 After 'The Avengers' was released, we learned that 'Iron Man 3,' 'Thor: The Dark World,' and 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' were in the works, providing some aftermath for these characters. Following the events of 'The Avengers,' our heroes have gone their separate ways until the next time some sort of planetary threat pops up. I still recall having this inner feeling of excitement, knowing that after 'The Avengers,' a whole cinematic Marvel superhero world had been established.
It was a feeling reminiscent of being a kid, looking forward to the further adventures of superhero cartoons like 'Spider-Man' or 'X-Men,' where bringing in outside Marvel heroes and villains was easier. We were finally at a point where crossover in film wasn't such a problem, and everything was looking great - except the first couple of films out of the gate just so happen to be two of the MCU's weakest, in my humble opinion, and it's not just because they follow in the shadow of 'The Avengers.' We start here, with 'Iron Man 3' - the MCU's Christmas Movie, if it ever really had one (not counting the 'Guardians' Christmas Special). Following the events of 'The Avengers', Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), as one of the most grounded characters in the MCU (as in no real powers), he now has to deal with the idea that aliens exist, along with Norse Gods, and there are much bigger things out there than his battles around the globe since becoming Iron Man. His dread about the unknown causes him anxiety attacks, and he creates a whole whack of Iron Man suits in his spare time, hardly giving his now full-on romantic interest, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), the time of day. Meanwhile, a terrorist who calls himself "The Mandarin" (Ben Kingsley) commences a series of bombings around America. When Stark's trusted confidant Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) nearly gets killed by one, Stark, not thinking clearly, calls out the Mandarin to go toe-to-toe and gives him his home address; a move that always sort of irked me, because despite his cockiness, Stark ought to be smarter than that. Anyway, the Mandarin launches his attack on Stark's Malibu abode, and Stark soon finds himself wandering alone, trying to get to the bottom of who the Mandarin is and what he wants. As I mentioned earlier, 'Iron Man 3' is one of the MCU's weaker entries, but it has some things to credit. For starters, it doesn't shake Stark's sense of humour we've all grown to love, despite this entry being a little heavier than the previous two. I also enjoy the introduction of James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) as the new "Iron Patriot," replacing "War Machine," as the rebranding offers something a little more hopeful and less intimidating - after all, these guys are meant to be heroes. In some ways, the film is relatively entertaining, but other aspects bring its quality down for me. This is a classic example of a movie whose trailer is misleading. By all accounts, it looked like a darker, more emotional film in which we would see Iron Man fight his nemesis, The Mandarin. Instead, we hardly see Stark wear the Iron Man armour, he's made to hang out with a kid named Harley (Ty Simpkins) we all ended up forgetting existed by 'Avengers: Endgame,' and it comes with a rather disappointing "big reveal" which I still remember getting frustrated about when I first saw this, hoping for one thing, but getting something I felt was much weaker. I will admit that, at this point, the MCU has certainly released weaker titles, and it's a bit easier to watch nowadays since the release of 'Shang-Chi,' which addresses a few things left over from this film. However, when you put it alongside the first two 'Iron Man' films, it feels easy to consider this one the weakest entry. It's not without its nostalgic charm at this point, but it still could have been a whole lot better. Add having next to nothing to do with the brewing "Infinity Saga," and it's ultimately one of the more forgettable titles within the expanse of the MCU. 2/5 POST-CREDIT SCENE: It's revealed that Tony Stark has been chatting with Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) the whole time, which suggests the movie is narrated. It's just a little bit of added humour that suggests Stark and Banner will work together again soon.
0 Comments
 After 'Iron Man' and 'The Incredible Hulk' were ultimately successful, it was time to drive the point home that the Avengers movie was most definitely happening. Before we knew it, we had a few upcoming titles to look forward to, including 'Thor' and 'Captain America: The First Avenger' to be released in 2011. However, 'Iron Man 2' would provide a decent "bookmark" for it all, and become the first grand-scale advertisement for 'The Avengers' in the form of the film's B-story.
