Tag Archives: Iron Man 3

Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy: Marvel movie universe-building

Leave a reply

Somebody asked me the other day if I planned to go see “The Amazing Spider-Man” next and I said, “Yeah, probably.” Right up until the time I saw Sam Raimi’s lackluster “Spider-Man 3” in 2007, my answer would have been much more emphatically positive about the cinematic adventures of the wall-crawling webslinger. The final Raimi film kind of burned me out on the character.

And the idea of rebooting “Spider-Man” yet again, with another origin story, no matter how overstuffed with a “mystery” about Peter Parker’s parents it might feature, makes me suddenly very, very tired.

So I have to say that while I’m sure I’ll see “The Amazing Spider-Man,” I’m not excited about it.

That’s also because I’ve been spoiled, frankly, by Marvel’s universe-building big-screen efforts.

The movie versions of “Fantastic Four” and “X-Men” are owned by Fox and “Spider-Man” is owned by Sony. That means that despite brief teases to the possibility of a cross-over like we heard earlier this year, those movie universes won’t mix with Marvel Films-owned and operated properties like “Iron Man,” “Thor,” “Captain America” and “The Avengers.”

So while I’m looking forward to “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Dark Knight Rises,” I’m more excited to see where Marvel goes next with its universe-building efforts.

Rumors circulated in the past couple of days that the long-rumored “Ant-Man” character might end up in “Iron Man 3,” which comes out next May. I’m not sure how some people are authoritatively saying this when so much time remains for last-minute changes, but … well, it would be quite cool to see one of the original Avengers – not to mention his partner, Wasp – finally make the big screen.

Today online sites were lit up with suggestions, primarily drawn from Latino Review, that Marvel is going to release a “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie in 2014. Despite the fact that the characters are little-known outside of comics fandom – they’re even more obscure than “Iron Man” was before 2008 – the diverse group of cosmic adventurers would make for a huge expansion for the Marvel universe.

And as many online sources noted, the “Guardians” also makes sense because one of their regular antagonists is cosmic bad guy Thanos, who appeared in the mid-credits teaser at the end of “The Avengers.”

While my lifelong appreciation of “The Avengers” doesn’t necessarily carry over to “Guardians of the Galaxy” – I’m just not as familiar with them – I would be happy to see Marvel’s movies continue to expand the Marvel cinematic universe.

And I’ll dream of the day when Spidey will bump into Captain America and Iron Man during battle in the streets of New York.

First ‘Iron Man 3’ photo plus ‘The Black Panther’ movie

Leave a reply

In the wake of “The Avengers” — and until “Iron Man 3” comes out in May 2013 — all of us comic book movie fans are going to be bouncing off the walls with every little bit of news that comes out.

So how about the bits that have come out in the past 24 hours?

Above is the first official photo from “Iron Man 3,” released by Disney and Marvel a few days after those leaked set photos of the Iron Patriot a few days ago.

Looks like RDJ as Tony Stark, surveying his ever-growing line-up of suits.

I have to say, though, I’m more excited about today’s news that it’s likely that one of the so-far-unnamed Marvel movies coming out in the next couple of years could be … “The Black Panther!”

As more than a few websites have pointed out, the Black Panther — secret identity of T’Challa, king of the fictional African nation of Wakanda — fits very easily into the Marvel movie universe that has built, over the past four years, into “The Avengers.”

There have been little Easter eggs, or at least references, to the Panther (co-created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for a 1966 issue of “The Fantastic Four”) in previous Marvel films. A SHIELD map of the world in “Iron Man 2” had an indicator over the approximate location in Africa of Wakanda. And the shield (of another kind) slung by “Captain America” was made of vibranium, the ultra-rare metal found only in Wakanda. The sale of vibranium is the source of Wakanda’s riches and its high-tech society.

And T’Challa has been an Avenger — including a stint during the classic Kree-Skrull War series — and would fit right into an “Avengers” sequel.

The Panther — named before the founding of the 1960s political party, he was the first black comics superhero — has had a long history in the comics and is currently appearing as a member of the group in the Disney XD “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” animated series.

Here’s hoping the rumors are true and a “Black Panther” movie gets announced, maybe even at this summer’s San Diego Comic-Con.

By the way … there are some other really cool characters out there that would also fit right into an “Avengers” sequel or their own Marvel movies.

Sweet Christmas! That’s right! I’m talking about Luke Cage, none other than Power Man (AKA the Hero for Hire).

Here’s hoping.

Iron Patriot another villain for ‘Iron Man 3?’

2 Replies

Here’s another one of those “how many months until this movie comes out?” posts.

The Internet was all abuzz in the past couple of days with news and speculation about “Iron Man 3,” the first post-“Avengers” Marvel movie, coming out in May 2013.

First there were reports that Ben Kingsley was indeed playing Iron Man’s best-known villain, the Mandarin, who was referenced in the earlier “Iron Man” movies.

Then today spy photos from the set made their way online and seem to show a familiar, Iron Man-style figure … wearing a very familiar red-white-and-blue color scheme.

First thought, of course, was that Tony Stark had built a suit of armor for his newfound pal Captain America.

But since the actor in the suit was revealed to be James Badge Dale, who had already been announced as a bad guy for “Iron Man 3,” speculation soon centered on the comic book character Iron Patriot.

There’s a big catch, however: In the comics, Iron Patriot was the name assumed by Norman Osborn after he absconded with some of Tony Stark’s tech. And Norman Osborn, of course, is the Green Goblin from the Spider-Man comics.

Beginning in 2009, Osborn wore the Iron Patriot suit occasionally in the comics, especially when he formed his own “Dark Avengers” boy band to battle the real Avengers.

Since Osborn is part of the “Spider-Man” movie universe and not available for use in Marvel-produced movies, we can assume that Norman Osborn is not making an appearance. That must mean that Marvel is using some Spider-Man-adjacent characters and elements — the suit, but not the guy inside it — just as they stretched the boundaries of the strict movie universe division of Marvel properties by making the alien army in “The Avengers” the Chitauri rather than the Skrulls. The Skrulls are part of the “Fantastic Four” movie universe and not open to use by Marvel in its “Avengers” universe. But the Chitauri, the modern-day version of the Skrulls, were okay for use in Joss Whedon’s movie.

Director Shane Black was expected to do some very interesting things with “Iron Man 3” even before we heard this news. That he’s continuing the expansion of the Marvel movie universe makes me look forward to the movie even more.

Just one proviso: With Mandarin and Iron Patriot and who knows who else, please, Marvel, don’t make the same mistake as the 1990s “Batman” movies and give us a ridiculous super-villain team-up with too many bad guys. Please.