I saw “Iron Man 3” on opening day. I went in looking forward to seeing Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin. I went in looking forward to Robert Downey, Jr. making his fourth (fifth, if you count his cameo in “The Incredible Hulk”) appearance as Tony Stark/Iron Man. I went in looking forward to great special effectsa and amazing action. Since seeing it, there have been three things on my mind: the question of whether Tony Stark is Iron Man because of the suit, or if the suit is Iron Man because of Tony Stark; how the Extremis story compares with its origin in the comic book; and how disappointed I was by the major change made to one of the characters.
Superheroes without superpowers are fundamentally different
from those with super powers in an obvious way.
For superpowered heroes, a fairly common theme in comic books is to take
a hero’s superpowers away and then to put them in a potentially
life-threatening situation. For example,
in “The Flash” #19, Flash lost his powers just as he was he was trying to
retrieve police-confiscated supervillain weapons before other supervillains
could get to them. After he got his
powers back, he had a greater appreciation for heroes like Batman and Green
Arrow.
On the other hand, a superhero without superpowers like
Batman is still Batman even when he’s in his Bruce Wayne persona. He still has the same skills, even if he
isn’t wearing his costume. He’s trained
himself so well that even without his gadgets he can get out of just about any
situation relatively unscathed and without revealing himself.
Tony Stark is a little bit different. He is extremely intelligent and a very talented
engineer. He started out as a weapon’s
designer. He created the Iron Man to
survive and escape captivity. But he
doesn’t really have any combat training other than the experience he’s had
fighting in the Iron Man armor. In “Iron Man 2” he described the Iron Man as an
advanced prosthesis.
One of the themes of this movie was Tony’s struggle to
define himself. The movie starts our
with Tony Stark suffering anxiety attacks and sleeplessness due to the events
of “Marvel’s Avengers”, when he almost died.
He took refuge in what he knew: tinkering with his suits—upgrading them
and designing new ones. During his panic
attacks he retreated into his suit, hiding from his friends. He was relying more and more on the armor to
get through daily life.
When Tony found himself without his suit in “Iron Man 3”, he
had nowhere to retreat to. He went back to
his roots. In a scene that is
reminiscent of the original movie, Tony Stark built several weapons using
supplies purchased at a local hardware store.
He was able to infiltrate the enemy stronghold with only his homemade
gear. And when he finally did get access
to his suits again, he treated them as disposable. The final line of the movie is “I am Iron Man.” And that is after he apparently destroyed all
of his suits. He came through this
adventure with more real confidence in himself (versus the affected bravado he
sometimes displays) and his identity.
Point one in favor of “Iron Man 3”.
One of the major plot lines regards a substance known as
Extremis. This was something that was
introduced in the Iron Man comic book in 2005 and 2006. In the comic book, scientists Aldrich Killian
and Maya Hansen were developing it for medical purposes—though, since they had
military funding, it was also being developed as a new super soldier serum as
well. A dose of Extremis was stolen and
administered to a domestic militia man named Mallen. He went through a painful 2-day
transformation and emerged changed in several ways. He became relatively indestructible (able to
withstand small and medium arms fire), very strong and fast, and able to
breathe fire. At one point, Mallen
walked into an FBI office in Houston, TX and killed at least fifty people
barehanded.
Maya Hansen was one of Tony Stark’s ex-lovers. She contacted him after the theft of the
Extremis and they met up. They heard
about Mallen’s rampage in Houston, and Tony, as Iron Man intercepted him. Iron Man was severely injured in the fight,
and went back to Maya for help. He made
some changes to Extremis to make it safer and to tailor it to his needs. Maya administered it to him. It healed him and enabled him to have a better,
faster, stronger interface with the Iron Man armor. In the end it was revealed that Maya Hansen
had a hand in the theft of Extremis, and she was sent to prison.
Many elements from this arc remain intact in the movie, with
a few key changes. It was still
developed by Aldrich Killian and Maya Hansen.
Instead of a single dose of Extremis, several doses were administered to
injured vets. They did not act
independently, but were part of a private army.
They were sent after Tony Stark, all but destroying his life in the
process. One significant change is that
Pepper Potts was given the Extremis. She
survives the process and saves Tony’s life.
