MCU Abbreviated Cut - Phase One

The Challenge:

Create an "abbreviated" cut of the Marvel Cinematic universe, keeping all the best moments but watchable in a single sitting - or at least a weekend. Cut up chronology any way you like, but limit the time to 3 hours for each Phase and/or year of television.

My main process for shaving down the runtime is to cut a lot of villain "buildup" moments because, let's face it, it usually doesn't go anywhere, because most of the villains in the MCU are one-and-done. Following that, cutting any abandoned plot point that doesn't go anywhere saves a lot of time (Iron Man 2 has a lot of those because of the lack of continuation into Iron Man 3). Finally, any extensive buildup for characters or drawn out foreshadowing can be left out, because for this cut, we can assume it's fans watching, not a GA who doesn't know who characters are.

So here we go, draft one of my Phase 1 cut - let me know how you would do it!

Captain America: The First Avenger
I'm going to cut out a lot of "skinny Steve" moments because we know he becomes Captain America, so a lot of that is, for this cut, a waste of time. But I want to keep in a little so that we see that Cap spirit even without the body.

I would open in the theater scene, with Cap telling the bully to show respect. Include the alley fight and Bucky's entrance. Then cut all the way to the Stark Expo where Steve decides to enlist again. We don't need to hear about all the other times, just starting here will do. Include the talk with Bucky while Erskine overhears, and Erskine's offer to Steve. From there, we go to boot camp where we only spend a fraction of the time. Again, we know he's going to do it. But we include the introduction of Col. Philips and, more importantly, Peggy Carter. Cut out a lot of the "Steve's a weakling" shots, but include Philips talking to Erskine and my personal favorite moment of the film, the dummy grenade. Keeping the flagpole gag in too will help build the relationship with Peggy and the fact that Steve thinks differently than other men.

Pretty soon I would cut to the operation because, again, we know that's where it's going. So we have the operation, the death of Erskine, and the Heinz Kruger chase and fight. Show Skull with Zola containing the cube, but we don't need to see Skull obtaining it. Cut out the "chorus girl" subplot and go straight to Rogers rescuing the POWs. Maybe a brief snippet of the stage days to explain the costume, but we don't need to see a lot of that. After rescuing the soldiers, show Stark equipping Rogers for future combat, and the Howling Commandos montage, going right into the death of Bucky and the final assault on the Skull and the plane crash. No ending scene in modern times yet

Most of the cuts are from the first two-thirds of the film.

Agent Carter
From the series, show some footage (very trimly cut) of her working with the Howling Commandos, discovering the Red Room, rescuing Fenhoff, fighting Dottie, Fenhoff killing Dooley, and being put in prison with Zola.

The series is actually pretty self-contained, so we don't need a lot of it. More Howard Stark would be nice and certainly some of Jarvis, but the series shouldn't contribute too much to this cut. The short, however, would be nice to include, because that's already very trim, and aside from character points shows as much as clips from the show would.

Ant-Man
As a bonus, we could include the Pym-Carter-Stark exchange from Ant-Man's opening, and the scene of Ant-Man and Wasp in action.

Iron Man
Open with the opening shot of the convoy, but when it explodes, skip the whole casino scene. Cut right to the cave, waking up and speaking with Yinsen, and the "deal" made with Raza's second-in-command. I would cut out most stuff with Raza himself, because he's not actually that important. Skip right to Stark explaining the plan to Yinsen and them starting the breakout. Keep the Yinsen death speech of course and then Stark getting the Hell out of Dodge.

Back in the US, skip the press conference and Stane buildup, and testing of individual suit components (maybe keep a little for the comedy) and focus right on the test flight, and Mark III design. Keep the Stane reveal at the party, the scene with Pepper after Tony's first mission (Are those bullet holes?) and the Iron Monger reveal with Coulson and Pepper, leading to the final fight. No stinger yet.

The Incredible Hulk
The opening montage is gold - keep that in. Cut the subplot with Mr. Blue until it actually becomes important, but show Banner's homemade lab. Show the blood spill in the factory (Stan's first cameo in this cut) immediately followed by the attack by Ross et al. Cut to Betty finding Bruce at Stan's and meeting Sterns, along with Blonsky becoming abomination. Forget most of the helicopter shots and cut right to the Harlem fight. No Stark cameo yet.

Iron Man 2
Cut the opening Stark Expo nonsense. Cut the entire palladium poisoning and not-"demon in a bottle" subplot, and the new element, because none of those plot points are continued in Iron Man 3 (thanks, Shane). Even the Howard Stark subplot can go. Stark's first scene should be in the ring with Happy, introducing Romanoff and showing Pepper becoming CEO. Forget Whiplash's first fight - forget everything at the Grand Prix. Again, this is all about the Howard Stark subplot that Shane Black completely ignored, so it can go. Whiplash's first moment should be Justin Hammer breaking him out of prison, and him and Hammer meeting should be Hammer's first appearance.

