Why Is It So Hard To Make Good IRON MAN Sequels?

I'll make this short and sweet...I hope.

Editorial Opinion
By leXheX - Jun 09, 2013 05:06 PM EST
Filed Under: Iron Man



Alright, I know i'm pretty late to the game but I got stuff to say so bare with me.



On memorial day I went to see IRON-MAN 3 and I was so damn exited. I was so utterly disappointed at the crap that was IRON-MAN 2 and I was hoping this would be different. We had a new director and co-writer in Shane black, who I loved from his work on the LETHAL WEAPON films, and after the the success of THE AVENGERS I was back on team IRON-MAN. Okay, so I went to the theater to see the film, and I was stoked. I pretty much liked the film for the most part, it had a different feel than the other MCU films and I gotta say I appreciated it. And then THIS came



I swear to god, I screamed out in my seat WTF! Were people looking at me?, yes. Was I embarrassed?, a bit , but who cares. They totally screwed me and the comic book loving world over. So as I'm sitting there laughing my ass off in my seat ( was Ben Kingsley the Mandarin, no but he was funny as hell.) I was thinking to myself, WHY THE HELL IS IT SO HARD TO MAKE A GOOD IROM-MAN SEQUEL?



I absolutely loved IRON-MAN, loved it. It was the beginning of a new wave of CBM and we all knew it. I was totally on for IRON-MAN 2, AND THEN





WTF! So Vanko is a badass for one second, then he's resorted to being the behind the scenes tech guy for the dancing idiot that is Justin Hammer for nearly the entire film.

Tony is slowly dying from the arc reactor in his chest ( which we learn from IM3 could've easily been taken out and fixed with a simple procedure.)

Apparently Tony's dad knew he would become IRON-MAN, would fail at making a correct chest piece for his heart, so he left his son the formula to a new element in an unexplainable manner on the Stark Expo model.

Tony Didn't learn shit from his time in the cave and is now a bigger A-hole than ever.

And Rodey could take a suit whenever he wanted and just give it up to the government. And correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the whole last half hour of IM show Obidiah trying to steal Tony's chest piece so he can power his Iron monger Suit, but Rodey just took a damn suit like nothing? and incase you're wondering, i'm going by the film's rules not the comics.


In THE AVENGERS, IRON-MAN was awesome, but the minute marvel separates him from his super buddies he's a mess.

Anyway, my final thoughts on the matter is that I love the IRON-MAN character, I truly do but damn is it hard for marvel to make the films watchable. I mean they can't even get the hero's most famous villain right, We can have fire breathing soilders but the thought of having a man with ten alien rings is far fetched to marvel, even with the whole THOR mythology in the mix?
Yesterday, I went to see FAST AND FURIOUS SIX and it was off the hook, and this is the SIXTH movie in the franchise and it hasn't lost steam yet, but IROM-MAN loses it at three?

So there you go, that's all I have to say, but I reiterate WHY IS IT SO DAMN HARD TO MAKE A GOOD IRON-MAN SEQUEL.

IRON MAN AND HIS AWESOME FRIENDS Animated Series Coming To Disney+; Will Also Feature Ironheart And Iron Hulk
Related:

IRON MAN AND HIS AWESOME FRIENDS Animated Series Coming To Disney+; Will Also Feature Ironheart And Iron Hulk
Jeff Bridges On Being So Frustrated With IRON MAN's Unfinished Script & Original Plan For Obadiah Stane
Recommended For You:

Jeff Bridges On Being "So Frustrated" With IRON MAN's Unfinished Script & Original Plan For Obadiah Stane

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. ComicBookMovie.com will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

Do you have what it takes to write for us?
Want to contribute?
1 2
EdgyOutsider
EdgyOutsider - 6/9/2013, 6:13 PM
Alien Rings would've came off extremely goofy and cartoony. I think they did the right thing and did the twist on The Mandarin.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 6/9/2013, 6:31 PM
Yes it is that hard. Iron Man has a shitty rogues gallery. No matter how you turn it, he does. After Iron Man, RDJ basically ran Iron Man. I believe he asked Mickey to be involved in the sequel at a Oscars party or something like that. He got the Tropic Thunder writer for Iron Man 2. He got Shane Black hired for Iron Man 3.

