Iron Man (New Line sets 2005 release date)

Could be fun; I dropped "Iron Man" from my pull list yesterday because it's just gone steadily downhill since Kurt Busiek left the book (and my dropping it means Marvel will do something really great with it, like giving it to Christopher Priest), but this could be a really entertaining movie. There's a certain whimsical fun to how Tony Stark's secret identity is supposedly his own bodyguard (yes, I'm ignoring the past year), and if Gough & Millar make him more James Bond than Bruce Wayne, this should be a real ride.

The only problem is, Iron Man doesn't really have a great nemesis. I'm pretty sure G&M will rewrite history a little so that The Mandarin is the guy who captures Stark and forces him to build weapons (leading to the armor), but The Mandarin is... well, let's just say he falls a little short of Lex Luthor.

Jason,

I've not read Iron Man in years, since the Marvel split and the "new avengers" etc.

What's the new story with Iron Man?

Well, he came back from "Heroes Reborn" back-to-normal (apparently there was some sort of Teen Tony thing which they're pretneding never happened), and because a Japanese company had purchased Stark Enterprises in his absense, he founded a consulting firm - Stark Solutions - and during the Busiek run things were good.

Since then, the stories have gotten less interesting - there was this thing with his armor becoming sentient that Would Not End - and the biggest disaster, IMHO, was Tony outing himself as Iron Man to save a dog from getting run over by a car.

That doesn't count the version of Iron Man in "The Ultimates", who is a complete oaf. Most galling was that while the regular book was going downhill, Priest did a great arc in "Black Panther" with Ol' Shellhead as a guest star. Really nailed the character as a hero, engineer, and businessman.


As to who plays Stark - if Tom Cruise is still interested, he could be perfect, as could Russell Crowe in one of his lighter modes. For someone less expensive, I'd kind of be interested in Christian Slater in the part, with the breezy playboy thing going on.

Actually, now that I think of it... David Duchovny. Carefree as Stark, authoritative as Iron Man, he could be a lot of fun in the role.

Does anyone remember Tom Cruise wanting to do Iron Man?

I'm not an Iron Man fan, but I think Tom Selleck looks like Tony Stark. But then again, I've never picked up an Iron Man comic and only based this off his guest appearence on the Spider-Man cartoon.

My favorite choice for Iron Man the last few years has been Dylan McDermott, from The Practice. Admittedly, I got the idea after Iron Man artist Sean Chen claimed that was who his version of Tony Stark was visually based on, but after thinking about it I think McDermott would fit the part perfectly.

I read an article on a random movie site about a week ago. Avi Arad said something to the effect of "Tom Cruise. I'd sign him tomorrow. I want him as Iron Man."

Plus I think there was some buzz way back when that he was interested. I think he'd be great, though I imagine that choice would incense a lot of comic book fans.

Glad to see New Line's got the ball on this one. I'm not a huge fan of the Blade flicks, but it's clear this studio knows how to handle the comics stuff. And trilogies.

For a while, Cruise-Wagner Productions actually had Iron Man optioned, and were setting it up at Paramount. I think, though, that it was around the time that Cruise was really trying to find a franchise that he could use to occasionally have a no-brainer hit that funded smaller films or would rescue him if his star started to lose its luster. He had Mandrake The Magician optioned, too, but it was Mission Impossible that wound up being made.

I'd personally like to see Alex Ross' vision of Timothy Dalton as Iron Man come true.

De

Think War Machine will also make an appearance?

Maybe a spin-off movie

Actually going as far back as around 1996,Nicolas Cage was attached to Iron Man for a long time.

He "offically'passed and then Tom Cruises name came up.

I read the script review below at Coronas years ago and it make me drool.

"Just a quick entry. I read that last draft, and man, I really liked it a lot. It has two big sequences that I remember vividly. One is the birth of Iron Man, where Tony Stark gets shot by a smart bullet waiting in his office for him, and then he crawls across the floor to a prototype of his armor, which scoops him up inside of it, and starts operating on him. Cool and creepy. The other is a scene where MODOK takes control of his armor. Tony ends up lying on the floor, immobile, like a guy trapped in a coffin. Tony gets out of it by giving voice commands to his automated lab, and the equipment picks him up and turns him around and around, as if Tony is just an object, slicing and cutting him free. He gives the last voice command to STOP! just as a drill bit screws through his face plate and starts into his cheek. REALLY cool and creepy!

"There are swell villains in there too. Like this guy with eyeballs that he can take out of his sockets. The eyeballs roll all around the building, spying on Stark, while the body of the man sits in a chair, back with the bad guys, and reports on what he is seeing--sort of like a living surveillance system. Then there is this other guy who can fold himself up into a little square shape and hide in a desk drawer. Strange, funny, and cool!

"This script has been dead a long time, as far as I know, because this was way back when Nicolas Cage was planning to be Iron Man, and when the project was still at Fox.