Cut Stark meet with Fury at the donut shop and save the "Rushman" as Black Widow reveal for her scene with Happy. Show an argument between Rhodes and Stark ("they're gonna take your suits!") but skip the party. Just show Rhodes taking the suit and getting it weaponized. Cut to Hammer taking the stage at the Stark Expo (we don't need to see Vanko working on the drones much), and the whole fight between the Hammer Drones, Crimson Dynamo, Iron Man, and War Machine, and of course keep Black Widow's best scene in the movie, with Happy in the background.

Finally we get to

The Stingers
First show the scene with Fury in Stark's house. I know this isn't technically correct chronology but it fits nicer. Then show the donut shop scene from Iron Man 2, cut to avoid plot points from that film (poisoning), but revealing Romanoff as Black Widow to Tony. Include the "Southwest Region" line from Fury to lead into A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer, and finally show The Consultant complete with the ending scene from The Incredible Hulk.

Thor
Cut out a lot of crap with Foster, Selvig, and especially Darcy. Focus on Thor.
Show the flashback of the battle against Jotunheim, but cut the coronation scene before the weapons vault. We need the weapons vault fight to lead to Thor leaving with Loki, Sif, and the Warrior's Three. Most of the battle on Jotunheim can stay, including Odin's interference and the subsequent banishment of Thor.

Cut to the "Excalibur" scene and the talk at the diner (we don't need to see Thor get hit, tazed, injected, and hit again), where Thor learns Mjolnir's whereabouts. Skip Jane's back-and-forth and cut to her driving Thor there (sorry, no "I need a horse!). Thor breaks in, keep Coulson, Hawkeye, and Selvig. After he fails, skip the interrogation, skip Loki's scene, cut to Selvig getting him out. From there, cut right to the Warrior's Three arrival (don't need to see Thor and Selvig act like fratboys), the arrival of the Destroyer, and the battle between the five of them. Thor returns to Asgard (cut out as much Jane as possible) and destroys the Bifrost. Then cut straight to the cube (no Heimdall, we don't need to see Jane and Darcy again), being shown to Selvig, and Loki's influence.

The Avengers
Cut out a lot of buildup. We've had five movies, four shorts, and a TV show of buildup. Cut all that filler. Show Loki attacking project PEGASUS to introduce Hill and show Hawkeye being taken. After that, show the scene from Captain America: The First Avenger where Cap wakes up and Fury makes contact. Then cut to Germany, where Cap and Widow attack Loki, and Stark comes in (Cap meets Stark). Keep some of the forest fight, but not too much because we know they aren't going to be enemies. At this point (not the same time as the film), have Coulson call Widow to recruit Banner. Show Fury imprisoning Loki, and Loki's speech to Widow. Keep some of the "Phase 2" banter but not much. Jump quickly to Loki escaping, Coulson dying, and almost immediately to them heading the Manhattan. Keep most of the fight, Thanos, and Shawarma.

Agents of SHIELD
Item 47 doesn't lead anywhere, because we haven't seen those again. If you include it, trim it. The more important coda to Phase 1 is the Pilot of Agents of SHIELD, showing Coulson back from the dead and the beginning of his adventure.

Can that all fit into 3 hours? I have no idea, and I probably won't find out anytime soon. But what do you think of this cut? Was there anything you think should be left out? Anything you thought I should have included? Let me know what you think!

100 Words or Less: Iron Man 3 (2013)

Plot holes everywhere, the story suffered from Shane Black’s influence, and in the end the poor story is really what brings this film down. I personally didn’t like the twist, but if the movie had been written well, I could get past that. 

Aside from plot holes, characterizations are all off, especially Pepper.

The performances by RDJ and Don Cheadle are really the only things that save this movie (to an extent). Even though I hate the story, I could still enjoy watching RDJ play Tony Stark.

This film is my least favorite of the MCU.

More on Iron Man 3

If you've read either of my posts on Iron Man 3, you know I was not impressed. The movie was disappointing on multiple levels. However, I've been reading a lot of complaints by other people that actually aren't things wrong with the movie. So, as weird as it is, I'm here to defend a couple of points of the movie first. Then, I'm going to talk about what IM4 needs to bring to the table, and why it needs to exist, to make this film worthy of existing. It still won't be a great film, but it will be much better in retrospect than it is.

First, the defense.

