Marvel One Shot: "All Hail the King"

[Tsyroc]

The recent Thor: The Dark World Blu-ray includes the one shot All Hail the King.

It deals with Trevor, the actor who was The Mandarin in Iron Man 3, and how he is getting on in prison.

It was amusing, and had a bit of a 70s vibe to it, although going by Trevor's failed TV pilot for CBS it might be more of an early 80s vibe.

Anyway, I didn't like it as much as a few of the other one-snots but there are quite a few nice bits in it, especially right at the end. Spoiler

The main purpose, and probably why a lot of people will like it is that it there is a real Mandarin and he is not happy with Trevor. Personally I found the Iron Man 3 version a nice twist but I have to admit I would really love to see something more along the lines of the traditional character, with his ten alien rings.

[The Romulan Republic]

I hate that. It sounds like pandering to people who were disgruntled because they dared to do something new.

[Kojiro]

I hate that. It sounds like pandering to people who were disgruntled because they dared to do something new.

I'm as much for new takes on classic characters as anyone but making a character into a facade is too far. There is something... deceptive... about using the name recognition of something when what you're selling is utterly different that just doesn't sit right with me.

The topic of 'how much to respect the source material' could be an interesting one for another thread.

[The Cooler King]

I hate that. It sounds like pandering to people who were disgruntled because they dared to do something new.

I'm as much for new takes on classic characters as anyone but making a character into a facade is too far. There is something... deceptive... about using the name recognition of something when what you're selling is utterly different that just doesn't sit right with me.

The topic of 'how much to respect the source material' could be an interesting one for another thread.

"Doing something new" is one thing; turning a powerful, interesting villain into a literal joke is another. I thought making the Mandarin into a Bin Laden-esque terrorist leader was a good example of 'doing something new' with the character, while respecting the character's roots. Writer/artist John Byrne has said that, when he was called upon to update characters (like Superman in the "Man of Steel" miniseries), he started by thinking, "What elements of the character can I keep?" He has also stated that, to him, Hollywood starts by thinking, "What can we get rid of?" You can see this mindset at work in the Fantastic Four reboot, and how they've twisted and changed the X-Men for film.

I'm a longtime Iron Man fan; Iron Man was the start of my love of powered armor. I enjoyed Iron Man 3 in spite of the twist; to me, it was still a strong movie, with some great character moments and an interesting take on Tony Stark (tinfoil suits notwithstanding). I did think the Mandarin twist was amusing, but it seemed to me that they went TOO far with it. I explained to my wife that it would be like a Batman movie that played up an epic battle with the Joker-- only to have the Joker revealed as some nobody who was hired to play that part, to distract Batman--that there never really was a Joker. She winced and said that a movie like that would suck. The Mandarin is Iron Man's greatest nemesis; turning him into a shell for someone else really stinks of Hollywood trying too hard. The One-Shot reads to me like a classic retcon in play, and I for one would love to see what they do with the REAL Mandarin down the road.

As a side note, it's more than a bit insulting, to me, to dismiss the Mandarin as a 'Yellow Peril' villain. Yes, he started like that in the 1960s, but they moved FAR away from that concept as the comic went on. The opinion that the Mandarin can't be properly translated to film because it would be racist, to me, reads like racism. It's like they're saying that a powerful, interesting villain CAN'T have an ethnicity other than Caucasian. The Iron Man movies haven't really deviated from that blueprint: Iron Monger, Whiplash, and Killian all fall into that mold. What's the problem with having a badass villain who HAPPENS to be Asian, and who uses ancient iconography as his calling card?

[Tsyroc]

The amusing bit that I liked a lot at the end was that Justin Hammer is also in the same prison. He really dislikes Pepper Potts but for some reasons sees Tony Stark as one of his bros that he has a friendly rivalry with.

[JME2]

It's nice that they haven't forgotten about Hammer.

I still keep hoping for a follow-up on Blonsky beyond the mentions in "The Consultant" or AOS.

[Tsyroc]

It's nice that they haven't forgotten about Hammer.

I still keep hoping for a follow-up on Blonsky beyond the mentions in "The Consultant" or AOS.

I do too.

If we do see him again I hope they have further mutated him so he looks a little more like the comic book Abomination.

After the whole alien invasion in New York, and what seems to be a major increase in SHIELD armament spending in the CA:TWS trailer, I think that they really have to be considering giving Blonsky another try. He was a highly decorated soldier before he lost his shit. Now he's damn powerful. Assuming the super soldier formula has stopped making him crazy he could be very similar to the Red Hulk in the comics. A career soldier with a shitload of power and durability. If he's still power crazy, those things could also make him a very good villain. The main drawback I see to him making a return is how expensive the CGI would be. Joss Whedon commented a couple of times about how much the Hulk cost in the Avengers, maybe Blonsky would be a little cheaper since he's a bit less human looking to begin with but I still figure that the costs of the character might inhibit his return. Unfortunately.

The whole CGI character thing makes me wonder how FOX is going to do The Thing in the next FF movie.