"You know, Iron Man is a pretty dated character, I think. If you take a sci-fi approach, then you've already been there with RoboCop and the Borg. If you take a James Bond approach, well, you've already been there with four decades of dated James Bond. And if you just take a super-hero approach, then you've already been there with Superman and Batman, etc.

"Still, this script was really unique, and richly detailed, and got a lot of us to reconsider what this character was about. I think you can chalk that up to the screenwriter and the original creator of the character working closely together, an event that is all too rare.

"We'll never see this Iron Man [or any Iron Man movie, most likely], but this one was fresh and different, moody and claustrophobic, funny and strange. Would have been interesting to see what might have come out of it, if more drafts could have been done. There is a second draft, but it really wasn't a second draft, as I recall, just a quick pass on the first one that needed to be done before the Fox option lapsed. If this project hadn't been derailed so prematurely by the business problems of two years ago, and by Cage bolting for Superman, who knows? For a brief moment, they were so close to having a real project, closer than anyone ever thought an Iron Man movie could be...."



I would love to see a good Iron Man movie. I think it would really have to focus on the cool SciFi aspects of the character and the duality of Stark(alocholic/millionaire businessman)

If I was a director and could pick any commercial project, it would be Iron Man (or Grendel)

Actually, I think Thomas Gibson, best known for t.v.'s Dharma and Greg would be perfect for Iron Man. Remember him in the Tom Cruise/Nicolde Kidman epic Far and Away? He had the look for Tony Stark down in that movie.

What about Dr. Doom? Or was he more limited to the Fantastic Four?

C'mon, two guys in badass suits of armor blasting away at each other...could be great!

My personal preference would be to see X-O Manowar brought to the big screen. A Visigoth barbarian decked out in an alien armor. Sweeeeeet!

Well, sure, every Marvel character from Squirrel Girl to The Hulk has faced off against Doom, but he's really most associated with the Fantastic Four (and, more to the point, is planned for the F4 movie at Fox).

Of course, since there will likely never be an Avengers movie, Ultron would probably be a natural.

Another potentially fun idea (for sequels anyway) is that Wesley Snipes has idly mentioned that after Blade 3, it might be fun to have Blade meet up with other Marvel characters. Seeing that both Blade and Iron Man are now set up at New Line...

My brother and I have said for years that Tom Selleck would be an absolutely PERFECT Tony Stark. Several of the other names listed above are just too young. Stark was a successful business man first, superhero second. Whoever plays him needs to be mature enough that we buy the fact that he has successfully built his own engineering corporation from the ground up. Timothy Dalton, as mentioned above too, would also fit the bill.

That said, I certainly think Mandarin could be a great bad guy if the story is written well. For starters I'm thinking John Lone from the Shadow, but maybe that character's too similar...

IGN FilmForce has learned which hot young star is the top choice

MatS wrote (post #18):




And this goes to show what's really driving film production in Hollywood, 'cause it ain't the quest for quality, believable films, that's for sure.

Someone above mentioned David Ducovny for Stark, he'd be mighty good I think.

Hmmm... Is DiCaprio even capable of growing facial hair?

I can't wondering that part of the reason they're considering Leo is that he's so skinny that he'd look less bulky in a suit of armor...

Leo looked heavier in Gangs Of NY - looks like he put on about 15 pounds

Press release on Nick Cassavetes as director for Iron Man.

~Edwin

DiCaprio? Dang, there goes my hope for Robert Goulet!

I was suprised to see Nick Cassavetes got the Iron Man job.

I'd sooner have Matt LeBlanc do it. He did well with the suit in Lost in Space.

Selleck is way too geriatric and who wants an Iron Man with a high squeaky voice?

Yuck to Cruise a.k.a. Mini-Iron Man. I'm still trying to get over that little Commish guy as Thing. Double Yuck to DiCraprio.

Would be fun to see Duchovny do a big action flick. They should use him before he's an old man like Harrison Ford.

I can definitely see Cruise playing Tony Stark.Ive always pictured Timothy Dalton is Stark (WAY before Alex Ross used him as a model)Stark is a tricky one to cast - I could also see people like Guy Pierce,Thomas Jane(already Punisher) or maybe Gabriel Byrne in the role (I can see all with the arrogance,slicked back hair,thin mustache and suit)

PLEASE, I hope they get this one right and it doesnt turn into a Fantastic Four type abortion.I want to see Absorbing Man,Modok and Mandarin

I also dont see how they caan make a 2005 release except for Holiday season.

"just gone steadily downhill since Kurt Busiek left the book"

I had no idea he was on Iron Man. How was his run, Ill pick a few up if they were good.The last Iron Mans I read were when Romita Jr was doing the book in the early 90s.

Busiek's run was pretty good; he had the book for a couple of years starting with "Heroes Return" (so, Volume 3 Number 1-~20). It did go to pot fairly quickly after he left, though. It's just relaunched again with Warren Ellis writing it, but I'm waiting for the collection on that, especially since Ellis is only doing six issues and the artist means they're only coming out every six weeks.