Why didn't he call his other suits earlier?
I'm reading a lot of people saying that it doesn't make sense why he kept using the crappy Mark 42 prototype instead of just calling his Iron Legion like he did at the end. Well, while it's true that there should be no reason the MK 42 shouldn't have proper power (as I've explained before), they actually did explain why he couldn't call the other suits. When his house got destroyed, there was a ton of debris blocking the door to the vault that all of the suits were in. JARVIS had to bring in cranes and heavy machinery to get it clear, which he updates Stark about at one point. When Stark starts realizing he's going to need more, he asks JARVIS "Is it that time?" He's basically asking if the debris is finally clear so he can get the suits he's wanted all along. So it actually makes sense.

Of course, that doesn't explain why Igor or another heavy-duty suit couldn't just clear the debris away. Blame JARVIS.

Why didn't the suits have more screen time?
I've also seen a lot of complaints at the lack of iron legion. I'm actually OK with this. Unlike the Mandarin, who they marketed out the whazoo, the way they handled the suits was that if you cared enough and wanted to find out more, you could, but they didn't really focus on it. They showed ths suits briefly in the trailer, and people (myself included) started making a huge deal out of it, but they didn't really give us any reason to think it would be a huge plot point. Had it been, it would have likely gotten redundant and boring quickly, so I'm actually OK with how they handled it.

Our moment to shine! And then blow up.

Why bring in this throwaway kid character?
Another comment I keep seeing is that they brought in this kid character just to throw him away at the end. I posted a link to an article on how that might not be the case, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

"Iron Man doesn't have a sidekick." Right, Stark. Except for Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, and now this kid.

Now, on to what Marvel Studios needs to do to save this film.

Iron Man 4
There has to be an Iron Man 4. Unless they make an Avengers 2 or 3 very focused around Iron Man, which the first Avengers film has already been criticized as doing (even though it didn't), Iron Man needs another solo film. And it needs to do some things.

Alternatively called "Tony Stark 2"

The Mandarin
First off, redeem the Mandarin. Not Killian, Mandarin. I mentioned a few ideas in an older post, but basically I see three ways of doing this.
1) The real Mandarin has been there all along, giving orders to Killian, who had a double made as bait/fake closure for the US government. After Killian fails, the real Mandarin rises from behind the scenes to thwart Tony Stark himself.
2) Somebody else rises to the mantle. My first pic would be Raza as a nice full-circle effect, but if could be somebody new. With the 10 Rings still existing without its head, somebody (maybe somebody wronged by the Stark family similar to Vanko) steps in to take control of the organization, and becomes the Mandarin.
3) The real Mandarin isn't a man, but some ancient creature who has been resting through the ages. Killian, reading into all the lore and legend of this being, brings the mythology to life with the same sort of intent as Hitler and Red Skull in CA:TFA. He creates Trevor as a public image, all while trying to turn himself into this being of power via Extremis. When he states that he is the real Mandarin, its wish fulfillment, not fact. After some magic hoo-hah happens, maybe Thanos can be brought in here, the real Mandarin awakes, and continues to wreak destruction on this new world. I realize this isn't anywhere near the comics origins of the character, but it would still allow him to be a bada$$ villain up there with Loki, and it would allow the rings to be used as they should - not as decor, not as supervillain bling, but as powerful weapons with "magical" (alien tech) properties to rival Stark's technological genius. THAT would have been the smart way to move after his ordeal in The Avengers, dealing with gods and magic and other dimensions, to have him face off against something that, to him, is magic.
4) Not my idea and not something I think would work well but I've seen it a lot around the web, would be that the Mandarin was pretending to be an actor and Trevor is actually the real deal. They'd have to do a lot to make this work, since we saw him acting silly before he knew Stark was there (unless he knew already and the whole scene was a ruse). And they'd have to explain why Killian went along with it, he doesn't seem like the guy for straight loyalty. Maybe Mandarin was withholding something that Killian wanted. It could work, but it's be messy.

Or, they could always bring in ManBearPig as the next villain.

Killian
After fixing the Mandarin, they need to fix Killian.
What was Killian's whole plan? What was his goal? To control terror, sure, but why? To what end? What does he want done with Stark? In Iron Man 1, the 10 Rings (supposedly being headed by Killian the whole time), tries to kill Stark. He escapes. In Iron Man 2, the 10 Rings provide Vanko with paperwork and such to get to the US so that he can kill Stark. Once again, it doesn't work. Towards the beginning of Iron Man 3, Coldblood (Killian's henchman) fires a missle into Stark's house to try and kill him. But when Coldblood captures him at the Mandarin's palace, Killian keeps him alive? Why the change of heart? It's inconsistent. What is Killian after?

