Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Theatre of the Mind's Eye, Part 2

The Fox logo appears, spotlights flashing across the famous logo. It is replaced by the flipping pages of a comic book which resolve themselves into the Marvel Comics. As it fades away, we see a pair of hands are soldering a circuit board. We see the man from the chest down. Behind him a high tech workshop can be seen. Hands and tools are illuminated, but the rest of the scene is in shadows. A narrated voice speaks "Man has always tried to make more of himself then he was."

We cut away, and are looking down onto the roof of a building. A helicopter sits on a helipad. Standing next to the helicopter there is a powerfully built black man, wearing a radio headset. His hair is cut short, military style. A man walks from a door on the rooftop towards the helicopter, his tie flapping in the breeze. The man is smiling, confident, the look of a man who has everything. He wears a perfectly tailored suit, and a thin mustache sits on his face. The man shouts to be heard over the roar of the helicopter blade, "They approved us, Rhodey!"

In the workshop, we see the man's hand slide into a metallic gauntlet. The fingers are gunmetal grey, and articulated perfectly." We created tools which let us go beyond the limits of our bodies. Unsurprisingly, our first tools were weapons. Tools designed to hurt. And kill."

The helicopter is now flying over a dessert. We move inside the cabin, and see Rhodey piloting the helicopter. Behind him, we see the same fashionably dressed man, sitting next to a man in an army uniform. The soldier speaks, "We're coming up to the base now, Mr. Stark. The new body armor you designed has been working wonders, it's saved the lives of countless soldiers." Stark smiles and says "Well Lieutenant, that's what I made it for. That and the contract from Uncle Sam." Laughter fills the cockpit, until Rhodey shouts, "Incoming!" We cut to the outside of the helicopter just in time to see a shell impact the tail of the helicopter, causing it to spiral out of control. The screen flashes to blackness, and we see Rhodey carrying the bloody form of Mr. Stark into an army base.

Cut back to the workshop. On a table, we see an armored chestplate, the same gunmetal color. A raised circle sits in the middle of the chest. "But we moved beyond that. And developed ways to protect life. Extend it."

Stark is sitting in a hospital room. Under his hospital gown, we see a metallic mesh across his chest. A doctor is pointing to an X-Ray on the wall. "As you can see, Tony, the shrapnel is lodged in your heart. That regulator you made is the only thing that is keeping you going, short of a heart transplant."

Back to the workshop, we see the hands placing the circuit board into the back half of a helmet. "Our science made the world a better place. We banished the myths and monsters of ages past."

Deep inside the bowels of the Earth, we see two men exploring a cave. The first speaks, "I don't feel good about this. We shouldn't be here." "Nonsense, Jack. We're close to finding the last resting place of Fin Fang Foom." As he finishes speaking, we heard several loud thuds.

"What was that?" Jack asks, as the sound is heard again, louder and closer this time. "I'm sure it's nothing. Now come," the second man says as he strides deeper into the cave. The sound is heard a third time, and the cave shakes violently. Jack drops the flashlight he carried, and the cave is plunged into blackness. "Professor!" Jack shouts, as he drops to his knees, feeling for the flashlight. He fumbles it back on, and sweeps the light across the cave. The Professor is nowhere to be seen. Jack turns back, and the light flashes across an impossibly large, monstrous green face. The mouth opens and the creature bellows before the cave goes black once more. We then watch as a jet of flame erupts from the mouth of the cave, followed shortly by a humanoid dragon-figure which flies into the sky.

Back in the workshop the completed suit of armor lies on a table. The steel grey is dull and lifeless looking. A device lowers over the armor, attached to two canisters of liquid, one red, one yellow. "Now the monsters are back. And we must show them what it means to be men."

The device lifts off the armor, and the armor is now a brilliant red and gold. Another cut, as we see the breastplate fitting over a chest, a chest that wears the same circuit covered matrix that Stark wore in the hospital. "Men of heart."

Another cut, as the gauntlets are once more donned. We can see that in addition to the breastplate, there is now a sheen of golden metal on the man's arms. He slides his hand into the gauntlet, and flexes it, so that it forms a fist. "Men of strength."

Once more the camera cuts, and we see that it is Tony Stark inside the suit. He reaches for the helmet, a red helmet with a golden face, the eyes and mouths circuitry covered slits. "Men of learning and knowledge," the narrator says as Stark places the helmet over his head. A moment passes and then the eyes light up. The camera pulls back, and we see Stark in full view, wearing the suit. "Men of iron." the narrator says. The helmet turns to look at the camera, and a computerized voice says "Well, Rhodey, what do you think?"