I dont think Iron Man 3 copied TDKRises but I do think the similarities comes from the fact Iron Man and Batman are similar a bit and Mandarin and the way Nolan made Bane is similar. Both are ok films but could have been better. If you like one and hate the other for a certain reason it's highly likely I can show you that there is a similarly thing that you don't like in one film that happens in the other.

The reason Iron Man 1 was great was because RDJ didn't have an ego. He's career at the point before the casting wasn't as big as it was. After the success of Iron Man 1, RDJ grew an ego a bit and took control. The Avengers was great because RDJ knew Joss was in control and he didnt have that much power.
Reasonnnn
Reasonnnn - 6/9/2013, 6:34 PM
Iron Man 3 is still better than Thor, Iron Man 2, Incredible Hulk.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 6/9/2013, 6:39 PM
I disagree about TIH. TIH IMO is on the same level as Iron Man and really in a way both films are very similar structured.
TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 6/9/2013, 6:45 PM
Iron Man doesn't have a hyphen.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 6/9/2013, 6:50 PM
Also I love your opening photo to this. If I write a Man of Steel article I may use something like that lol
MoonDoggyX
MoonDoggyX - 6/9/2013, 7:01 PM
Iron man 3 was awesome for what it was. Mindless summer popcorn flick. The reason why fans have such a problem is that we expect epic sequels to the amazing movie that is Iron Man 1, while marvel studios is simply making a product to get butts in theatre seats. Which is their job. To make movies that will make the most money possible.

Gripe all u want about the sequels, but because of their universal appeal and love from the general audience, we got a Thor, cap and GotG movies...
TheRaven20
TheRaven20 - 6/9/2013, 7:09 PM
@Crossbones And the Extremis soldiers with fire breathing powers and glowing skin wasn't goofy and cartoony? And they just want to attack Tony because their boss is butthurt about being shot down! Seriously alien tech wouldn't have been that hard to pull of. Atleast should have made Mandarin the leader of Ten Rings and actually attack Tony. Such a stupid movie.
TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 6/9/2013, 7:34 PM
@TheRaven20

Actually they want to attack Tony beacuse he threatened them on television. In fact, Killian says that almost verbatim to Maya when he kidnaps Pepper. I don't know why that's so hard for others to understand.

If Aldrich was just after revenge he could have attacked Tony any other time. Tony only gets involved when Happy got involved, and he got involved by chance.
ruadh
ruadh - 6/9/2013, 7:49 PM
"And we've had too many of these shit editorials on this subject with caps-locked sentences and constant grammar problems."

Amen.
Ocelot
Ocelot - 6/9/2013, 7:59 PM
Extremis was [frick]ing ridiculous in Iron Man 3, so over the top and looked like something out of Thor or Dr Strange ugh, just didn't go or match with the Iron Man world that Favreau had established in the two previous films. Should have made extremis a nanobot virus which pushes the human body to it's limits, but I guess they never would have been able to go with the "everyone has an empty slot in their brain which if tapped into can unlock human potential jargon" which of course will be what they use to explain people having superpowers in the SHIELD TV show and other films. Keep Iron Man against tech guys, he should be cyborgs and hackers not guys who look like they're out of a Dr Strange or X-Men comic book. Couldn't stand that fire breathing nonsense.
Tainted87
Tainted87 - 6/9/2013, 8:08 PM
You do get the difference between review and editorial, right?

Editorial usually implies some kind of proactive committal. Like, this is how such and such could be done, this is what's available, this is what they need, this is what they've been doing wrong, and this is what needs to change. Something like that. But it makes sense to go for something in the future.

Because Iron Man 3 has been out for over a month, and it's already grossed its billion. Which means that Disney/Marvel is likely thinking about how to secure Iron Man later on down the road. That'd be an excellent topic.

Where do we go from there? What should Iron Man 4 have, if related to the trilogy? I don't feel a reboot is necessary at all, though clearly a different direction is desired.

