I'm forced to recall this one movie I've seen, in part because it helps establish my position on Iron Man 3. It's this 1932 movie I've seen called The Mask of Fu Manchu. In this movie, Boris Karloff portrays the Fiendish Dr. Fu Manchu, who plans on using two artifacts associated with Genghis Khan in a plot to take over the world. It's not that bad a movie. It's well acted, it looks decent, and has some good special effects, especially considering the film is over 80 years old.
It is also one of the most racist movies I've seen. And I've seen Birth of a Nation. Fu Manchu's plan is specifically to encite the peoples of Asia and the Middle East to "Kill the White man", and end their dominion over the Earth. And he does this with the help of several large, brutish, mute Black henchmen. The heroes, meanwhile, are of course White people, with increbily WASPish names like "Denis Nayland Smith". They express astonishment at the start of the film when they hear how well educated Fu Manchu is, and the film ends with an Asian servant on a boat assuring the surviving heroes that he is happy in his position and would never aspire to anything more.
Never mind that Dr. Fu Manchu and his daughter are both portrayed by White actors.
Fu Manchu is the archetypal Yellow Peril villain. The "Yellow Peril" was an increasing paranoia in Western nations, particularly the United States, that was at its peak in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries concerning Eastern Asia. It coincides with a few important events - the mass of Chinese and Japanese immigrants coming to the imperial powers, the rapid industrialization of Japan, the Boxer Rebellion in China, etc.
Yellow Peril villains tend to have a lot in common. They're always tied to symbols of an older China; like they will dress in an older way, live in a place, be adorned with dragons, and the such. Their plan usually involves some combination of Ancient Chinese magic and modern technology, and just about always proclaim ancestry from Genghis Khan. And while many of the Yellow Peril stories and characters have thankfully been forgotten, Fu Manchu has survived, primarily through the countless characters inspired by him, parodic or not.
And the Mandarin is one of those characters.
The Elephant in the Room[]
The film's treatment of the Mandarin is its best part, and the single biggest stroke of genius Shane Black had when making the movie.
The International Market[]
If the version of the Mandarin that appeared in Iron Man 3 was closer to its traditional, Yellow Peril self, it would never fly on the international market. Although superhero movies, moreso than any other kind of brand of big budget blockbuster, are dominant in the domestic market, that's rapidly changing. And China makes up a sizeable portion of the international market for Hollywood films. So sizeable a portion that it's already affected Hollywood. A year or so ago, the Red Dawn remake had to be re-edited to make its Chinese villains North Korean because North Korea is about the only country left without a market for American films.
Even with all the changes that were made to the character, it wasn't enough. The Chinese version of the film just called the character "Daren". And so Shane Black made him exactly what all Yellow Peril villains deserve to be. A Joke.
A funny joke at that. The scene had me belly-laughing throughout.
Theming[]
The primary antagonist of the first Iron Man was a corrupt businessman who hired a terrorist organization so he could take control of Stark Industries.
The primary antagonist of Iron Man 2 was a terrorist who exploited a corrupt businessman so he could kill Tony Stark.
The previous two films have both featured the relationship between big business and terrorism. Iron Man 3 follows this trend, but does so in a way that doesn't make the film seem like a retread of the previous films, as was one of the common complaints about Iron Man 2. IM3 changed the formula, not only by not putting the main villain in a suit of armor, but also by jettisoning any actual relationship between the two, and instead making the film's corrupt big business and terrorist organization one in the same.
The works for the best, as it creates a stronger connective tissue between the Iron Man films more than just having a similar cast of characters. A comparable strategy was used with Christopher Nolan's Batman films, which, to date, is the only superhero franchise that told a complete arc, that ended on its own terms. Each of the major villains in that franchise were terrorists whose actions while morally reprehensible, there was always supposed to be some voice in the back of our heads that maybe they were right. Of course the Joker is a horrible human being, but maybe his twisted view on human nature is actually correct. This meant not adapting many of Batman's most famous, and most colorful, rogues aside from Joker and Two-Face, which is impressive since Batman most definitely has the most well-known rogues gallery in all of superhero comics. When the average person thiks of Batman villains, names like "the Penguin" or "the Riddler", not "Ra's al Ghul" (especially before 2005).