The central plot, however, takes place about six months after Stark has announced to the world that he is, in fact, Iron Man. Wallowing in his own newfound glory and pride, he successfully uses the Iron Man suit to continue fighting for peace and refuses to sell his designs to the American government. However, in secret, the palladium core powering the Iron Man suit is slowly poisoning his heart, and much of the film focuses on him trying to find a suitable substitute, using his genius and a little help from Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Meanwhile, in Russia, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) creates an arc reactor very similar to Stark's. Discovering this information, rival weapons manufacturer, Hammer Tech, led by Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), hires Vanko to create weaponry for him. However, Vanko has his own plans for revenge against Stark and means to bring down Iron Man, driven by Vanko's father, who once worked with Howard Stark (Tony's father) on the original arc reactor and was deported after being caught trying to sell nuclear secrets to Pakistan. Vanko blames his father's disgrace solely on the Stark family now and is out for vengeance. Soon, Stark finds himself up against Vanko (who becomes "Whiplash") as well as, in a sense, himself. A big chunk of this movie involves a look into Tony Stark's character, as Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and newcomer, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), known first as a new assistant to Stark named Natalie Rushman, look for the right reasons to recruit him to the "Avengers Initiative." Throughout the film, Stark shows off his more selfish side and proves he has a lot to learn about his personal life. 'Iron Man 2' makes for a decent stepping stone for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it doesn't come across as a hell of a lot more these days. One should also know that this isn't so much an Iron Man movie as a Tony Stark movie. That said, the climactic sequence over the last half hour or so of the film is a lot of fun to watch as an action-packed scene, primarily thanks to the introduction of War Machine; another Iron Suit piloted by Stark's friend, Lt. Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes (now played by Don Cheadle), giving the film a little extra umph. Speaking for myself, 'Iron Man 2' finds itself in the mid-lower area of my list when it comes to the MCU. While perhaps necessary for its time, it's a straightforward setup for 'The Avengers,' and I've always found it to be one giant commercial for things to come. Truth be told, on its own, the movie is just okay. Still, it was ultimately successful in getting me excited for what was coming next, chatting with my fellow geeks about the possibilities of what 'The Avengers' would be like, how it would change cinema, and what we might expect to see in the future of the MCU. Despite how I feel about 'Iron Man 2' as a whole, I can't deny that I sometimes wonder what might have happened if it wasn't released to not only get people excited for the MCU's future endeavours, but bridge the gap in time, so we wouldn't let go of that first tinge of excitement we got from the post/pre-credit sequences seen in the first 'Iron Man' and 'The Incredible Hulk', respectively. It also solidifies Stark as the MCU's leading player. It may not be among my favourites, but I can't really deny that, in some ways, it may have been necessary for the MCU to succeed fully. 3/5 POST-CREDIT SCENE: Agent Coulson gets called to a job in New Mexico in the middle of the film. This scene shows us what he was called in for. A crater has been discovered in the middle of the desert with Thor's hammer in the middle of it.  It's hard to imagine, but back around April 2008, a lot of us had mixed feelings about the next superhero title, and the term "superhero fatigue" wasn't quite there, but hovering over us as studio interference made titles like 'X-Men: The Last Stand' and 'Spider-Man 3' relatively weak. When we saw photos and trailers for the upcoming 'Iron Man' movie, though, opinions were a bit split. Was this going to be another weak superhero title, or were they gonna do something "right" this time?
Either way, word of mouth got our butts back in those seats for another superhero romp, and when it was all said and done, complete with a loose tease to the possibility of an 'Avengers' movie, we were just a little mind-blown that the filmmakers took such good care with the project. Of course, we now know how successful this 'Avengers' stuff all became, and now here I am doing an all-out marathon of a total of 37 movies from the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" in preparation for what will be the franchise's 40th film, 'Avengers: Secret Wars.' The world of the MCU begins, however, with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), a wealthy weapons manufacturer living with his loyal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). After a test run of something called the Jericho Missile in Afghanistan, Stark's convoy is attacked by weapons of his own making, and he is taken prisoner by a terrorist organization known as the Ten Rings. A fellow captive and doctor named Yinsen (Shaun Toub) fits Stark with an electromagnet that keeps shrapnel from the attack away from his heart, keeping him alive. This eventually becomes the small arc reactor we all know and love. Spoiler alert, but Stark escapes by creating a mechanical suit under the guise of building the Jericho for his captors. Once Tony gets back, he takes a publicity hit by telling the world that the manufacture of weapons will ultimately be on hold until he figures out what he wants to do, likely by looking into clean, safe arc reactor technology. In the meantime, however, his experiences led him to create the Iron Man suit, initially using it as a weapon against terrorists. However, his father's old partner, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), has other ideas about this new technology. As far as older MCU movies go, this movie holds up perfectly fine. With it being somewhat grounded in more of a real-world scenario, long before the MCU would visit places like Asgard or Knowhere, it managed to kick things off for the MCU almost perfectly by bringing in a broad audience who could appreciate this guy about as much as Batman, who would parallel this film with 'The Dark Knight,' opening up the real tug-of-war between Marvel and DC. Both films are responsible for bringing superhero movies right back to the top. However, 'Iron Man' had something 'The Dark Knight' didn't, and that's the all-around tease for 'The Avengers'. Stark and Potts are followed around by Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) throughout the film, who wants a moment of their time. Once he gets his chance, Coulson clearly states he's from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, better known as SHIELD. On top of that, although a bunch of us missed it at the time, the first MCU post-credit scene came along, involving Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) telling Stark about the potential formation of a team of incredible people. This is still a lot of fun to watch today, and it has aged well because it blends its elements well. It's often humorous but just as frequently dramatic, and once again, its grounding in something more realistic helps make Stark only human and thus easier to root for. We all love a good revenge story, too, and when he first fully uses the suit to attack terrorists, it's probably the most badass scene in the whole movie, even in comparison to the climax. It's nice to see that it's withstood the test of time, even after a couple of decades, which indeed can't be said of some further MCU titles. 5/5 POST-CREDIT SCENE: There is a break-in at the Stark mansion. Tony, checking things out, comes across Director Nick Fury, who lets him in on a secret project SHIELD has been working on called the "Avengers Initiative". This scene provided the spark that set it all in motion. |
RSS Feed