Marvel Cinematic Universe

[Tanma]

I believe it's 6, which includes The Avengers so he'll probably have a role in Avengers 2 and then a solo movie after that. A Rulk confrontation would be great.

Personally I would like to see a follow-up on the Leader from the 2008 movie. It could be easy just to have the Hulk in a battle of raw strength, why not give Banner's intellect more time to shine? Better yet maybe the Leader creates the Rulk, aside from Banner he is the expert. And since from what I hear of that comic mini series the Leader was taken into SHIELD custody, it might not be too hard for the military to get him into their pocket.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Tanma

[Leo604]

Picture of the Winter Soldier in costume:

I haven't read much of the comics surrounding the character but at least it looks good

[Ceroknight]

Doctor Who's Amelia Pond, Karen Gillian is supposed to be in the Guardians of the Galaxy!

Loved her in DW, I hope she'll be just as amazing in GotG!

[Faefrost]

Doctor Who's Amelia Pond, Karen Gillian is supposed to be in the Guardians of the Galaxy!

Loved her in DW, I hope she'll be just as amazing in GotG!

Interesting. I can't imagine who she might be playing? Maybe a Kree or Nova officer? She doesn't seem a good fit for any of the other major females connected to GotG? Mantis should be Asian or at least exotic. She doesn't seem right for either Moondragon or Phyla Vel. I can't see them going into the Whole Universal Church story arc. Just not something that would play well in Peoria. The only other females I can think of are Nikki from the original 70's Guardians, who was a late edition who only appeared in a few pages or maybe one of the Luminals? Or if it is a Thanos story, maybe a human aspect of Death?

Edited June 1, 2013 by Faefrost

[Im a brickmaster.]

Yes! Winter Soldier is looking good! He has always been a favorite of mine, and I look foreword to seeing

how they handle the story. And of course the sets that come with it!

[Leo604]

Yes! Winter Soldier is looking good! He has always been a favorite of mine, and I look foreword to seeing

how they handle the story. And of course the sets that come with it!

IM3 spoilers:

Hopefully they don't make a set with Cap and WS like the Mandarin Showdown one in which there was literally no relation to the movie; the most accurate one in that wave was the Malibu Mansion Attack, and even that got goofed a little.

But yeah, I'm looking forward to the next wave; the movie's out in April next year but hopefully TLG puts it in the January wave along with whatever Thor 2 sets they concoct up.

[just2good]

Am I the only one looking forward to watching Disney and Fox legally duke-it-out for Quicksilver's rights?

Now THAT will be a good movie.

[Faefrost]

Am I the only one looking forward to watching Disney and Fox legally duke-it-out for Quicksilver's rights?

Now THAT will be a good movie.

I'm not sure that anyone would be going all out to duke it out over quicksilver? Scarlett Witch they may go all out for. She s a popular, visually distinct and well known character. Whereas Pietro can easily be swapped out with other characters in either setting. The only times he becomes important are if you are going for the creepy Jeph Loeb twins vibe (yucky!) or trying to out @zzwhole Magneto with the whole annoying son becomes like the father thing. Quicksilver is barely a footnote in Avengers and even less so in X Men. Heck Fox could just change the character to Northstar post production and nobody would ever know or notice. And bonus! They still get to keep the creepy twin vibe.

[RaincloudDustbin]

[Flipz]

(Hopefully this isn't too dead of a topic, seeing as it's a general subject and it's only been a couple of weeks since the last post.)

So I just got back from seeing Iron Man 3 (yes, yes, I know--life got in the way). I have one response:

What the hell, Pepper?!

Seriously, why is Tony still with her?!? What has she even done for him that warrants the kind of sacrifices he makes for her?!

OK. She was barely present/easily ignorable in Iron Man 1, and that was a good thing. She was...actually not bad in Iron Man 2--at least the awkwardness and stiff tone can be interpreted as trying to adapt to CEO-hood and failing. In Avengers she was again a cameo--again, a good thing. Now, what exactly does she do in this movie? She starts off flirting with a rival of Tony's--great start, Pepper. She comes home and complains about Tony's Christmas present--it's frickin' Tony, lady, if you don't like his weirdness, don't be with him. (Heck, she's already got the CEO job, what DOES she even need him for?) She gets mad at Tony for playing with his latest Iron Man suit--good god, woman, the tinkering is basically who he is as a person--if you don't like who he is as a person, BREAK UP WITH HIM. Next, she's mad over Tony eating without her--point in her favor. I would have liked some actual emotion behind the line, but eh...it's Paltrow, let's face it, emotion is not her strong suit. Anyway, point in her favor--but that's minor, almost childish. But eh, bickering seems to be the only way these two characters can show affection for each other, so I guess it's all right.