Just a glorified cameo, right Mr. Pearce? Kings to you.

Extremis Soliders
Also, why are all of the Extremis soldiers evil? Is it just that they all happen to be evil already, and now they just have superpowers to go with it? I think some people would be pretty offended if they found out that, according to IM3, if you are disable then you are evil. So I doub't that's it. Does Extremis feature some aspect that corrupts people into becoming evil? If so, why didn't explain that? Or maybe Killian is brainwashing them somehow? Again, it doesn't explain why all of these soldiers are following Killian. I'm assuming if there were some non-evil soldiers, they would have been fighting against him. But there weren't so...what? Explain this.

The prime example of one-dimensional villains.

Christmas
Next, make the Christmas thing relevant. It wasn't really a "problem" per se, but it was annoying and unimportant. So make it important. Revolve the timeline of Phase 2 around that, so that we know how things line up, and make it worth something.

One thing the suit doesn't have - snowblower

Harley
Bring the kid back. Whether its as Star-Lord, Nova, or just the kid still being the kid. Last we saw him Stark left him in the cold, then gave him a bunch of stuff for his workshop. Follow up on this, don't just throw him away.

Congrats kid, you got your own car! Six years later, you can get a license and drive it.

Powerless power source
Finally, explain why the prototype was running out of power. Explain whyt this super mega-awesome power source was dead, and needed to be charged. It makes zero sense, even though the suit was a prototype, the arc reactor wasn't...or was it. Show that Stark has been trying to develop the arc reactor more (continuing the story from IM2), and use that to explain this. Maybe he was making a less potent, rechargable version for the government. Maybe General Ross or SHIELD commissioned him to do something specific, and so it wasn't just another cut-and-dry arc reactor that inexplicably doesn't work.

The best power source ever! Except when you don't want it to be.

These are the fixable problems in IM3. You can't take back bad storytelling, but you can tell new stories that shed new light on old information.

IM3: Slightly Better the 2nd Time Around (Spoilers)

If you haven't yet, read Part I. After this, read Part III.

(Spoilers Below)

So, due in part to my brother and sister wanting to see the movie, and in part because I had 8 free movie passes (5 left) that all expire before any other superhero movie comes out, I saw the film again tonight, and i was able to enjoy it slightly more. Not that I take back anything I said before, that all still stands. But the fact that I was able to enjoy the first two thirds after knowing how poor the last leg was is a good sign.

Things I liked:

Tony Stark:
I loved Tony Stark in this movie. I think this is the best "Tony Stark" movie. And I love the sequences of him fighting without the suit, or without a consistent suit. I love him using his brain. That was all great fun to watch. Thank you RDJ.

Yinsen:
'Nuff said.

Rhodey:
I liked him better than IM2. Still upset about Terrence Howard being gone, but Don Cheadle did more playing Rhodey and less playing Terrence Howard as Rhodey, which was nice. And he had better chemistry with RDJ, not awkward like in IM2.

Pepper:
Loved her in IM1, hated her in IM2, loved her in Avengers, and appreciate her in IM3. I like that this character has some evolution going on, and isn't just another character thrown in the mix (like Happy).

The armor:
I'm glad they didn't spend a ton of time in the film focusing on the new armor and what each one does specifically, because that would have been pointless since they all get blown up. That being said, I would like to have more detail about them in some medium. Short film, comic book, or video game, give me more of that armor. But for the film, I think it was handled well.

The sky-fall scene:

OK, I used a James Bond title to describe the scene, so what? That scene where everyone was falling from the sky was just epic. That's now in my list of favorite superhero scenes, up there with the crane scene from TASM. Goosebumps.

(More) Things I disliked:

The Christmas theme:
Why? Totally out of place. Totally unnecessary. Totally pointless. And totally awkward when the movie comes out in May, and the DVD will come out long before Christmas. Stupid. And distracting.

War Machine/Iron Patriot:
Three films later, this guy is still just a sidekick to Iron Man. Give him things to do. They did it in the tie-in comics, and gave him places to go in this movie, but they were always a false alarm.

Also, I found another piece of bad writing/direction that doesn't make sense. Coldblood steals the Iron Patriot armor and highjacks Air Force One with it. Fine. But then he puts the Pres. into the suit, and it flies back to Killians HQ. Which suggests that it is being remote-controlled. Obs. the Pres. wouldn't fly right into the fire. So its RC. Fine. But then when the Pres. is strung up, Rhodey is able to free it from the wires, take the Pres. out, put himself in, and control it, flying away. What? How? How is it not RC anymore? And if it wasn't, why didn't the Pres just free himself? Stupid stupid stupid.

