WI: Iron Man flopped?

yourworstnightmare

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Just speculation, but it does make sense. Even though they have a long time contract with him they probably couldn't know for sure there wouldn't be schedule issues with the Avengers. So, to me it felt like a way to be able to do the Avengers without Tony Stark, if it came to that.
 
Look, I'm just going to put this out there: when Iron Man was first released, my reaction was "Who the fuck is Iron Man?"

You are right. A Dutch newspaper called Ironman together with Thor and Captain America (and perhaps the green lantern) a second rate superhero. Ironman isn't that well known and a worse movie with a worse actor could have flopped easily. Especialy abroad.
 

yourworstnightmare

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You are right. A Dutch newspaper called Ironman together with Thor and Captain America (and perhaps the green lantern) a second rate superhero. Ironman isn't that well known and a worse movie with a worse actor could have flopped easily. Especialy abroad.
The only Marvel heroes popularly known in Finland before the Marvel movies were Spider Man and the X-Men.
 
Well, cast one of the Owen brothers (with a dye job) or Ryan "Van Wilder" Reynolds as Tony, and John Goodman as Stane. Or better yet, cast Jackie Chan or someone of his ilk as Mandrin and use a classic Silver Age story, with no real origin. Then put it up against The Dark Knight.

Actually, Goodman as Stane actually sounds like a pretty good idea. If anything it would be a good chance to see him play a villain role, and might finally shed him of the "he's only a comedic actor" stereotype.
 

Rex Mundi

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Look, I'm just going to put this out there: when Iron Man was first released, my reaction was "Who the fuck is Iron Man?"

I agree that the movie itself would have to be quite different for it to flop: the reason why people saw it and liked it was because it was a good movie. But it's not unthinkable that an Iron Man movie that gets two-star ratings and general advice of "skip it, it's not worth your money" is certainly possible. Superhero movies aren't guaranteed successes: remember, Green Lantern barely made its money back.

I really don't think The Avengers would happen in that case -- or, at least, it'd take longer. Tony Stark's appearance at the end of The Incredible Hulk would probably be edited out at the last minute too.

Where do you happen to live, if you don't mind me asking? Sorry if that comes off as aggressive or intrusive; I'm just curious. I live in New York and the thought of someone having no idea who Iron Man is seems alien to me.
 
Where do you happen to live, if you don't mind me asking? Sorry if that comes off as aggressive or intrusive; I'm just curious. I live in New York and the thought of someone having no idea who Iron Man is seems alien to me.

I live in the UK, and I had never heard of him. My first encounter with the idea of someone called Iron Man was when The Iron Giant (which is based on a book called The Iron Man) came out and we were told 'the Americans have a guy' was the reason for the title change.

Then I read the Wikipedia plot summary of the Marvel Civil War storyline and to me, Tony Stark sounded like a bit of a bland douche. Then in 2008 I watched the trailers for Iron Man and was impressed. Then I watched Iron Man and could formally say I had some knowledge of who Iron Man is.
 
Im thinking this also may lead to more "serious" superhero films with little to no humor, especially if "The Dark Knight" is a success in TTL.
 
To be honest, I'm not sure if Iron Man really could flop...at least financially. Any big budget movie today featuring Iron Man should make money even if it is blasted by critics (see The Hulk, Superman Returns). I can see the movie blowing up the box office in its opening weekend before cooling down significantly the following week, with the movie breaking even and being lambasted by critics. But to have it lose money? That would be tough. Either have one of the two things occur:

1. It is released in the early to mid-90's and stars Dolph Lundgren.

OR

2. It is released the same day as in OTL (2008) and stars Eddie Murphy as Tony Stark and Eddie Murphy in a fat suit as the villain Obadiah Stane.

I would watch that movie.
 
Where do you happen to live, if you don't mind me asking? Sorry if that comes off as aggressive or intrusive; I'm just curious. I live in New York and the thought of someone having no idea who Iron Man is seems alien to me.

New York is basically the centre of the Marvel Universe, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, even Thor started out as New York set comics. The fact that these comics were published by a New York company and had a mostly Manhattan or Brooklyn raised staff doesn't really need to be stated.

I'm sure the idea of someone not knowing who Asterix or Tintin are is equally alien to a Belgian. Those comics have their fans in America but many people won't have heard of them.

I saw an Iron Man cartoon here in the UK in the 90s, but both my parents were comic readers so I basically knew about everyone.
 
Maybe if Robert Downey Jr. falls off the wagon and acts completely wonky throughout the entire film, that might ruin it.

However, on the wagon, he was the best part, and if he continues his current sobriety, it might be better to replace him.
 
Where do you happen to live, if you don't mind me asking? Sorry if that comes off as aggressive or intrusive; I'm just curious. I live in New York and the thought of someone having no idea who Iron Man is seems alien to me.
Australia. I had genuinely never heard of Iron Man before the movie came out.
 
Im thinking this also may lead to more "serious" superhero films with little to no humor, especially if "The Dark Knight" is a success in TTL.

The way I see it, the Marvel Cinematic Universe put a ceiling on the trend of "darker and edgier" superheroes that Nolan's Bat-films popularized. It wasn't like in the late '80s and the '90s, where all the big trends in superhero comics were pointing towards increasing the gritty content. The success of the MCU films is like if, at the time of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, there has been an equally successful and acclaimed graphic novel with comparatively light, family-friendly content. Without Iron Man, Marvel's plans for a shared movie universe are delayed for several years, allowing The Dark Knight to be this generation's defining blockbuster epic.

However, just how deep the "gritty, Dark Knight-esque blockbuster" trend goes depends on one question: how do international audiences react? We all know about China's censorship; an R-rated superhero movie, filled with violence and T&A like a proper '90s comic book, probably wouldn't fly with the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television.
 
The way I see it, the Marvel Cinematic Universe put a ceiling on the trend of "darker and edgier" superheroes that Nolan's Bat-films popularized. It wasn't like in the late '80s and the '90s, where all the big trends in superhero comics were pointing towards increasing the gritty content. The success of the MCU films is like if, at the time of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, there has been an equally successful and acclaimed graphic novel with comparatively light, family-friendly content. Without Iron Man, Marvel's plans for a shared movie universe are delayed for several years, allowing The Dark Knight to be this generation's defining blockbuster epic.

.

To be honest, that did happen in OTL. The Man of Steel was much "softer" than DKR or Watchmen. It is much more serious than the silver age superman stories, but i dont recall much "dark" content in it.
 
I only had a vague idea of who Iron Man was when it came out, from seeing a cartoon about him in my childhood at an inconvenient hour of the morning, and the cartoon wasn't that good. I know lots of people who didn't know who Iron Man was. I'm from Minnesota in the US.
I think it would have been easy to flop. I know earlier Batman films were hurt by a lot of mandates to make them lighter. I imagine that meddling producers might do the same to Iron Man. I think the most likely mandate would be to make it as much like Batman Begins as possible, and that could be bad for the movie if it's done at the last minute and they take out half the jokes, and edit the video footage to look like it's at night.
Also, does anyone know who else was considered for the role? I can picture someone casting Tom Cruise. I can also picture it going bad even if they stick with Downey.
 
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