Next: Tony has a nightmare and the suit attacks Pepper. Understandable freakout. Solution: GET YOUR BOYFRIEND SOME MEDICAL HELP, DON'T STORM OUT OF THE ROOM AND DEVELOP A GRUDGE AGAINST THE SUIT. Geez. Tony has a clear case of PTSD, DUH that's going to cause problems, and the solution is to WORK WITH A PROFESSIONAL. Heck, if it's not safe for him to sleep/he can't get to sleep, I'd say that's the perfect opportunity to start looking up therapists. Show us you actually CARE about your boyfriend, Pepper--he's done an incredible amount of growing after the past three films, not to mention what he's done for the world, and you've done...what for him, exactly? Sex doesn't count, BTW, it's well-established in previous films that you get just as much (or more) as you give when Tony's involved.

She's upset over his media stunt. OK, but respect his stand, would ya? Get away if you can--great. Good idea, actually--he's got an Iron Man suit, you don't. He'll be fine, long as he doesn't have to worry about you in the midst of it. Maya arrives, and Pepper's...upset over his past one-night-stand showing up? Seriously? Is this the same Pepper Potts who was introduced by showing one of said one-night-stands the door in the first film? You should be used to this by now--and besides, has he shown any inclination of cheating on you since IM2? At all? Have a little faith in the guy, will ya?

*Big chunk of movie.*

She gets kidnapped/attacked/threatened as usual. Your boyfriend's a superhero, deal with it or break up with him--developing a grudge over the suits and convincing him to blow 'em all up won't get rid of the bad guys. Again, you should be used to this by now--it's only the third frickin' time. And has Tony ever failed to give his all to save you? No. Have. A Little. Faith. In Your Boyfriend. And if you're upset over him letting you think he was dead? 1.) He called you as soon as humanly possible, and 2.) Um. Hello. Do you really have room to talk?

The moment when he was about to blow up the suits would have been a great point to show some of her character development by forgiving him and not making him give up a huge part of who he is, but nooo we can't have that. This whole time, you've been trying to make Tony into someone normal, who's not a superhero. Did you, or did you not, fall in love with him after he became Iron Man, along with all the changes and character development that resulted from that?

You know what? There needs to be a Pepper Potts movie, preferably before Iron Man 4. This woman is in SERIOUS need of some character development, her selfishness hasn't improved one bit since the first movie, only now that Tony's matured it completely robs her of her sympathy angle. Seriously. Word of advice, Pepper: successful relationships are built on compromise. It goes both ways, and you're LONG overdue for some compromise at your end. Just ask yourself this: is this or is this not the Tony Stark you fell in love with? If not--dump him. If he is, though, then STOP TRYING TO CHANGE HIM INTO SOMEBODY ELSE.

Ahem. Well. With that rant out of the way, I do have to say I really enjoyed the post-credits scene. I mean, I'm sad it's going to be a while before we see that character again, but still, loved him in Avengers, and it was fun to see him here even if it was completely irrelevant to future films.

[SteampunkDoc]

Now that is an amazingly accurate, albeit a bit harsh, way of looking at things.

You did kinda forget to say anything about...

Extremis.

But in the grand scheme of things, Pepper's injection only served as a brief point of suspense/drama, and was than forgotten until three totally separate points later on.

#1, Her "Death." #2, Killing Killian. #3, Taking it out of her in one-line of an off-screen monologue.

So really, while this first bit played a part in the story, it was a very unnecessary part of the movie that didn't accomplish anything.

Yes, we could pretend that Pepper died for a few minutes, but we all knew that she would live through that.

Looking back, that seemed like a whole side-plot just devoted to making us worry about a character who we don't care that much about.

You sir, deserve a medal for writing that out. Thank you for shedding some light on those points.

[Spider-Man]

RDJ signed a two movie contract with Marvel! We will be seeing Tony in the Avengers 2 and 3!

[The Brigante]

Still no word on Iron Man 4.....

But heck, that is BRILLIANT!!!! There is no Stark without RDJ in my opinion (and many other people's no doubt!)

[CMP]

Good. Although it kinda makes an Iron Man 4 pretty unlikely, if those are the two films he's contracted for.

[The Legonater]

Personally, I don't want a fourth Iron Man, unless it's a passing the torch sort of movie. Iron Man 3 ended the trilogy amazingly, I feel, despite grievances some people have.

[Spider-Man]

He has hinted at the fact that solo movies are too taxing on him so I'm not surprised there. I'm really happy we will get at least the two more. He is Tony Stark so it would have been a real shame to see the role attempted by someone else.