I tell you this because as quite a few already have said - Iron Man 3 articles are getting quite annoying and redundant.
TheYoungMan
TheYoungMan - 6/9/2013, 8:43 PM
It's not that making an Iron Man sequel is too hard, it's just that Marvel hasn't tried very hard.
TheYoungMan
TheYoungMan - 6/9/2013, 8:47 PM
@DrDoom Actually it's not important. When making a film adaptation of a comic book, you take the stuff that will translate well to film and you scrap what doesn't. What you DON'T do, however, is put something silly and out-of-place in a movie just because it was in some comic book.
Starkasm
Starkasm - 6/9/2013, 8:53 PM
Vanko was using Hammer. Thought that was pretty obvious. And its not that Howard knew he would be Iron Man. The new element is based from the tesseract. Which is an unlimited energy source. "Something which the world sorely needs". THATS how he would "change the world".
Starkasm
Starkasm - 6/9/2013, 8:55 PM
@youngman

That's your opinion, not everyone felt it was out of place. If it were another guy in a suit everyone would be crying. Not that it bothered me seeing as that pretty much all of IM's villains are linked to stolen tech.
THIS
THIS - 6/9/2013, 8:57 PM
Shut the [frick] UP! I loved IM2 and IM3 SO JUST SHUT THE [frick] UP!!
Ocelot
Ocelot - 6/9/2013, 8:58 PM
@DrDoom

Did I say that I was a "comic purist" and that everything should follow the comics and source?, did I say that I didn't know anything about how extremis has been portrayed in the comics? or even it's abilities, no I didn't and yes I do know that it was depicted as how you mentioned, just like I know that in the comics Justin Hammer is an elderly businessman, just like I know that Stark was originally kidknapped by Vietnemese terrorists and not a bunch of Middle Eastern terrorists/Mercenaries, just like I know that Jane Foster is a nurse in the comics not scientist, just like I know that Vanko in Iron Man 2 was an amalgamation of two Iron Man villains. I can go on and on and on and use almost every comic book movie there is. So yeah, dont act like these films dont deviate or change things from the source to make their films better or to make them fit into the current time or reality when they in fact do, regardless of whether it's been in a book or not. This is what we call an "adaptation" whether it's faithful or not is another issue. There's no reason why extremis couldn't have been changed to fit in with the Iron Man World that we saw with the first two films and not something that looked like it was out of X-Men
Starkasm
Starkasm - 6/9/2013, 9:00 PM
@ocelot

Actually they changed it to afghanistan in extremis I believe.
Starkasm
Starkasm - 6/9/2013, 9:00 PM
Tony being kidnapped that is.
THIS
THIS - 6/9/2013, 9:01 PM
You asshole comic nerds always bitch when you don't get something straight from a comic. When will you just learn to shut the [frick] up and ENJOY a movie? You act like you're entitled to a straight up adaption. Yes I would've preferred a Mandarin like the comics but I took what I got and enjoyed the movie like a normal person. So just SHUT THE [frick] UP.
TheSuperguy
TheSuperguy - 6/9/2013, 10:56 PM
To me, Iron Man's rogues are not great. I liked what they did with them for the movies, except I wish Kingsley would have actually been the Mandarin. Same goes for Whiplash in Iron Man 2, I wish he would have been the villain all the way through, as opposed to being a henchman for most of the film. So it's difficult to stretch Iron Man into a trilogy. Mandarin should have been the Mandarin, Whiplash deserved more screen time, in my opinion. Now that I think about, Iron Man 1 didn't have much screen time for the villain, but the movie was so darn perfect it's hard to complain.
THIS
THIS - 6/9/2013, 11:52 PM
Just shut the [frick] up all three movies were great
Brainiac13
Brainiac13 - 6/10/2013, 4:22 AM
Its about where they wanted to take the character.......Shane Black had a complete different vision to the others.

Some like it......I hated it! IM was fantastic. IM2 was a Shield story and understand why they chose to do this...could've been better.
breakUbatman
breakUbatman - 6/10/2013, 4:28 AM
I think its not so much the villain as Marvel keeps doing the same thing, they keep trying to redeem him instead of moving forward.

Iron Man showed you can have an ego and still be a hero. Stark has his 'change of heart' and is no longer selfish.

