The Iron Man sequel will introduce the Mandarin, transform James Rhodes into War Machine and take some cues from Matt Fraction’s The Invincible Iron Man.
“I’ll tell you which [comic books] we’re looking at very closely, not so much for story but for tone: the Matt Fraction [ones],” director Jon Favreau said yesterday during a press conference to promote the Iron Man DVD. “I haven’t talked to him yet, but we want to talk to him and get him out here. The Fraction series seems to be informed as much by our movie as by what had happened with Iron Man before.
What’s more, he envisions the Mandarin as the behind-the-scenes villain — used sparingly — for a planned trilogy. Favreau recognizes the character is “surrounded by minefields,” in part because of his roots as a Yellow Peril-style stereotype.
He notes that he’d like to shoot the film in IMAX, and possibly employ 3-D technology.
And what about War Machine? “I want to do it,” Favreau says. “We’re drawing War Machine. We’re figuring it out. We’re talking to Terrence to see if he can take some time out of his new life as a musician to be War Machine.”
Favreau said that he, Justin Theroux and Robert Downey Jr. are in the early scripting stages for the movie, which opens on April 30, 2010.
September 12th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Fraction input: meh.
Knaufs’ input: PLEASE!
September 12th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
“Favreau said that he, Justin Theroux and Robert Downey Jr. are in the early scripting stages for the movie”
Why wouldn’t they want to use the writers from the first movie instead of 3 actors? I see another Spider-man 3 happening.
September 12th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
WAR MACHINE !!!!
September 12th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Justin Theroux is a screenwriter, he wrote Tropic Thunder, and Favereau is one as well. And considering the amount of input Favreau and Downey supposedly had in the first one, I would consider it a good thing that they’re co-writing this one.
Also: Fraction = good things.
September 12th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Nothing against Fraction, but I really liked the Knauf’s run on Iron Man: DoS. I’d like to see them get involved.
September 13th, 2008 at 5:10 am
A huge problem with superhero movies is finding good villans.Most rogues galleries in comics are awful,hopefully they can mold Mandarin into something halfway decent.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:02 am
While we’re on the subject of Mandarin, can some explain the ending of his most recent appearance in Iron Man: DoS? The story arc ended with a big throwdown between Tony and Mandarin, and on the last page, IIRC, we find what looks to be a shattered statue of Mandarin (or something like that). I really enjoyed the story, but didn’t quite understand the end. I’m forgetting the issue # now, and the details of the fight, but I’m guessing Mandarin got away. I just didn’t get the broken statue, or whatever that was.