Iron Man
 

I don't know how many of you have seen this, but the comic geek inside me is having little antsy fits at it, especially since Iron Man was/is one of my two great geek comic obsessions (the other being Batman)

http://www.ironmanmovie.com/


It stars Robert Downey, Jr., as the womanizing addiction prone genius Tony Stark, Terence Howard as James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Gwyneth Paltrow as Patricia "Pepper" Potts, Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, and is directed by Jon Favreau. There's also reputedly cameos by Hilary Swank and Samuel L. Jackson (playing Nick Fury!)

For me, the comic geek, it looks good. I especially love the casting of Downey, and the inclusion of Black Sabbath in the trailer.

So...what do ya think?

We saw the Iron Man presentation at Comic-Con this year. Robert Downey Jr. was there, along with Gwynneth Paltrow, Jon Favreau and a few of the other cast members. A lot of the people there were very excited at the idea of RDJ as Tony Stark, and they seem to think he's tailor made for the role. Not knowing a lot about Iron Man, I could only judge by what I saw, and it looked pretty cool.

I know very little about Iron Man but it does seem to have good buzz and I like RDJ so I'll probably go see it. One question, Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury? I always thought Fury was an old white dude? Not that I object I can totally see Jackson tough as nails kickass old warhorse but I was just wondering.

In the normal 616 Marvel Universe (you can tell I'm a real comic geek by the use of the 616), he is an old white dude. A few years ago, though, Marvel came out with an "alternate" version of their universe, the Ultimate universe, in which Nick Fury was black.
http://content.answers.com/main/cont...teNickFury.jpg

This version of the character was actually visually designed after Samuel L. Jackson, so it only makes sense that he plays him.

In any case, he's a much better choice than the actor who previously played Fury...

http://digilander.libero.it/davidhas...fury/fury1.jpg

Don't Hassel the HOFF!!!:chainsaw:

See I tend to disregard the Ultimate Universe storylines, I really don't consider them canon, it's just Marvel's way of wiping the slate clean, and erasing 30+ years of history. Just like they did with Age of Apocolypse, Onslaught and House of M. Of course the fact that it runs paralell to 616 universe means it won't end as quickly as the other restarts did (I don't think they lasted more than a year or two).

See I can fake comic geekdom :D

One question (shows I'm not a true geek) why is the nomal universe called 616?

Thanks for the information on Fury I think Sam L Jackson will make a good Nick Fury, I really can't picture any actor playing the Fury I'm familar with, so more power to the casting director.

It's from a Captain Britain story written by Alan Moore back in the 80s. It involved a multitude of multiple Captain Britains, and some all powerful being referred to "our" Captain Britain as the Captain Britain of Earth 616.

The editors at Marvel hate it, so of course fandom uses it.

Saw this trailer a while back and it looks really good. Of course I know nothing about Iron Man and never even heard about it until this trailer. I too like RDJ and with SJ in the movie..come on now. I'll def. see it when it comes out. :)

Check out the new hi-res extended trailer...

http://marvel.com/movietrailer

I'm all geeked up.

You're not the only one. My husband is chomping at the bit.

The Superbowl trailer looked really good too. I'm kind of excited for Iron Man I just watched the high res trailer, I liked the use of AC/DC. It looks really good, I can't wait to see it.

Another question for Dan - I thought Tony Stark had a heart defect? Is the heart issue something that happened because he was shot or something? For some reason I always thought it was something he was born with.

The heart problem was a result of shrapnel. He receives the injury in the initial attack before he's Iron Man, which they're depicting here as occuring in Afghanistan (in the original comics, it was "unnamed Southeast Asian country", aka Vietnam). If you notice in some scenes, Downey can be seen to have a glowing circle on his chest. The idea, at least in the comics, is that he was saved by a fellow prisoner Yin-Sen (the guy in the trailer he shows the face plate to), and he himself rigs up something to magnetically keep the shrapnel from moving closer to his heart. Whether or not it's him or the other guy that does it in the movie, I can't tell.

Between the heart problem and the alcoholism, Stark is not always the picture of health.

As a friend likes to say, "It doesn't matter who plays [superhero]. What matters is who plays [superhero's human identity]." I got really excited about this project when Robert Downey Jr. was cast. Tony Stark was always one of the more deeply flawed heroes, and as a guy who made his billions in advanced weaponry he carried a lot of karmic baggage. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks RDJ can bring a certain perspective to that kind of character.

(Although I must say: Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts? God, give me strength.)

ETA: Dan just filled in the part about Stark's shrapnel-induced heart trouble.

That's what threw me. For some reason I thought he was born with it but in the trailer it appeared to be from wounds. Thanks for clearing that up.

Yeah I always knew he had that circle thing on the heart to solve the problem, I guess I just never knew the cause of the problem.

I'm really excited about this movie. It looks amazing, and RDJ is as perfect a choice for Stark as Patrick Stewart was for Prof X.

My only problem is the timing. Right now in the 616 universe, Stark is coming off as more and more of a tool. In the wake of the Civil War he's really shown some bad colors.

Incidently, in the Ultimate Universe he has a brain tumor. I guess they're picking and choosing what elements from Ultimates they want. Strangely enough, the Ultimates actually discuss what actors should play them if a movie is made about them, and Fury stands by Johnny Depp as Tony Stark.

Now if they'll only make Captain America and Thor, I'll be in comic book geek heaven.