If you have seen Iron Man 2 (opening today in the States) you will know that Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr) father is in it. He shows up briefly on some old films that Tony watches.
As you may also know, the Captain America movie is going to be set mainly during World War 2. This means that Howard Stark (John Slattery) would have been in his prime back then. Plus being a mover and shaker in the technology world he would probably have been involved in some way with the Super Soldier project. Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) even mentions that Howard was involved in the formation of SHIELD.
MTV news spoke to director Jon Favreau about the possibility of Howard Stark showing up in the Captain America movie.
“Yeah, because he was around then,” confirmed Favreau.
“[‘Captain America’] is World War II,” he explained. “It wouldn’t be that same actor, probably, because he would be much younger.”
“[Howard Stark] was starting out during that time, and [he] was involved with the war effort, much like Howard Hughes,” said the filmmaker.
Sam Rockwell working with Jon Favreau again in the adaptation of the comic book, Cowboys and Aliens
It starts shooting in June and Rockwell, who can currently be seen in Iron Man 2 as Justin Hammer, will be joining Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde and Harrison Ford.
Rockwell will play a bar owner named Doc who joins in the pursuit of the aliens. Once Favreau and the writers — Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof — learned that Rockwell was interested in the movie, they reconceived and expanded the role, which initially called for a heavy-set man.
Rockwell’s previous experience with Westerns was in 2007’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
I’m made up Rockwell will be in this sci-fi Western as I think he is a brilliant actor. From Lawn Dogs, Galaxy Quest through Charlie’s Angels Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Moon and more he is always great to watch.
Director: Jon Favreau Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Clark Gregg, Samuel L Jackson
This review by Ben Mortimer
Two years ago, as the first Iron Man film was being showered in almost universal praise, there was one criticism levelled at it in review after review – that it lacked action set pieces. It’s safe to say this won’t be a sticking point for viewers of the sequel, as it is packed to the gills with fight sequences.
The problem with this new action-packed take on Iron Man, however, is that much of the action feels like it’s been crow bared in. At each crash of a super-suited fist the film trips over itself, as story and characters are temporarily sidelined to satisfy Another Pointless Super Scrap. This is particularly true early on in the film, with the introduction of Whiplash.
Taking place about twenty minutes in, we know too much about the character for him to feel mysterious, but not enough to particularly care about why he’s fighting Stark. This is unfortunate, because, with the exception of a couple of fairly slapstick moments, this is one of the better executed action sequences in the film (more on that later).
In the midst of all of this unnecessary action, are some very strong elements. The characters are generally well rounded, even if the story itself lacks any real thrust, and as with the first film, the performances are almost universally excellent. The main exception to this is Mickey Rourke as Whiplash. With a loosely-sketched back story, and a very linear arc, he simply isn’t interesting enough to be the film’s key villain, and Rourke struggles to imbue the character with any real personality.
In addition to the well rounded characters, there were several references back to small but memorable elements of the first film that pay-off some of the support players, although these references are small potatoes compared with the wealth of references to films to come, from Black Widow’s blue SHIELD catsuit to Agent Coulson being sent to deal with Thor. There is also a reference to Tony Stark’s future alcoholism, although it seems unlikely that an audience could really sit through a third ‘wayward Tony Stark makes good’-story.
In spite of these positive elements, the film has some serious down sides. The plot is functional but empty, and Tony’s quest to find a hidden message from his father is logic defying. If the subject of the message were so important why is it hidden, and more to the point, why was it not mentioned in the first film?
The biggest issue the film has, however, is that watching two men fight with masks on is ultimately unsatisfying. No matter how much damage we see the suit take, and how little energy/control the occupant has, it’s nearly impossible to connect with them when we can’t see their face. Iron Man solved this by having Stark and Stane remove their helmets for the final battle. The sequel ignores this technique, but fails to come up with an alternative, resulting in several dull fights, including what should have been the climactic battle.
Ultimately, and despite its flaws, Iron Man 2 is still a fun and enjoyable film, filled with a great deal to like. It might not be a patch on its predecessor, but it is considerably better than many of the other films within its genre.
If you are a fan of the Iron Man movie you will remember that after the closing credits, Tony Start (Robert Downey Jr) went home and was met by Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) who mentioned the Avengers Initiative. It was a very cool fanboy moment and it looks as if something similar could happen at the end of Iron Man 2.
To avoid spoilers I have put it in inviso-text (just press the mouse button and drag across below to see the text from BadTaste via /Film. Update: Can’t get the damn text to change colour so apologies.
A 100% trusted source (NOT from the production/distribution, but very familiar with the movie) confirmed us today that there will be an easter egg in IM2. It’s an extra scene, just like the one in the first movie, after the end credits. We are able to tell you what’s about! It’s a scene about… Captain America and Thor! Maybe this doesn’t seem a big reveal, but it’s nice to have a confirmation.
Pretty cool if it is true. I won’t say anymore here, but feel free to discuss further in the comments which are now designated spoiler territory for this post.
Recently some rumours surfaced in the New York Daily Times saying all was not well on the set of Marvel Studios Thor movie. Kenneth Branagh directs, Chris Hemsworth is Thor and Anthony Hopkins is Thor’s Father, Odin.
