CHAPTER 6:
CRAZY STUPID VILLAINS
I love this.
Even after Hulk, Thor, and Cap, the Iron Man films were still the highest-grossing stand-alone Marvel features. So for Phase Two, the first movie coming was an Iron Man 3.
After Disney bought Marvel, there was a fued between Paramount and Marvel/Disney about distribution rights of Iron Man 3 and Avengers. Disney and Paramount eventually agreed upon the rights and Iron Man 3 was the final Marvel film distributed by Paramount.
Jon Favreau didn't direct this film, and instead left to direct Cowboys & Aliens (which nobody saw) and Magic Kingdom (which never got made). Downey Jr. suggested Shane Black, who worked with him on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Drew Pearce, who was at Marvel to write Runaways, ended up writing the script.
Black and Pearce based a lot of the movie on the Extermis storyline. They also wanted the movie to be different from the first two by having more of a spy thriller edge to the film. They also changed some elements from the comics. Like making Rhodes Iron PAtriot and the Mandarin... let's talk about that later.
Now for casting. Anthony Mackie auditioned for a role, but he ended up in another Marvel film (let's talk about that next time). Jessica Chastain was cast as Mia, but she was replaced by Rebecca Hall. Gemma Arterton, Diane Kruger, and Isla Fisher were also considered for the role. Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes co-starJude Law was considered for Killian, but Guy Pearce got the role. Radioactive Man was supposed to be in the movie and was supposed to be played by Andy Lau.
It's worth noting that the film was edited for Chinese viewers. Kind of ironic seeing as the character who is supposed to be Chinese is not Chinese, but I guess this was Marvel's way of making it up to them. Many of these scenes involve two doctors, one of which is played by Fan BingBing.
When the movie was released, it got decent reviews and was a huge box office success.
WARNING: I WILL BE MENTIONING SPOILERS
The supposed villain of the movie was Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin, who is one of Iron Man's most iconic villains.
Or so we thought.
In the second act of the film, it was revealed that The Mandarin was a cover-up for Killian, the film's real villain. He was created by Killian to take credit for the explosions. What about Ben Kingsley? He was an actor named Trevor Slatley who was convinced to do this through the bribery of women, drugs, booze, "and a lovely speed boat".
The backlash for this was so big that this guy could live off of it for centuries.
Personally, I love this twist. First of all, people claim the character was ruined. The character wasn't in the movie. Second of all, it's a great misdirection.
The only thing I didn't like about this is that the backstory of Killian. It's overused and was already in The Incredibles and Batman Forever and would be used a year later in TASM 2.
Also, the Mandarin was in the movie, but there is a Mandarin. The one-shot All Hail The King revealed there is a Mandarin and he's pissed at Trevor Slattley.
AND IF THERE IS THE REAL MANDARIN...
THEN HE SHOULD APPEAR IN A DOCTOR STRANGE MOVIE!
BECAUSE...
Umm...
YOU SEE...
Umm...
Is it just me?
oh okay, um... well...
SPOILERS END HERE.
Six months later, Marvel released their first non-Iron Man sequel; Thor: The Dark World.
Due to how quickly the sequel was announced and how quickly Marvel wanted it done, Kenneth decided not to direct this film. And Marvel hopped from director to director.
The film was set for release on July 2013, but the director problems had the film be moved to November. First, Marvel got Brian Kirk, a Game of Thrones director. Many people thought this was a good idea, but after scheduling conflicts due to how quickly MArvel wanted this done, he left the project.
The next director Marvel got was Patty Jenkins. But she left due to "creative differences". Hopefully, she'll have luck at DC. Next,Marvel got another GoT director Alan Taylor, and he actually stuck around this time.
Originally, Loki wasn't supposed to be in this movie. But after the Avengers, it felt appropriate to bring him in for at least a cameo. However, due to his evergrowing popularity, there were some reshoots and rewrites to put Loki in as many scenes as possible.
Now for casting. Mads Mikklestein was considered for Malekith. Which would have been funny seeing two actors who played Hannibal Lecter in the same movie. However, Chris Eccleston (MORE CHRIS) got the role. In the last film, Zachary Levi tried out for Fandral but lost to Josh Dallas. Josh left this movie, and Levi replaced him.
Also, here's a funny story. Here's the poster for the movie:
Here's some fanart a guy made:
So, some movie theather compant mistook the fanart for a real poster and put it on display in the theaters. I would have killed to see how people reacted.
When the film was released, it got mixed reviews. While it did good at the box office, it didn't do as well as expected due to major competion like Catching Fire and Frozen.
Also, let's talk about THIS movie's biggest critisim - Malekith.
THIS IS THE MOST BORING VILLAIN EVER!
He has no personality. He has the same bland look on his face. He doesn't ever do anything as simple as an evil girn or smirk whenhe destroys Odin's throne and kills his wife! Also, his motives make no sense. I get why he wants to plunge Asgard into darkness. But why does he want to destroy the other realms? I hated this villain and I was so happy they killed him off.
Anyway, people still liked these movies, but they were a little underwhealmed by them. They weren't quite freaking out as they hoped and knew that the next year would be better.
TO BE CONTINUED...