We cut away to see Rhodey sitting at a console. "I think it's time to go get that thing, boss." He punches a button and the skylight opens up. The Iron Man armor flies up and out the skylight, propelled by jets in its boots.

The dragon creature breathes fire on a tank, causing it to explode. -cut- Iron Man fires a blast from his gauntlet. -cut- The dragon is flying through a canyon, pursuing the flying Iron Man. We see that the dragon is nearly fifty feet in length, dwarfing the figure of Iron Man. -cut- Iron Man is caught in a burst of flame.

Another cut, and we see a close up shot of the dragon's face. "You don't actually think you can beat Fin Fang Foom, do you, little man?" it sneers.

Cut to Iron Man's facemask. "Think it? I can scientifically prove it."

The screen cuts to black. With a metallic clank, the text clamps together on the screen.

The Invincible
I R O N M A N

9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd watch it. ^_^

4:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

But which style? The classic or the Ultimate? Personally, I'm a big fan of the Ultimate look.

Also, I think they'd almost certainly have to change Foom's name. It needs to be something you don't almost snort at every time you say it. After all, he's a scary monster (really, it's just one of those conversion to real life things).

But the big question is, who should play him? I could see Nick Cage as the best possibility that immediately jumps to mind.

12:21 AM  
Blogger Aaron said...

Well, classic covers over 49 different versions of the armor. And I don't believe that covers variants like War Machine or the Hulkbuster armor.

That said, I prefer most versions of the classic. The Ultimate armor is fine, but looks a little too anime for my tastes. I also don't like the whole "it takes a team of people to get him suited up" thing.

Foom's name is a bit silly, sure. But they used him extensively in the cartoon, so I think it could be forgiven.

Now, that said, I'm afraid you are now to be sentenced with flogging by a stack of "Death of Superman" comic books for suggesting Nick Cage to play Stark.

Stark is sophisticated and suave. He's frickin' James Bond in power armor. I still say that 10-15 years ago, Timothy Dalton would've been the perfect Stark. And even today I'd rather see a former Bond play him. Maybe even Brosnan.

(Of course, I always favor the relative unknowns. I vastly prefer the fact that when I watch X-Men I look at Iceman and think of the character, instead of looking at Xavier and thinking of Patrick Stewart.)

7:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought he was suggesting Cage to play Fin Fang Foom.

I'm with you Aaron on the look of the Ultimate suit. One thing I have always loved about shell-head is that he's always been a distinctly non-anime hard suit. In fact one of the very, very few big non-anime hard suit heroes.

9:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think Cage can do suave. He's done some outstanding work and won an Oscar. Not to mention the fact that he's a comics nut. Given the chance, I think he could be exactly what we would want to see.

While I'm with you on the team of people, I just like the aesthetics of the Ultimate armor more. More anime-like or not, it screams sleek, which I think is an important part of the concept as a whole.

11:06 AM  
Blogger Aaron said...

Hey, I like Cage. I honestly do. But he just seems too rough around the edges to be Stark. At least for me. I also don't think he bears a good resembalance to the character, which for Stark matters. A lot of comics characters have been so varied in their facial appearance that the actor chosen isn't a big deal. Stark is a bit more distinctive.

And coming back to the Ultimates vs. Classic look, I am almost always going to come down on the side of classic. I also think that the modern incarnation of the armor (as pictured in this post) is perfectly sleek, and stays away from the "bubble" look that the Ultimate armor says.

So, since this is my blog and my "mind's eye", that's how I'm going to picture it. -grin-

11:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, this is where my experience comes into play. the Tony Stark I know and love is Ultimate Tony Stark (who I think Cage could be made to look like).

As far the suit: that's the classic look in your post? I thought it was the Ultimate look.

*starts looking through google images*

Hmmm...guess it's been a while since I've read an Ultimates trade. I still like the Ultimate version (though now the two are tied for preference), but I think the one in your pic would translate best into the "real" world.

11:30 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know if you've heard this, but there is talk that Jon Favreau will be developing and directing an Iron Man movie for the big screen.

11:11 PM  
Blogger Aaron said...

I recently read that.

I'm still standing by my version though, at least until that project goes into filming. :)

2:37 AM  

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