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Marvel True Believer Tuesday: Iron Man Movie Featurette
Posted: Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Posted By: Kevin Powers
We are one week away from a magical time of year that seems to captivate audiences and keep Hollywood alive. Of course, I am talking about the Summer Movie Season. There are a lot of hyped movies this year, a lot which look extremely promising and are sure to remind people why we love going to the movies. Next week the Summer Movie Season kicks off with the much-anticipated Iron Man. This film not only marks the beginning of the 2008 Summer Season; it's also a milestone for Marvel Studios.
Since the first Blade film, the Marvel films were heavily influenced by whichever studio owned the film rights to the characters. For example, Spider-Man was more of a Sony Pictures film than it was a Marvel film. The same goes for 20th Century Fox and X-Men, and so on. However, a few years back Marvel Studios entered a deal with Merrill Lynch that would provide them the funds to buy back their film licensing rights. Through the process, Marvel reacquired the film rights to Captain America, Thor, Ant-Man, the Hulk, Nick Fury and Iron Man, among others. This allowed for the much anticipated crossovers between Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Following this deal, Marvel entered a distribution agreement with Paramount Pictures which basically decreed that Marvel will make the movie with Paramount distributing it. This has essentially made Marvel Studios an actual film production studio.
Three of the most eagerly anticipated movies of the summer are Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Dark Knight. Each one has enormous potential to destroy box office records and will no doubt captivate movie-goers all over the world.
Today as part of Comics Bulletin's "Marvel True Believer Tuesday" we bring you a central "hub" location where you can check out images, trailers and interviews from all over the 'net as the countdown to Iron Man comes closer to 0:00.
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia "Pepper" Potts
Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger
Terrence Howard as James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine (rumored)
Jon Favreau is the director of the film. Marvel movie fans will remember that Favreau portrayed "Foggy" Nelson in 2003's Daredevil.
While early screenings and reviews of the film suggest that Nick Fury does not make an appearance in the film, it is still rumored as possible that in the final cut of the film, Samuel L. Jackson will pop up as Nick Fury and Hilary Swank as either Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel or the Black Widow.
Adi Granov Armor:
Original Armor:
The film's Iron Man Armor Mark II-III designs were based mostly off of the fantastic work of Adi Granov. Mark II and III are pretty much the same save for the Mark III having a little bit of color added in. I'm sure the film will go into detail about Tony's upgrades from Mark II to Mark III. The Mark I is more or less the original Iron Man concept.
I am a HUGE fan of one-sheets. Don't ask me why but for some reason I really love a well-done movie poster. Frankly, I have yet to meet a comic book movie one-sheet I didn't like, the Batman & Robin one-sheet is the exception but I try to forget that movie exists. Anyways, Marvel does an excellent job with their one-sheets and the Iron Man posters have been no different.
While the film's images can be found all over the net, just Google "Iron Man Movie," I wanted to at least show off a few of my favorites.
Of course, what kind of 21st Century web feature would this be without YouTube and video clips? Below are the trailers and TV spots that I could actually find. I have also been seeing a lot of 15 second spots on TV lately, while I could not find them by press time, I'll try an update them as I find them. I'm not 100% sure if I have the order that these were released totally correct, but oh well, enjoy them!
Iron Man Trailer #2
Iron Man Super Bowl Spot
Iron Man TV Spot
Iron Man TV Spot
Iron Man TV Spot
Like any Summer blockbuster, or superhero for that matter, action figures and toy tie-ins are always essential. With Marvel's toy license in hand, Hasbro is producing the action figures and toys based on the film. Head over to Hasbro.com for more info. Also check out the images below!
*War Machine is only available at Wal-Mart
**The Silver Centurion Iron Man (next to 2nd Iron Monger) is only available at Target
Superhero Video Games, especially those based on a film, don't always strike the right chords with fans and gamers. Activision's Spider-Man 2 is what I still consider to be the best superhero movie game ever made, it's actually one of the best superhero games ever. While I love the non-movie licensed superhero games like Marvel Ultimate Alliance and WB's Justice League Heroes, the movie games is where we usually hit a few speed bumps.
I'd also like to take a moment to comment on what Iron Man's competition is for both the film and the game. While Iron Man is still slated to be released next Friday, May 2nd, I have heard rumblings that it will open on Wednesday, April 30th, like most big films of this nature. On Tuesday, April 29th, one of the most anticipated video games of all time is released; Grand Theft Auto IV. GTA is of course the most controversial and one of the most popular gaming franchises of all time and after the box office took a hit following the release of Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, it will be interesting to see how GTA affects Iron Man. Granted, Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 came out in the fall, a time where movies aren't often compelling like some of the choices this summer. It's just interesting to note this trend in the market.
I had the opportunity to play the Iron Man Demo at the New York Comic Con and was then able to download it to my XBox Live. I've got to say that I was pretty impressed not only with the graphics, but the gameplay as well. Money is going to burn a hole in my pocket next week as I will definitely pick up GTA, Iron Man and go see the movie. Boy I hope it rains.
Anyways, the game allows you to play as Tony Stark and stars the voices of the film's cast. Some of the game's features include full access to Iron Man's arsenal and fully upgradeable armor allowing you to control how you play as Tony Stark. Sorry, I don't think it comes with a whiskey dispenser inside the helmet.
Take a look at a few images from the game:
Take a look below at some great videos from the upcoming game:
Video Game Trailer 1
Video Game Trailer 2
Making of the Video Game
Making of Video Game Suit
Game Trailers First Look
I hope you've enjoyed Comics Bulletin's featurette on the Iron Man movie which opens May 2nd, 2008. I'll do my best to try and keep this area updated until the film's release.
Until then, be sure to check out the official Iron Man websites:
Marvel.com
IronManMovie.com
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