No mention/connection of the Ten Rings:
(The terrorists, not the actual rings.) Obviously they existed as a real terrorist organization, not just a ruse for Killian, because otherwise they wouldn't need Starks weapons if they could just superheat everything. So that needed to be explained.

Guns:
Not that I mind guns, I don't. But in the movie, you had Extremis soldiers with super strength and the ability to generate extreme heat going around shooting guns. They don't need guns. Then you had Coldblood (the henchman to Killian) highjacking the War Machine armor, with repulsor rays and the gattling gun and all sorts of cool weapons, shooting people with a handgun. Not even the 9mm handgun that was made into part of the suit, just holding the gun with the armored hand shooting it. Stupid. Use cooler weapons when you have them.

Everything else I complained about before:
Especially Mandarin/not Mandarin, and Killian, and the "death" of Killian, and Pepper being so out of character.

Iron Man 3 Review (Only read if you've seen it)

After reading this, read Part II and Part III

Prep yourself for a long post.

Part I: How I watch movies

I try to look at comic book movies from 3 different perspectives. First, just as a movie. Nothing more, nothing less, just a movie. Second, as a superhero movie. The hero vs. villain aspects, the action, the threat, the feel. Finally, as a comic book adaptation. How faithful was the film to the comics that inspired it? What did they change, and why were those changes made? Were they necessary for the film? Did it make the movie better? Could the movie have stayed closer to the books and still been as good? And that third category, of adaptations, is where films like The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises, and now Iron Man 3 disappoint me.

So, I guess I should start off with the first two. As a movie, it's pretty good. The first two-thirds or so were really fun to watch, and Tony Stark was as fun as ever. The ending is what throws it off course. Things don't make sense, things don't work together right, and things just don't end well. Pepper, Killian's death, the VP, Rhodey, just too many unexplained things that didn't make sense at the end. And I think a lot of that is bad direction by Shane Black.

Part 2: Why I didn't like it

As a superhero movie, slightly worse. The main villain was a joke, and Killian was just ridiculous. It felt very much in the vein of Spider-Man 3 and X-Men: The Last Stand with trying to do too much. The Mandarin, and Killian, and Hansen, and the Extremis Soldiers, and the Iron Patriot armor highjacked. There was a ton going on, and Killian himself was just too far gone. Combining the characters of Killian, Mandarin, and even some of Fin Fang Foom into Guy Pierce with Eric Whitaker's hair (only musicians will understand that reference) was just so much it was silly. Then they made him unkillable, with him standing up after the huge explosion to end all explosions, which reminded me too much of the end of Fantastic Four when Doom stood after Johnny's supernova. Then, after making him unkillable, somehow Pepper, now with her own superpowers, partakes in a sequence that is totally out of character, totally unnecessary, and totally silly, to somehow inexplicably kill this villain that just survived the only thing that's supposed to be able to kill him. None of it makes sense.

Also, Tony's arc reactor is supposed to be a power source. Like, the power source (apart from the Tesserect) to end all power sources. And he clearly had a ton, because the Iron Patriot armor had one, and each one of his individual suits at the end had one. And he's clearly been working on the tech, because the Avengers showed him powering Stark Tower for a year. So why did the Mark 42 power down? How was it out of power, and need to be re-charged? The power comes from the arc reactor. Doesn't make sense.

Part 3: Why I disliked it

Then, we get to the adaptation part. And you know what I'm going to say. I hate how they treated Mandarin. This is a character than comic book fans like me have been waiting for 6 years to see in a movie, and we've been promised the whole time that he'll be brought in later and it will all be worth it. But it didn't happen. Not like it should have. That character is too important in the comics, and was made too important in the franchise, to be treated like that. And unfortunately, the most probably cause for it was because the Director didn't like the character. Stupid reason to ruin a movie that could have been so great. The Mandarin could have been a villain to rival Loki and the Joker, but they made him a stupid drunk actor. And then to add insult to injury, they have Killian say that he's the real Mandarin, which doesn't line up at all with the first two movies. Why create the 10 Rings organization and steal Stark weapons if Killian was the head of AIM and was working on Extremis? Why work with Obadiah Stane and Ivan Vanko to kill Stark when Killian clearly had the means to do so himself? But didn't actually kill him when he had the chance. Again, none of it makes sense.

