SPOILER maybe.
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Did anyone else catch the line, “I thought the beast had wandered off” in the latest Avengers ads?

In a press conference it was mentioned that IronMan 3 picks up where the Avengers ends.

Just announced, they just reshot some last minute scene for the Avengers, (presumably the post credits teaser for IM3) and Ben Kingsley is supposedly set to be the Iron Man 3 villain, but NOT the Mandarin...

Whedon is a purist, a geek, whatever. He also has a penchant for taking tropes, clichés and playing around with them, and reworking them. He is a comic geek too, and would understand the importance of breaking the tech villain rutt in IM3

Loki is the main villain just like in Avengers #1

Why wouldn't the Avengers movie be an ULTIMATE sort of remake of Avengers #1 with Loki screwing with the team, making them fight each other, Hulk "wanders off" (to join the circus in Avengers #1), but why not run into THE SUBMARINER, like in Avengers #3 (Loki countering Stark's role call with his own role call, with Namor, and maybe even the Space Phantom ?). The whole Hulk, Submariner thing was a huge part of the first 4 issues of the Avengers.

Ironman 3 then becomes the classic Tales of Suspense 79-82 and Kingsley is Krang?

My favourite trailer so far is this Japanese one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrCDmxER-vs

Partly because it's got scenes not in the other trailers, and also because it's got a Japanese voice-over and inter-titles.

Crap. All the rumors and speculation were wrong. It's the Mandarin. They just confirmed a partnership deal with a Chinese company, what you have to do to do business in China.

There are a couple of new scenes, one extended clip with the Thor Ironman fight, and the second one is Fury and Loki discussing what I assume is the Cosmic Cube...

http://blastr.com/2012/04/its-iron-man-vs-thor-and.php

I was wondering how close the next Avengers movie could hew to events in Avengers #3 without cutting Stan Lee an additional check, but it's not an issue after all. If anyone can deliver a Mandarin performance without descending into schlocksy Fu Manchu territory though, it's Ben Kingsley.

Anticipation on this one is almost ridiculously high!

Max Von Sydow did ok as Ming.

Mandarin could be cool. Maybe we'll get Ultimo and Fin Fang Foom appearances.

We're pretty much of one mind on this, I think. Rather than ignoring the comics in the flicks, like when Galactus was reinterpreted as a 'swarm', they need to Marvel it up big time and show lots of the rich complicated Marvel Universe.

Submariner sure would've been cool though.

Oh yeah. I absolutely agree. "Marvel it up," Kirby it up, embrace the weird crazy fun. Whatever anyone wants to call it. It's what could set them apart from the same crap that has DC comics in the Superman Luthor rutt.

And why create new characters for a movie when the comics have developed a huge supporting cast for decades. Why create Agent Coulsen, when they could have had an Agent Rick Jones?

I'll be interested to see if the Thor and Captain America franchises get more comic bookish or if they try to play it safe. I would love to see a MODOK, Batroc maybe some Invaders flashbacks. Warmachine made it into Ironman 2 maybe we'll see the Falcon in Captain America 2.

I remember first hearing the director of the FF film saying a forty foot purple guy would be silly. An orange rocky guy, a stretchy guy, and a silver guy with a surfboard are NOT silly, by that logic? An FF film without Galactus and the Watcher and any other fun characters is like Star Wars without the Cantina scene, Jawas, and Chewbacca. Plus, the guy they had playing Doom, was no more menacing than a Wallstreet guy pitching a fit at a Starbucks.

Imagine if instead of a cloud monster, the villain in the Green Lantern film had turned out to be Sinestro plotting behind the scenes all along, and the big battle was between the Green Lanterns and the Sinestro Corp. At the end of the film, Earth is safe but Kilowog says, "Sure we won the battle poozer, but this war just started."

I think we're getting close to the saturation point on superhero movies. GL was a flop, Cap and Thor didn't meet expectations. The last Superman was a flop, the next one will probably only do mildly better. They're re-booting Spider-Man already. Batman and Iron Man may continue to do well, but if/when they swap out the stars or directors, they're done.

The last superman was a flop because it was boring. It was a sequel AND a remake, without charm or soul.

But you may have a point about over-saturation. I think it's just seasonal. A truly good film will still do well despite the schedule, truly good or at the very least one that rises above the rest in some way. Like say an Iron man with an engaging lead performance, but Green Lantern flopped because of many things, the villain was a cloud, and the costumes looked stupid, and after X-men, Cap and Thor all weeks apart the summer had been over-saturated with too many fairly average genre films.

Most of the flops were at summers end. GL, Cowboys and Aliens, Conan, stuff I wouldn't have minded seeing in the theater if I hadn't already spent too many afternoons in the theater that summer already as well as had my enthusiasm undercut with mediocrity all summer already as well. And I never did get around to seeing any of them actually.

I thought Cap and Thor were good.