backstories, development, and design…but some super characters are a bit too ridiculous beyond repair:

[qimg]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/Bouncingboy.png[/qimg]

Luffy.

@Hinscher:

You apparantly haven't read the new 52's Aquaman.

Most of the world makes fun of him to his face and even cops are like "go back in the ocean, we got this" ect. Yet Aquaman is a total stud in the comics. He looks cool, acts cool and does a lot of stuff that surprises and changes peoples minds of him.

I have actually. And its exactly that the world is making fun of him still that annoys me. That the approach they decided to go with for the reboot was "lets have everyone think he's stupid!" Sure he can do some cool stuff, but its still being prefaced by "You're a dork with stupid powers!" before he gets around to doing anything.

That works great when its a character like Booster Gold where his entire shtick is being unrecognized… but for Aquaman its basically just carrying on a really old joke that should be shaken off by now. Heck, in Young Justice they made Aqualad amazingly badass in a super short amount of time simply not carrying in the usual prejudices for the underwater characters.

@Cyan:

Please tell me it involves elongated, Luffy-style roundhouse kicks.

Something like that. Sheer physics and momentum, some retraction abilities to be like piston pumps, stuff like that. Mostly its making it less bulky easily tripped stilts, and more really long legs.

I mean, Doc Ock is played perfectly straight as a serious villain and he's got nearly the same thing going on.

@Kaiolino:

Mark Waid already made Stilt-Man great a couple months ago.

What'd he do?

Cyan D. Funk

Aquaman's powers honestly do sound like they suck on paper, but then you realize that he's more or less God of 70% of the planet.

valiantt

@RobbyBevard:

Luffy.

But imagine Luffy with STRICTLY inflating powers. All he could do…is bounce...and bounce...and bounce. How well would that transfer onto the silver screen?