Iron Man

[Staffan]

I'm not a comic follower in general (though I did know about what you mention in the spoiler), but someone mentioned to me that the Marvel movies are generally following the Ultimate universe more than the classic Earth 616 universe. Not sure how true that is, but that might explain many of the classic character differences many people complain about.

Not in the case of Iron Man. Iron Man's backgrounds in the "classic" and the Ultimate versions are very, very different (for one thing, Ultimate Iron Man's brain is diffused throughout his body), and the movie matches the classic origin perfectly (except for replacing Vietnam with Afghanistan).

 

[Psion]

Not in the case of Iron Man. Iron Man's backgrounds in the "classic" and the Ultimate versions are very, very different (for one thing, Ultimate Iron Man's brain is diffused throughout his body)

Which I find intensely stupid, I might add.

We have enough mutants and whatnot. Why did they feel the need to screw up one of the classic braniac heroes?

 

[Staffan]

Yeah, while I like the Ultimate verse in general, I think the change to Iron Man was pretty bad.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

I've read the Ultimates Vol 1 and 2, though I don't recall anything about brain diffusion...

Is that in the Orson Scott Card version? He's one of my favorites and I thought maybe I'd pick it up after the movie. If I read that, I'd probably find the unnecessary change pretty bizarre too.

 

[Taelorn76]

To those of you who are going to see it: STAY UNTIL THE CREDITS END!

[sblock] Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury wants to talk to Tony about something he's assembling. [/sblock]

Damn my wife and wanting too leave before the credits ended

 

[Silver Moon]

Plus, when they do the alcoholic Stark storyline, they couldn't have picked anyone better than Robert Downey. How many times has he been in jail?

Downey was so much better than their first choice, Leonardo DiCaprio. They were after him way back in 2003 but he passed to play Howard Hughes in "The Aviator" instead (which did poorly, never making back its production costs). The irony there is that in the comic book Tony's dad Howard Anthony Stark is based on Howard Hughes.

 

[Fast Learner]

DiCaprio was excellent as Hughes, though, regardless of how the movie did. I think he would have been a perfectly fine Stark. Downey was excellent, and better, I think, than DiCaprio would have been, but I still think Leo would have been just fine.

 

[Staffan]

I've read the Ultimates Vol 1 and 2, though I don't recall anything about brain diffusion...

Is that in the Orson Scott Card version? He's one of my favorites and I thought maybe I'd pick it up after the movie. If I read that, I'd probably find the unnecessary change pretty bizarre too.

Yeah, it's in the Iron Man mini-series. I can't recall if it's been mentioned in the actual Ultimates comics though.

 

[Arnwyn]

Just saw it on the weekend.

After suffering through some of the worst set of trailers that every disgraced a screen and made it look like the movie would be total garbage, I was suitably impressed.

A pretty good movie indeed and quite enjoyable. One thing I found especially interesting was that the flight scenes, especially during the test flight over the city at night (but excluding the hokey F22 scene) seemed - to me at least - to be incredibly realistic. I don't know what it was, but it all looked really good.

I thought the pacing overall was good, and they gave just the right amount of screen time to all the characters. Also a great mix of action, drama, and humor. Who knew a fire extinguisher-bot could be so funny?

Disclaimer: I have no knowledge of the source material.

 

[horacethegrey]

I've read the Ultimates Vol 1 and 2, though I don't recall anything about brain diffusion...

Is that in the Orson Scott Card version? He's one of my favorites and I thought maybe I'd pick it up after the movie. If I read that, I'd probably find the unnecessary change pretty bizarre too.

Good lord, how I hated Ultimate Iron Man. It seemed to me Card just chucked out all the classic elements of ol' Shellhead in favor of writing a Marvel Comics version of Ender's Game. Horrendous.