In the May issue of SFX Magazine, Adi Granov, comic book artist and Marvel Studios consultant talks about the visual keys of the Iron Man armors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the job of balancing upgrades with maintaining the iconic Iron Man look.
"The Mark III design in Iron Man was the beginning of everything as it was a completely new design. Jon Favreau really liked the overall look of the designs I did in the comics, so he wanted to keep that silhouette, where if you squint [all the various armors] still look the same."
"What's always worked well with Iron Man is that Tony Stark designs the suit himself, so it makes perfect sense that he would constantly upgrade the design and change different things. It also keeps the interest level up. It's like a car manufacturer. Even if the previous model is absolutely fine, people get a bit bored with it so you have to add new features and the technology also moves on. Iron Man is like the perfect character for that because Tony Stark essentially stays the same, it's just the suit that changes. The only challenge is to keep it consistent, to not do anything that would ruin the iconic image of Iron Man. You can push it in many different ways and it still works really well."
Of course, thanks to the latest trailer for Iron Man 3, it's revealed that the 'silhouette' rule which has kept the armor fairly consistent from Iron Man thru The Avengers has been loosened a bit for the 40 or so auxiliary armors Tony Stark calls for backup.
You can read more from Granov, who incidentally illustrated the Extremis storyline from Warren Ellis in the latest issue of SFX Magazine, out on newsstands now.
Based on Warren Ellis' Extremis storyline and following the box-office shattering events of Marvel's The Avengers, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has become the target of global terrorist The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley) who has secretly been the mastermind behind most of the tragedies in Tony's life. Isolated from his fellow Avengers, Tony will have to devise his most advanced armor yet if he hopes to save the woman he loves, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Standing beside Tony as he takes on Mandarin's villainous allies and Ten Rings subordinates will be War Machine James Rhodey (Don Cheadle) who was conspicuously absent during the Chituari invasion in New York. Based on a screenplay by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) and Drew Pearce (Godzilla, Sherlock Holmes 3).
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Iron Man 3 - Trailer 2
Running Time: In post production
Release Date: May 3, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (probable)
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Ben Kingsley, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rebecca Hall, Don Cheadle, William Sadler, James Badge Dale, Yvonne Zima, Stephanie Szostak
Directed by: Shane Black
Written by: Shane Black (screenplay) Drew Pearce (screenplay) Stan Lee (comic book) Jack Kirby (comic book) Don Heck (comic book) Larry Lieber(comic book)