To jump off of that bridge, it didn't really seem like it followed any of the previous films well. This was supposed to be the first movie ever that was a sequel to two separate movies: Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. Instead we get a tiny subplot about PTSD/anxiety attacks, a few lines mentioning "the wormhole" or "aliens" or "new york," and a lousy Bruce Banner cameo (who they decided to not even make look like the Banner from the Avengers. Again, lazy direction) to reference Avengers. No reference to Stark Tower, no explanation for why he's not at least attempting to contact other heroes, nothing significant. As far as Iron Man 1/2, no mention of Stane, or Hammer, or Vanko, the Stark Expo, Coulson, Christine Everhart, or Howard Stark.Or the continuing development of the arc reactor technology and the new element Tony created. All part of a stream of consciousness between the first and second films that was ignored in the third. Heck, Howard Stark was a big deal in the Iron Man films before they even had a actor to fully portray the role, but after you get Captain America: TFA and a solid actor to play Howard Stark for years to come, you decide not to include him in Iron Man. Sensing a theme here? DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. And again, I blame a lot of this on Shane Black, for not following the plan that Jon Favreau laid out.

Part 4: Why it matters

Aside from everything else, there's something more that scares me. Marvel Studios have never, before this film, blatantly and repeatedly lied to the public about the film. That's something DC does, and I've always looked down on them for it because Marvel Studios managed to keep their secrets hidden, and admit it when they were exposed. But this whole Mandarin thing destroyed that integrity that they had. It's not even that they deceived us for the sake of preserving the plot twist, its more than that. Ben Kingsley was in interviews talking about playing the Mandarin and how he was an anarchist and trying to promote chaos and trying to turn civilization on its head -- all of that was complete, dishonest, bold-faced horse sh*t. And it's not even like they had Ben Kingsley talk about the character than Guy Pierce was playing, because his character didn't match that either. So they just constructed these elaborate lies to market the movie. A lot of the marketing used dialogue that wasn't in the movie to build up the lie of the Mandarin even more. "Do you want an empty life, or a meaningful death." Great line. Great delivery. Great emotion. Not used. And not even usable in the context of the film. Waste. "Ladies. Gentlemen. Sheep." Another line used as hype for a lie. 'Today is the first day of what's left of your life." The marketing all focused on Mandarin making things personal for Tony, and it was all BS. Additionally, Guy Pierce stated his character was in the film as a "glorified cameo." Another blatant lie, that didn't even serve the plot twist. Just more lies.

The only way Marvel Studios can save this film, and save the Mandarin, is to make him someone else. Have another actor portray the real (like, really real) Mandarin, as someone who was either really high up or like, a myth/legend type person, like Thor or Loki, that resurfaces. Portray Killian as still being a needy whiny loser, who took the name as a way to feel more powerful, then cast the actor Trevor to take the spotlight off of him, but have the real Mandarin come in later. With that, you redeem the character, redeem the integrity, and possibly redeem my respect. It's also the only reason to do another Iron Man movie. Maybe Raza (from Iron Man 1, they never clearly showed what happened to him) takes the moniker of Mandarin post-IM3 as a way to build off the fear that already existed. Maybe Hammer is still around and he stumbles onto something. Or Vanko. Maybe the Mandarin has really just been behind the scenes that are behind the scenes. Something. Do something. Don't leave it this low. Save it.

Part 5: Why it scares me

The last thing I'm going to rant about (for now) is my fear of where the focus will be from now on. Marvel Studios gained popularity because of their willingness to stay truer to the comics than Sony and Fox and WB do, and they made the movies for the fans that read their comic books. But after the Avengers, I don't think that they'll care for that group anymore. If response to IM3 is positive, and there are a majority of viewers that don't know the Mandarin, and therefore don't know how terribly he was treated, and also aren't active enough viewers to understand the inconsistencies of the film, then Marvel Studios might just start making money buckets and throwing integrity out the window. I'm hoping that's not so. I'm hoping this is more on Shane Black than anyone else, and Kevin Feige and everyone else are still hoping to keep the MCU what it is and not make it the next trash franchise. But IM3 was supposed to be the big start for Phase 2, and it disappointed. Hard. Thor 2 has a chance to redeem the franchise later this year, and I hope it does.

The movie had some really great scenes, and most of it was fun to watch. I loved seeing Yinsen again, and connecting that dot to the original film (one of the few that they did). I liked the Air Force One scene, even though they built it up a little too much. And RDJ did wonderful as Stark again, and I liked watching that. But I wouldn't eat a cookie that had crap in with the chocolate.

For reference, I rate this film above TDKR, but below TASM, and the worst of all MCU movies.

Please comment. Any questions about the film, and questions about what I said, anything I forgot, anything I was wrong about, anything anything anything, I want to talk about this with people!

Part II

Getting Nervous (spoilers)

So I read a list of 10 major spoilers, and now, for the first time, I'm nervous that I won't enjoy Iron Man 3 very much. Now, the caveat I have to keep in mind is that most of the feedback and opinions I'm getting are from IMDB, which is full of trolls, fanboys, and people that just like to watch the world burn. The spoilers are confirmed, but the presentation is the key here, and I hold onto the hope that through the presentation and storytelling, the movie will still be a good one.