On the whole, I think these changes work very well. The overall nature of Extremis is preserved. Tony did not receive Extremis, but at the
beginning of the movie he was implanting subcutaneous interfaces into his body,
serving somewhat the same purpose with respect to the Iron Man armor.
Point two in favor of “Iron Man 3”.
I understand that not everything from a comic book
translates well to a live-action movie.
For one thing, a comic book audience is relatively small. A movie is targeted for a much larger
crowd. Changes are made to further a
story, or to tailor the parts to the cast, or to make the film more
approachable by more people. For
example, Justin Hammer of “Iron Man 2” was based on a character from the Iron
Man comic book called Justine Hammer. Colorful
characters from the comics are often toned down in movies, such as the
Wolverine’s bright blue and yellow spandex being exchanged for black leather or
Joker’s bright green hair dulled to a bad dye job.
Usually these changes don’t bother me too much. They’re mostly cosmetic. And even if they’re a bit deeper than that (in
the comics, Bucky was several years younger than Captain America, and they
never knew each other before WWII), I can get past them and go with the flow of
the story. However, there are instances
when the changes really get to me. I had
to see “The Fellowship of the Ring” a second time to get past the changes that
were made in translating that story to the screen. And ultimately, those changes were also
mostly cosmetic.
The changes made to one key character in “Iron Man 3” are
far from cosmetic. They are also much
more drastic than giving Captain America and Bucky a backstory that didn’t
exist in the comic book.
In an article by Joal Ryan of Movie Talk, he says, “Imagine
if, in a Batman movie, the Joker wasn’t really the Joker.” That is a very good comparison. Joker is Batman’s archenemy. More than any other character in Batman’s
rogue gallery, Joker is the villain you think of when you think of Batman. What would happen if the writers decided that
Joker was just a front? What if Harley
Quinn was the real bad guy and Joker was just someone she found on the street
and dressed up?
That scenario is similar to what the writers of “Iron Man 3”
did to the Mandarin. In the comic book
version, he lays long plans to wreak havoc on the Marvel universe in general
and Tony Stark in particular. He is a
skilled martial artist and an accomplished scientist. He has ten rings of alien origin that also
give him various powers, including control over matter, minds, light, and
time. In one story arc, he took control
of Tony and forced him to build a mechanical army with the goal of world
domination. In short, he’s a very
dangerous man.
In the movie he is a drunken actor named Trevor Slattery, cast
to play a part and to be the face of a terrorist organization that does not
exist. To me, that is a much bigger
distraction than Arwen rescuing the group of hobbits rather than Glorfindel.
I can accept the casting of Ben Kingsley as a character
called the Mandarin. (Maybe the name was
more about the image and methods than actual ethnicity.) I could accept the lack of alien power
rings. (They are a bit over-the-top and
hard to explain to people whose only experience with Iron Man is the
movies.) What I can’t accept is the
change to the essential nature of the character.
Yes, Aldrich Killian eventually stated that he was the true Mandarin. But that doesn’t make up for the shock of the
original revelation. Slattery’s Mandarin
persona was truly cold, sinister, and frightening. Killian, while strong and angry, just didn’t
have the same malice.
Maybe I saw “Iron Man 3” a second time, just like I had to
see “The Fellowship of the Ring” a second time.
The revelation wasn’t nearly as upsetting or distracting. I definitely enjoyed the movie more on the
second viewing. Tony’s struggle with his identity and the
introduction of Extremis were well done, but I still have to say that the
Mandarin is one major point against “Iron Man 3”.
(By the way, I know that what upset and distracted me
probably won’t have the same effect on others who aren’t as familiar with the
comic book as I am. The twist regarding
the Mandarin was really well done, and I didn’t see it coming. So if all you know about Iron Man comes from
the movies, maybe the title of this post should be “Three Out of Three Is
Awesome!”)
References:
1.
“The Flash” #19, Brian Buccellato, Francis
Manapul, Marcio Takara, DC Comics, April 2013
2.
“Iron Man”, Vol. 4, #1-6, Warren Ellis, Adi
Granov, Marvel Comics, January 2005 – April 2006
3.
“’Iron Man 3’: Mandarin Blowback?”, Joal Ryan,
Movie Talk, May 6, 2013.