[Tanma]

Sorry, I fell into "A: EMH recap mode/fan fiction mode" so I haven't been posting. Speaking of which I have almost finished the sequel to "Spiders," anyone interested in me posting it? In advance I have to say this one is a little bit darker.

Great to hear RDJ will continue as Iron Man, though it makes sense that he might not have any more solo movies, his journey is complete. In other news if anyone didn't know Peggy is going to appear in Captain America 2. So that is nice.

Something that strikes me is that many of the MCU Avengers kill their villains. I mean it makes more sense than if say Superman killed, and the Ultimate Universe does set a precedent for it so I am not particularly complaining. Any thoughts on it?

[The Legonater]

Something that strikes me is that many of the MCU Avengers kill their villains. I mean it makes more sense than if say Superman killed, and the Ultimate Universe does set a precedent for it so I am not particularly complaining. Any thoughts on it?

I wouldn't say many of them do. Stark kills quite a few, but he is a former weapons manufacturer, and despite his development one might say he's become used to the concept. Abomination was I believe captured by Ross, Loki obviously lived, and the Red Skull sort of brought his death(?) upon himself.

Edited June 21, 2013 by The Legonater

[Tanma]

Fair enough, and Cap was a soldier so that makes sense too.

[Leo604]

So apparently Fox did some things with movie dates, including DOFP which has been moved from July to May next year: http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/06/21/fox-shuffles-x-men-apes-and-assassins-creed?utm_campaign=ign+main+twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

[Flipz]

Ugh, I just saw the complete lyrics for Michael Buble's "It's A Beautiful Day". Way to waste a perfect opportunity to throw in a Buble song, IM3!

To be fair, Tony Stark IS well known for having a large non-Iron Man presence in SHIELD in the comics--I saw an interview the other day that talked about how there was a series of SHIELD comics a few years back that heavily featured Tony without really bringing up the fact that he was Iron Man; the writers said something along the lines of "if you didn't already know, you could very possibly read through the entirety of our run without knowing that Tony Stark had any sort of presence beyond being an official in SHIELD". I'm wondering if that's what they'll try for with RDJ's future films--whether they'll bring up the suit at all, or if they'll just make cryptic references to it.

Also, fun fact, it feels really weird saying that

Tony Stark WAS Iron Man, instead of saying 'Tony Stark IS Iron Man'.

[The Legonater]

Tony Stark still is Iron Man. No offence, but it really irritates me when people say that removing the Arc Reactor makes him cease to be Iron Man. In the comics, he's had the Arc Reactor removed for ages, and continued to be Iron Man. In fact the entire movie exists to show that no matter what, Stark is still Iron Man, suit or no suit. It's one of the many complaints the people have about Iron Man 3 that I find ill-conceived.

Regarding RDJ's contract, I think it's fitting that he take a slightly-less action packed role in the MCU. Personally, I hope in the next few years Marvel buys back X-Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four, and then set things up for a Civil War arc. Naturally, that would place Tony Stark into the Director of SHIELD role, a position I think RDJ would be more comfortable with, given he's not getting any younger.

[Flipz]

Tony Stark still is Iron Man. No offence, but it really irritates me when people say that removing the Arc Reactor makes him cease to be Iron Man. In the comics, he's had the Arc Reactor removed for ages, and continued to be Iron Man. In fact the entire movie exists to show that no matter what, Stark is still Iron Man, suit or no suit. It's one of the many complaints the people have about Iron Man 3 that I find ill-conceived.

Regarding RDJ's contract, I think it's fitting that he take a slightly-less action packed role in the MCU. Personally, I hope in the next few years Marvel buys back X-Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four, and then set things up for a Civil War arc. Naturally, that would place Tony Stark into the Director of SHIELD role, a position I think RDJ would be more comfortable with, given he's not getting any younger.

It's not taking out the reactor that makes him no longer Iron Man, it's giving up a huge chunk of who he is (the suits and responsibilities of Iron Man) for the sake of a completely unlikeable girlfriend who does nothing but tear him down for simply being who he is. This was one last hurrah, but he has deliberately given it up by invoking Clean Slate and tossing the arc reactor into the sea (the character, not RDJ--I don't blame RDJ in the slightest for his decision to take a less active roll, I'm upset about how the character was written to accommodate that decision). He gave up Iron Man for Pepper, and no sappy line at the end of the film changes that decision. Sure, he can operate without a suit--good. But he gave up. That's not Iron Man. In fact, that's not a superhero move at all.