If you're feeling up to it, you can check out the spoilers for yourself here.

11 Days, 8 hours, 37 minutes, 28 seconds/

A quick summary of MCU comics: Part 6/9 [Iron Man: Public Identity]

This is part 6. Read the other parts!

Part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

OK, so this is going to be a lazy post. Why? Because I'm feeling lazy, but also want to give you guys a post today.

This post is about Iron Man: Public Identity

I'm not really gonna give a summary, but let me just say, this is a pretty good read. It's its own story, that fits in well and logically into the movies. It gives a lot of backstory on Stark as a kid, his relationship with father Howard, and how he became who he is. It's nice to see Howard post-Cap and Stark pre-Iron Man. There's also a wonderful reference in Jarvis being his actual butler as a child, serving as inspiration for JARVIS, which as a golden age comic fan, I love. I might post a summary later, but its a good expansion on the films. We see some work going between Rhodes, Hammer, and General Ross, which ties the Hulk story in nicely. We see Stark interact with Ross (and its not nice) and some glimpses of SHIELD (Fury and Coulson) so its a pretty broad range of characters. If you have access to it, check it out!

A quick summary of MCU comics: Part 4/9 [Agents of SHIELD]

This is part 4. Read the other parts!

Part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Part 4 will focus on the comic Iron Man: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The comic is presented in three parts. One focusing on Fury, one on Coulson, and one on Romanoff

"Who Made Who"
Fury is giving orders to some soldier at a Ten Rings operation, when Iron Man shows up. This is the scene from the first film where Iron Man goes to Gulmira after seeing news on TV of the attacks. Fury orders the soldier to track Stark's movements, and Stark records the conversation, reviewing it later. It shows that Stark is aware of Fury attempting to recruit him even before Fury meets him at the end of the film, and Stark is being deliberately difficult (because he's Stark). Kinda neat to see this familiar scene from the film from a different perspective.

"Just off the Farm"
Coulson is training a new SHIELD agent, "Mister Hendricks." We get to see some cool SHIELD tech, and Coulson being a badass, but no real reference to the film after the first page, where Fury complains to Coulson about the press conference from Iron Man 1 since Coulson was supposed to cover the alibi. At the end, Coulson welcomes Hendricks to SHIELD, so it may be a character that's eventually put into live action, but maybe not. If so, it'll make this story more interesting.

"Proximity"
It starts off with Black Widow being badass and jumping from a plane without a 'chute, because she's the Black Widow. Fury assigns her to slowly work her way through Stark Industries to get close to Stark, partly to keep an eye on him and partly to make sure he joins the Initiative. We see how she creates her own luck (including jumping down an elevator shaft, because she's Black Widow) to get to Stark, and the comic ends with her walking into his training room while he's boxing with Happy (seen in Iron Man 2). Like the first part, it's cool to see a familiar movie scene from another angle, and it's neat to see how Black Widow got into that position. I honestly prefer this mini-story over the three-part series she had by herself. It tied into the movie character that we know, and showed us a familiar setting.

Overall, I like this comic. The stories are all pretty short, but its because they tie into the movies that we all know, which is the point of these comics in the first place. We get a little closer look at the methods of Fury, the cool of Coulson, and how much of a badass Black Widow really is. If you can find it cheap, I recommend checking it out.

A quick summary of MCU comics - Part 1/9 [Iron Man 3 Prelude]

So, if you're like me (and who doesn't want to be?), you love knowing every possible detail about movies and the like, because it gives you more of the story, it gives you more to know, and it just makes you better than everyone else (that's a joke).

Marvel has already gotten a reputation for cameos, Easter Eggs, and mid-credits/post-credits scenes in their films. Now with the shared continuity of the MCU, it's getting even more intense.

The MCU (that's Marvel Cinematic Universe) has officially expanded beyond just the films, making the term "Cinematic" not quite correct. So, it has officially been labeled "Earth-199999" by Marvel as its own reality, unrelated to the others. However, because that's far too many 9s, it's still commonly referred to as "the MCU."

However, in addition to the movies, the MCU includes short films, comics, novels, video games, and will soon be including a TV show. I hope to do posts on all of these at some point, but today I'm focusing on the comics.

Before I go further, let me clarify, I am only talking here about the comics that are OFFICIALLY part of the MCU, which have neat little logos stating that they are "Official Tie-In" comics. Now, there are many other comics that the writers intended to take place in Earth-199999, but its not official canon in the eyes of Marvel, so those will probably get their own post some day.