Iron Man 2 they made him "not play well with others" which he eventually overcomes by accepting SHIELDs help and partnering with Rhodey. He's no longer selfish

Avengers - He doesnt play well with others again, not the type to jump on the grenade(But he did try save Yensin, he did go back to Gulmira and did eave arms manufacture and focused on clean energy as seen by the creation of Stark Tower). He 'sacrifices' himself and is now a team player and no longer selfish. I really hate Cap's opinion of Stark in this.

Iron Man 3 he has to deal with the fallout of his selfish acts in the past and the destruction of his mansion because he was selfish. They wrap it up well enough but really why destroy all your armor when you know the dangers present in the MCU?

Anyways they need to stop with the 'Selfish brat' thing and dig deeper, the ideas have been there in the sequels but get lost in the production somehow.

IM2 should have dealt with the sins of his father or really showed us the fallout of making a god bleed.

IM3 should have put Stark in a situation his suits couldn't handle. You cant ask if the suit makes the man then have 40 plus of the things save the day. For example what would Iron Man do against an enemy who can nullify his tech
kinghulk
kinghulk - 6/10/2013, 5:45 AM
i think in each film there is something that could have been made better, like the first film stane shouldent have died. in the 2nd film i would have had hammer be more ruthless and tell vanko i dont care if you have to kill stark just get me one of those suits. and i would have perhaps rather that vanko being whiplash/crimson dynamo why not have both and have tony fight one and rhodey fight the other.
iron man 3 could have been made better if the iron patriot actually fought or fired that gun on it's back throughout the film, he served almost no purpose and rhodey should have had one action sequence when he was looking for the mandarin.
CaptainAmerica31
CaptainAmerica31 - 6/10/2013, 8:32 AM
His rouges gallery sucks ass. Lol @DrDoom thinks just cause its from the comics means its a good thing. Sorry to burst your bubble buddy but the best CBMs take source material and bend them into the real world and take out everything that's just flat out dumb( fire breathing idiots).
CaptainAmerica31
CaptainAmerica31 - 6/10/2013, 8:48 AM
The question is why is it so hard to make a good marvel solo film?
SnapperCarr
SnapperCarr - 6/10/2013, 9:09 AM
Iron Man has a shitty rogues gallery. That's his biggest downfall.
SnapperCarr
SnapperCarr - 6/10/2013, 9:10 AM
Marvel should have made Mandarin's rings Asgardian technology.
RobGrizzly
RobGrizzly - 6/10/2013, 11:37 AM
Good article - and some good responses.
Every body's taking it a different way. I think you can like the movie, and still dislike what they did with Mandarin (as is the case with me). But for too many people, its either one or the other and you have to pick sides.
The fact of the matter is this is no minor nitpick. This is actually the biggest CBM bombshell I've ever seen.

Put to answer the question, it depends on what works for you. About Iron Man, about sequels,.about CBMs in general. I dare say these flicks are all about the Robert Downey.Jr factor, and some fans don't even care what the story is. That's why Mandarin doesn't bother them. Or whiplash. They just want to see RDJ doin stuff.

For me, the sequels have been the "stolen tech" angle 3 times in a row. Dealing with a terrorist, so tied to real world parallels (as the first one was), would have been a great change of pace. A shame..

They should have done Demon in a Bottle.
Yesmaam
Yesmaam - 6/10/2013, 1:00 PM
The Vice President sold out because his daughter was missing a leg and the Extremis would grow it back for her. Thats pretty solid motivation for any parent IMO.
kinghulk
kinghulk - 6/10/2013, 2:20 PM
gliderman i come up with a idea for ghost to be in the movies if i made them based on how the actual movies happend. i thought in my little version of iron man 2 tony and rhodey r fighting crimson dynamo and whiplash and tony gets a message from jarvis saying someone has entered the mansion and is stealing a chest piece from the mark 1/2/3(whatever) but tony like not now jarvis. then in a after credit scene we see ghost walk up to a hoodede figure(the mandarin) and u hear a maniacle laugh. then in iron man 3 hes like the mandarins right hand man instead of a extremis soldier version of coldblood.
1 2
Related Headlines
Latest Headlines

Hot Headlines Hot Headlines

Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Anime & Manga

Gaming

Horror

Cartoons & Animated Features

Action Movies & TV

Pro Wrestling & MMA News
View Recorder