[Elheru Aran]

As far as a CGI character goes, I do have to say that at least in the second FF movie the Thing didn't look too bad for Michael Chilkis in a rubber suit. He's one of those characters that basically you just need a big guy and then the rest is mainly a matter of finding the right special-effects guy and throwing enough money at him.

Wonder if She-Hulk (if she ever appears) will just be spray paint, though... I have to say I wouldn't mind that, especially not if they re-enacted a certain scene from the She-Hulk graphic novel

[Ahriman238]

I don't know, I think I can live with it. The bad twist in IM3 works out if you assume that what we saw was not the Mandarin, but the Mandarin's origin story.

Or there's a real Mandarin and Tony spends the first act of that movie goofing and treating the Mandarin like a big joke, then, surprise!

[Jade Owl]

It's nice that they haven't forgotten about Hammer.

I still keep hoping for a follow-up on Blonsky beyond the mentions in "The Consultant" or AOS.

He was mentioned in an episode of AOS. Coulson threatened Ward with reassigning him to Alaska, to guard Blonsky's cryo-cell.

[Darksider]

I'm hoping someone thaws him out for an Avengers movie. We've seen them go up against one villain with an army, and it seems like they'll be keeping to the one badguy formula for Age of Ultron.

When Thanos shows up in Phase 3, I'm kinda hoping he has an entire team of baddies to throw at the Avengers for a full on team vs. team battle.

Bring back the Red Skull to fight cap, Blonsky for Hulk, Loki for Thor, throw Ronon from Guardians into the mix, and you've got a pretty powerful combination.

[Simon_Jester]

As far as a CGI character goes, I do have to say that at least in the second FF movie the Thing didn't look too bad for Michael Chilkis in a rubber suit. He's one of those characters that basically you just need a big guy and then the rest is mainly a matter of finding the right special-effects guy and throwing enough money at him.

Wonder if She-Hulk (if she ever appears) will just be spray paint, though... I have to say I wouldn't mind that, especially not if they re-enacted a certain scene from the She-Hulk graphic novel

The main problem is that they're going to want a character who looks like one of Hollywood's prettier actresses... but at the same time has big muscles. It's relatively easy to get Chris Evans to bulk up so he can play Captain America, but how are you going to get [insert starlet here] to go lady-weightlifter to the extent that she can credibly play She-Hulk?

So either movie She-Hulk is going to be... less muscular than she ought to be given the 'big and beautiful' image that makes the character interesting, or she's going to have a lot of CGI layered onto a (moderately fit) actress.

[Iroscato]

I'm hoping someone thaws him out for an Avengers movie. We've seen them go up against one villain with an army, and it seems like they'll be keeping to the one badguy formula for Age of Ultron.

When Thanos shows up in Phase 3, I'm kinda hoping he has an entire team of baddies to throw at the Avengers for a full on team vs. team battle.

Bring back the Red Skull to fight cap, Blonsky for Hulk, Loki for Thor, throw Ronon from Guardians into the mix, and you've got a pretty powerful combination.

I doubt that would work on film, despite it being very appealing. What would stop Hulk from leaping away from Abomination for a moment, and turning Red Skull into finely granulated red puree? Or the Mandarin (assuming they follow on from AHTK and include the real deal at some point) from vaporising Cap with his rings after taking a breather from fighting Iron Man? When separate antagonists are a match for their individual superhero counterparts, it's probably not a good idea to have them all facing each other in a mass brawl - things would get messy very quickly.

[Elheru Aran]

I'm hoping someone thaws him out for an Avengers movie. We've seen them go up against one villain with an army, and it seems like they'll be keeping to the one badguy formula for Age of Ultron.

When Thanos shows up in Phase 3, I'm kinda hoping he has an entire team of baddies to throw at the Avengers for a full on team vs. team battle.

Bring back the Red Skull to fight cap, Blonsky for Hulk, Loki for Thor, throw Ronon from Guardians into the mix, and you've got a pretty powerful combination.

I doubt that would work on film, despite it being very appealing. What would stop Hulk from leaping away from Abomination for a moment, and turning Red Skull into finely granulated red puree? Or the Mandarin (assuming they follow on from AHTK and include the real deal at some point) from vaporising Cap with his rings after taking a breather from fighting Iron Man? When separate antagonists are a match for their individual superhero counterparts, it's probably not a good idea to have them all facing each other in a mass brawl - things would get messy very quickly.

The original Infinity Gauntlet story really made more sense as far as that went. Thanos doesn't have to bother with getting a bunch of bad guys together to fight the heroes, he's far more than a match for all of them by himself with the Gauntlet. He loses only because he was dumb enough to let Nebula grab the Gauntlet from his body while he's astrally power-tripping on Eternity.

It would make him far more of an impressive villain if they did that bit where all the superheroes take a shot at him simultaneously... and he smacks them aside effortlessly. Cheesy writing? Sure (what do you expect from Jim Starlin) but visually pretty impressive.

There was an interesting twist in the side stories to the Gauntlet series where some villains were actually trying to help the situation on Earth while things were getting all bollixed up, such as Rhino trying to set free animals from a zoo or Abomination being all emo rather than smashing stuff. That might make for a few decent vignettes-- the villains decide that they've got more important things to do than just being bad guys while the heroes are away.