Most other superhero franchises take an easier route and just adapt the hero's most notable villains. Take the Spider-Man reboots. Why is the Lizard the villain in the first? And Electro in the second? Because they're two notable Spider-Man villains yet to have been done in movies. Never mind that a giant lizard man and blue guy who shoots lightning are completely out of place in this more serious take on the Spider-Man mythos than the Silver Age love letter that was Raimi's series. On that note, it was because his series was a Silver Age love letter that Venom was so out of place.
Let's Face It, You Didn't See It Coming[]
It's the irony of all these superhero films. We want to be surprised by them, yet, as comics fans, we already know the majority of what might happen. When was the last time you were legitimately surprised by something that happened in a superhero film? Was it when Obadiah Stane got his own armor? Or when Harvey Dent became Two-Face?
_from_Iron_Man_3_(film)_0003.jpg){kind=link}
He said it in the trailer..."You'll never see me coming." He was right.
But a major thing like turning the Mandarin into nothing more than a character used to cover up A.I.M.'s Extremis tests? That's a shock.
Actually, it is based on something in comics, just not an Iron Man one. In the Joker's origin story in Alan Moore's Batman: The Killing Joke, the Joker was an engineer working at a chemical plant hired by a group of crimials to help them pull off a heist. The criminals make the engineer wear a red mask (the Red Hood) because they expect Batman to believe the colorful, masked individual to be the group's mastermind, when in reality he's just a pawn.
The same thing was done here, but the joke's on us. We expect the Mandarin to be the mastermind behind all this, but he's just a pawn barely in on the plan and really it's the sleezy looking guy in a suit. It's well foreshadowed too that Killian's really the bad guy, down to the 1999 flashback ending with Tony Stark saying he "created demons" that night. But we still expect it to be the Mandarin because we just do. Based on his appearance in the comics, and because we would never expect it to just be some suit. We got duped, and that's all we can ask for when it comes to a twist.
Other IM3 Thoughts[]
That all being said, Killian's plan was pretty stupid. The controlling the supply & demand side of the War on Terror - that at least made some sense. It's a stretch, but I least I could understand it. The other part made no sense whatsoever. Killian purposefully involved one of the few people on the Earth that could actually foil his plans. And why? For revenge? Was Killian holding a decade-old grudge because he was stood up on a business proposal? He already had sexy scientist lady and the vice president in his pocket. His plan would have succeeded if he didn't involve a freaking superhero.
Also he can BREATHE FIRE. Why, in the final battle on the boat, did he charge the unarmored Tony Stark instead of dousing him in Extremis fire? He could have ended the fight there, but instead he gave him the upper hand.
One really good part of the film was Tony's emphasis on building suits of armor he doesn't have to be in to use. Each of the Iron Man films has involved Tony updating his armors. Sometimes it was making it easier to get into, in Iron Man 2 he had to develop the new power source. This time, it was connected to his personal battle. He had the PTSD from New York because he personally flew into the wormhole, so it makes a lot of sense that Stark would put the effort into building an armor he didn't have to be in to pilot.
It's also really interesting that S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't a part of this, as it was what held the Phase 1 films together. I'm guessing the Phase 2 films are going to be held together by the fallout from the battle in New York. In Iron Man 3, it was Tony's PTSD after the fight.
The Future of the MCU[]
I have no idea what to think about Guardians of the Galaxy.
Thor: The Dark World[]
In Thor: The Dark World, the fallout from New York is most likely going to be something with Loki. I've long speculated that Thanos will at some point attack Asgard. The Other made that statement in The Avengers about his master finding Loki and making him suffer if he were to fail. Well, he did, so Thanos is after him. And what do you know, there's a certain glove in Odin's possession that Thanos might want. Maybe Malekith's actions are a front to get Thor and his allies out of Asgard, leaving the place virtually undefended for Thanos to get what he wants. Or maybe that's the plot of the Avengers sequel.