Rumour had it that Hopkins wasn’t a fan of Hemsworth and stress levels were rising. Hopkins recently spoke to the LA Times to address the tale – “I am having the time of my life making Thor with Ken and Chris. They have made every day immensely fun and collaborative, and we’re all puzzled that someone would fabricate a story suggesting otherwise. I’m proud to say that Thor has been one of the great experiences of my career.”
All well and good. The article goes on and has some interesting news confirming that all the Marvel Studios will tie in leading to The Avengers team up.
Director Jon Favreau recently wrapped up Iron Man 2. Kevin Feige (Marvel producer) said the plan to meld the Marvel Universe on the big screen will move forward dramatically now and he said there are some surprises in Iron Man 2 that set up an unexpected bond to the Captain America movie that director Joe Johnston is doing early work on now in England.
There has already been some groundwork laid for Captain America. Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk had the super-soldier serum that was used to make Cap, but went whacko on Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) and created the Abomination. Cap is also seen frozen in ice during a deleted scene in the Hulk movie.
Then in Iron Man you can see Captain Americ’s round shield on Tony Stark’s workbench.
“Now many of the pieces are in place … with ‘Iron Man 2’ finished and ‘Thor’ more than halfway done, that lattice work is being built.” said Feige
Kenneth Branagh also spoke about making Thor and how it will be split between Asgard and Earth. “Inspired by the comic book world both pictorially and compositionally at once, we’ve tried to find a way to make a virtue and a celebration of the distinction between the worlds that exist in the film but absolutely make them live in the same world,” Branagh said. “It’s about finding the framing style, the color palette, finding the texture and the amount of camera movement that helps celebrate and express the differences and the distinctions in those worlds. If it succeeds, it will mark this film as different…. The combination of the primitive and the sophisticated, the ancient and the modern, I think that potentially is the exciting fusion, the exciting tension in the film.”
“It’s going very, very well,” Branagh said Wednesday. “We’re in New Meixco now where we have a contemporary Earth part of our story. I guess we’re two-thirds of the way through the story and at this stage of the game what’s surprising and delighting me is the way the cast, the ensemble, has fused together. It’s kind of an interesting combination of very young and very experienced people and the double-up of that, it seems to me, is there is a lot of fire in the movie. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, it doesn’t try to be too solemn.”
Just before you watch it let me say there is no new stuff on this one. ScreenRant took all the footage from the two trailers that have already been seen and spliced it all together.
It works rather well and I still think there is a huge amount of stuff we have yet to see in Jon Favreau’s sequel.
After the excellent new trailer debuted yesterday for Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 along come some posters. There are ones for Iron Man (Robery Downey Jr) and War Machine (Don Cheadle) along with the standee about. The photo at the bottom has Downey Jr as Stark and I’m assuming Cheadle is in the Mark II suit.
“If you could make God bleed, people would cease to believe in him.”
More Downey Jr as Stark, more Rourke as Whiplash, more Cheadle as War Machine, more Johansson as Black Widow, more suits, more robots and it just looks awesome.
Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster film based on the legendary Marvel Super Hero Iron Man, reuniting director Jon Favreau and Oscar® nominee Robert Downey Jr. In Iron Man 2, the world is aware that billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the armored Super Hero Iron Man. Under pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armor because he fears the information will slip into the wrong hands. With Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and James Rhodey Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, Tony forges new alliances and confronts powerful new forces.
Recently a clip from Iron Man 2 surfaced. In the ever changing world of the Internet I just didn’t get around to posting it. However, io9 did (here’s the clip) and they also posted the photo above.
In the clip Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is walking through a prison to see Whiplash (Mickey Rourke). As he walks down the corridor the camera leaves Stark to focus on the prisoner above. An odd thing to do, but that is what has the people over on Cinema Blend thinking that this could be Chris Hemsworth as Thor.
It is a bit of a stretch but not that far fetched. Marvel Studios have previously had Easter Eggs such as this in their other films – Captain America was in a deleted scene in The Incredible Hulk and Caps Shield was briefly seen in the first Iron Man film, plus Stark popped up at the end of the Incredible Hulk. All of this ties together the films of the Marvel Universe.
The plot of Thor sees Thor (Chris Hemsworth) sent to Earth to learn humility. Therefore, it wouldn’t be that far fetched for him to end up in prison after starting a fight.
It would be nice if that is Thor and if so this is our first glimpse of him.
What do you think? Is that Thor or just a no good prison extra?
When asked via Twitter when Iron Man 2 takes place in relation to 2008’s Incredible Hulk, director Jon Favreau said the upcoming sequel actually falls Edward Norton’s turn as Hulk.
As MTV point out this fits in with what we see of Tony Stark at the end of The Incredible Hulk when he approaches General Ross in a bar to talk with him about his “unusual problem.”
Stark asks Ross, “What if I told you we were putting a team together?” so he knows about Nick Fury and is already part of the team, which will be The Avengers.
Anyone else have any bits and pieces from the Marvel films which fit help determine the timeline of it all?
The question is where will the other films fall into the timeline?
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