Now, for the comics themselves. I've found it very difficult to find an official, comprehensive list anywhere, so this is what I'm including: (note, you can link to the other pages by clicking on the title!)

Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week
Avengers Prelude: Black Widow Strikes
Iron Man 3 Prelude
Thor
Thor: The Dark World Prelude
Road to Marvel's The Avengers
(Includes)
-I Am Iron Man
-Iron Man 2: Agents of SHIELD
-Iron Man 2: Public Identity
-Captain America: First Vengeance

This post will focus on what's probably the most popular right now, the Iron Man 3 prelude. Future posts will discuss the others.

I will also add that this is just to give a GENERAL IDEA of what happens in the book, to help you decide whether or not to buy it and give it a full read (I would suggest looking on ebay). This is not a comprehensive summary.

OK, so, Iron Man 3 prelude.

Part I is where the meat and potatoes of this story is.We see some Stark Tower info before it's built (this comic comes before The Avengers), and probably the most important thing is this book is that Stark takes back his suit from Rhodes, takes all the Hamemer-tech out, and gives Rhodes a brand new suit. Rhodes then starts working with the government tracking down Ten Rings operations in the Middle East.Turns out Hammer was working with them just as Stane was in Iron Man 1, and Rhodes gets into trouble. He requests back-up, but can't get any because there's a "situation in New York" (insert panels of the Avengers final battle scene). *Laugh* Ends on a cliffhanger, because they want you to buy Part II.

Par II is much less about learning secrets and more about following up on Rhodes, who wins, but damages his suit terribly (good thing he gets a new one in Iron Man 3). Aside from another panel showing the "situation in New York," Stark is barely in this one. We see another appearance of the "sonic cannons" seen in The Incredible Hulk (designed by Stark), and Rhodes takes off to help in Manhattan. But by then time he gets there, everybody is at Shawarma. In the epilogue, we get the first glimpse of Stark's huge collection of armors, and he refers to them as his "Iron Legion."

My recommendation: If you don't care about the in-between of the movies, don't bother with this. If you love that kind of stuff like I do, see if you can find a collection of both on ebay for ~$5. The first part is definitely more juicy than the second, but its nice to have closure.

For more info on Earth-199999, either wait for more of my posts, or check out this website:
http://marvel.wikia.com/Earth-199999

Is this where Rhodey decides to steal Cap's look?

Notice that these armors all look pretty similar, as opposed to the publicity photos and trailers where there are many different ones. Point is, he's got tons of armor now.

Photos, photos, photos (Phase 2 concept art/preview)

So, I have a lot of photos that have come out in the last couple days.

At least some of them were released as part of the huge Avengers Phase 1 box set as part of the "Phase 2 Preview," but since I don't have that I'm not totally sure if they all are or not. Basically a lot of concept art drawings for upcoming films. Some of them I'm not even certain what films they are supposed to be attached to, so some won't have any helpful descriptions, sorry.

Keep in mind that concept art is no guarantee of how something will look in the final film, just used as, well, a concept.

Enjoy.

(Iron Man 3 Countdown: 30 days, 1 hour, 40 minutes, 50 seconds)

PHASE 2:

IRON MAN 3

Pew! Pew! Pew!

THOR: THE DARK WORLD

From Thor: The Dark World. Looks like Jane Foster makes it to Asgard. Also, seems as Thor is sporting golden armor now, suggesting he finally becomes King. I'm more interested by the face of the guy to the right of Natalie Portman, though. Very sophisticated.

Looks like some bad stuff happens in Asgard. Who would have guessed?

CAPTAIN AMERICA:
THE WINTER SOLDIER

Winter Soldier. And Captain America. Looks pretty awesome.

"Taxi!"

Winter Soldier. A.K.A. Bucky 2.0

Falcon

Honestly I'm more excited to see Falcon than Cap. Nothing against Cap, just interested in how they do Falcon.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Is that the Cantina Band playing for the Guardians of the Galaxy?

If I had to guess, I would guess that this is Star-Lord's ship. Cleverly named "Ship."

Say "hello" to my little friend! And...his...little friend.

MYSTERY PHOTOS

Now these pics are the ones I'm not sure what they connect to. 

Feel free to tell me, or just spout ideas.

It's a...uh....plane...spaceship....thing....

So this looks pretty Thor-esque to me, but it might be GOTG related. So, it's in the mystery pile.

The little spherical thing reminds me of Iron Man 2, but I'm pretty clueless about this.

PHASE 3:

From the Ant-Man test footage. All CGI, no actor yet.

More Ant-Man

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot." - Loki. He hasn't met this Ant yet.