IMO, a much better way to justify Tony's giving up of Iron Man would have been for Pepper to ACTUALLY die, and him to give up Iron Man out of remorse. Still a stupid, destructive choice, but there's some reasoning to it, unlike his actually staying with her like an idiot.

TBH, what really irks me (and, I think, a lot of other people) is that the movie presents a negative moral: you can embrace who and what you are, and give your all to help others and accomplish great acts of good, but at the end of the day the 'right' thing to do is to give up and suppress your uniqueness so you can be 'normal' and have a boring 'normal' relationship like 'everyone else'.

One of the things that made Iron Man my favorite Marvel superhero was that he was wild and free about himself; he knew he was different from other people, and he embraced it. Tony Stark showed the world you could be a half-crazy lunatic geek and still be slick and awesome and beloved by all--a champion of individuality, if you will. His choice at the end of Iron Man 3 is a complete betrayal of the very ideal he stood for, and that's why I hated it.

Edited June 21, 2013 by Flipz

[RaincloudDustbin]

Tony Stark still is Iron Man. No offence, but it really irritates me when people say that removing the Arc Reactor makes him cease to be Iron Man. In the comics, he's had the Arc Reactor removed for ages, and continued to be Iron Man. In fact the entire movie exists to show that no matter what, Stark is still Iron Man, suit or no suit. It's one of the many complaints the people have about Iron Man 3 that I find ill-conceived.

Regarding RDJ's contract, I think it's fitting that he take a slightly-less action packed role in the MCU. Personally, I hope in the next few years Marvel buys back X-Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four, and then set things up for a Civil War arc. Naturally, that would place Tony Stark into the Director of SHIELD role, a position I think RDJ would be more comfortable with, given he's not getting any younger.

Disney bought the merchandise rights to SM last year so at least we may see some sets.

[The Legonater]

It's not taking out the reactor that makes him no longer Iron Man, it's giving up a huge chunk of who he is (the suits and responsibilities of Iron Man) for the sake of a completely unlikeable girlfriend who does nothing but tear him down for simply being who he is. This was one last hurrah, but he has deliberately given it up by invoking Clean Slate and tossing the arc reactor into the sea (the character, not RDJ--I don't blame RDJ in the slightest for his decision to take a less active roll, I'm upset about how the character was written to accommodate that decision). He gave up Iron Man for Pepper, and no sappy line at the end of the film changes that decision. Sure, he can operate without a suit--good. But he gave up. That's not Iron Man. In fact, that's not a superhero move at all.

IMO, a much better way to justify Tony's giving up of Iron Man would have been for Pepper to ACTUALLY die, and him to give up Iron Man out of remorse. Still a stupid, destructive choice, but there's some reasoning to it, unlike his actually staying with her like an idiot.

TBH, what really irks me (and, I think, a lot of other people) is that the movie presents a negative moral: you can embrace who and what you are, and give your all to help others and accomplish great acts of good, but at the end of the day the 'right' thing to do is to give up and suppress your uniqueness so you can be 'normal' and have a boring 'normal' relationship like 'everyone else'.

One of the things that made Iron Man my favorite Marvel superhero was that he was wild and free about himself; he knew he was different from other people, and he embraced it. Tony Stark showed the world you could be a half-crazy lunatic geek and still be slick and awesome and beloved by all--a champion of individuality, if you will. His choice at the end of Iron Man 3 is a complete betrayal of the very ideal he stood for, and that's why I hated it.

I can understand that, but I think there's a different side to it. The Iron Man suits has become an obsession - everyone saw it, not just Pepper. In the end, this obsession was tearing him away from not only Pepper, but also those around him like Rhodey and Happy. He needed to let go, not just because of Pepper but for his own mental health. Personally, it seems to me that the movie would be slightly better concluded by actually showing Stark having a restful night after the Clean Slate program, because it seems to me that the obsessions and insomniac tendencies went hand-in-hand with his PTSD. I wouldn't say he gave up, as much as he realized that he couldn't keep doing this without hurting people - the Mandarin bombed his own house, after all, and aliens had attacked New York. The Clean Slate protocol showed those around him were more important to him than trying to do everything at once. That said, I wouldn't say this is the last we're seeing of the suits - this is Tony Stark after all, and I reckon he'd at least build a Mark 43 for when danger strikes, and if there is an Iron Man 4, it would no doubt be a DKR sort of thing with Stark coming out of hiding. Really, I don't know how you would be able to top the Mandarin as a villain, though.

I understand why you feel the way you do - and frankly its much better a complaint than most of the ones I've heard again Iron Man 3 - though I do disagree. Knowing you, I don't expect to radically change your opinion that much, it just seems to me you might be interpreting things a bit negatively.