Or maybe Loki just absconds with the thing so he can offer it to Thanos in exchange for mercy. That'd make for a good post-credits sequence, nearly mirroring Thor's. Except instead of Nick Fury opening a suitcase to show Dr. Selvig the Tesseract, it's Loki opening a box to show Thanos the Infinity Gauntlet.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier[]
As for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I think Redford's Alexander Pierce is the main antagonist. The villains we know about are Winter Soldier, Crossbones, and Batroc. None of those guys can hold down a film. They need a handler, and I think Pierce is that handler.
My guess is that Nick Fury's bucked the World Security Council too many times, and shooting down one of their planes is the final straw. So they replace him with Alexander Pierce, someone they can better control. Way back in August in my Amazing Spider-Man 2 blog, I talked about the recent wave of superhero films relying too much on a structure that has the main villain of the film also being the main physical threat. I used the Bond villains Auric Goldfinger and Oddjob from Goldfinger to illustrate my point - Goldfinger's the main villain, but the guy we all want to see Bond fight is his top henchman Oddjob. I think Cap 2 follows this structure - Pierce is the main villain, but the guy we all want to see Cap fight is his top henchman the Winter Soldier.
It's not like they can add a new main character to the film at this point. The people mentioned in the press release is the list to the most prominently featured characters in the film, and the only one whose role is a bit of a mystery is Alexander Pierce.
Then there's those pictures of Cap and Black Widow accosting Jasper Sitwell, so something's definitely up at SHIELD. And this would explain why they weren't around to help Iron Man save the president.
And I'm still holding out that Powers Boothe's character on the Council is actually Dell Rusk. I know he's not listed in the press release, but he could just make a brief appearance in the film. How awesome would that reveal be as a post-credits scene?
Phase 3?[]
As of writing this Ant-Man is the only film confirmed after the Avengers sequel, and it's for some reason being marketed as part of Phase 2. I'd like for Hank Pym, who I think it's safe to say will be the film's protagonist, to be portrayed as the Anti-Tony Stark. He's a no-nonsense scientist who takes his work way too seriously. This could very easily be done with the rest of the supporting cast: Janet Van Dyne is the anti-Pepper Potts, Ultron is the anti-JARVIS. Heck, maybe Scott Lang is the anti-Rhodey.
I have no idea who should play any of these people, although maybe Peter Serafinowicz as the voice of Ultron. The dude has an amazing speaking voice, and he previously worked with director Edgar Wright on Shaun of the Dead. This clip should sum up why I think he'd work in the role.
You probably didn't see it. You chose wisely.
After that should be a Doctor Strange movie. Kevin Feige recently stated in an interview that he was their first project lined up for 2016. I have no idea how a film like this would work if it's not an almost exact retread of what was done in the 2007 direct-to-dvd film Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme.
After that, they've announced a projects based on Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, the Runaways, and a Blade reboot. Anyone notice something odd here? They've talked about a bunch of Phase 3 films, none of which are sequels, or are even related to, the Phase 2 films. So there's a few things that could be happening here. One is that they've just announced stuff that's being worked on, and only a few are actually going to happen. Maybe of the films they've talked about, only the Iron Fist movie will happen. Another is that all of these and the sequels are happening. That'd be too much if they plan on making an Avengers 3 any time soon.
Another explanation for this that I hope isn't true is Marvel's facing a full-scale revolt from their actors. RDJ's not all that interested in coming back for more sequels, they've already fought with Samuel L. Jackson over his salary, and Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson are about to walk out on Avengers 2 if they don't get a bigger paycheck. It's worrisome that, with the Avengers sequel only two years away, the only one signed on for the film (as of writing this) is Chris Evans.
Add in the rumors about the sequel featuring Black Panther, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch, maybe Marvel's planning a Phase 3 that revolves around entirely new characters; replacing the old ones with ones they can better control.