by Brian Tallerico
(Spoiler Warning: If you need a spoiler warning on a feature about what we want from a sequel, you will have a few harsh lessons to learn about the internets, but if we've learned anything from the adventures of Tony Stark, it's that peace is much cooler than aggression. Naturally, to discuss what we want from Iron Man 2, we need to discuss what happened in the first Iron Man. Nothing, not even the post-credits ending, is off-limits. Now you're warned.)
In case you've been buried in GTA madness and haven't noticed, it's Iron Man's world now. After only ten days in release, Jon Favreau's Iron Man is already the highest-grossing film of 2008 and stands behind only the Spider-Man and X-Men movies on the all-time list of Marvel movies. Tony Stark had the second-highest non-sequel opening weekend of all time and has already made a small fortune. When it's done, Iron Man will have passed all three X-Men movies, making it the second biggest franchise in the Marvel Universe, and could easily be the number one film of the entire year. As we all know, financial success doesn't always mean quality (Spidey 3 was #1 in 2007 but most people considered the movie a disappointment), but fans and critics have fallen for the man dressed in hot-rod red even after they've opened their wallets. The flick scored an amazing 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, 78 on Metacritic, and a stunning 8.3 on IMDB, which puts it in the top 150 all-time. People are madly in love with Iron Man.
As we all expected, on the day after the film's amazing opening weekend, a sequel date was announced for 4/30/10. Iron Man 2 already has a release date, star, and director, but, according to reports, not even a writer, much less a screenplay. With the pedestal that Iron Man has been put on, the question is can Iron Man 2 match the pattern of the second Spider-Man and X-Men movie and actually surpass the expectations that have been set before anyone's even started writing it? We hope so. Even fans would admit that, as good as the first Iron Man was, it could have been better. It's not up to the best of the best in the superhero genre, but we firmly believe the sequel can be. How? Let us light the way my iron-clad friends...
SEVEN WAYS TO MAKE IRON MAN 2 BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL
1. A FULLY-REALIZED WORLD
Think about the best superhero movies of recent years and the worst. One of the first distinctions is a director who is willing to create a fully-realized world, so the audience believes that our heroes and villains might not actually stand next to us at Wal-Mart, but they know how much a gallon of milk costs. You can go one of two ways here - the Burton-esque, completely unique worlds of Batman and Batman Returns or the closer-to-real Gotham of Batman Begins with its recognizable Chicago landmarks. In between is where superhero movies fail. There's nothing about the Fantastic Four movies, Daredevil, Elektra, or even most of Superman Returns that feels like the world that we inhabit. A LOT of Iron Man took place in the desert and in the underground of the Stark mansion, so it hasn't really become an issue yet, but when Stark is free to roam the world as its biggest protector, we need to feel that that world is real. Now, of course, don't take it TOO Far. We don't EVER want to see Iron Man fly through one of the 'O's in the Hollywood sign, but the fact that major scenes in the Batman and Spider-Man movies take place in a recognizable world adds a degree of power to the action that can't be underestimated. It's what we look for in superhero movies - a merging of the superhuman and the real.
2. A GOOD VILLAIN...BUT NOT TWO
The main weakness of Iron Man was the villain or lack thereof at the center of the piece. The real bad guy of Iron Man is the entire military-industrial complex, which we'll agree is pretty damn ambitious but sometimes you just want The Joker or Lex Luthor to kick someone's ass. The two main physical villains of Iron Man - Raza (Faran Tahir) and Obadiah/Iron Monger (Jeff Bridges) - are pretty tame. We generally love Jeff Bridges, but did anyone feel any actual danger from his character? Of course not. Iron Man 2 needs a dangerous, on-the-edge villain. We need the Doc Ock to Spider-Man or Joker to Batman for this franchise. If we have a black hole at villain again, fans are going to notice. But don't go overboard. The most common misjudgment in superhero franchises is too many villains. X-Men 3, Spider-Man 3, Batman Forever - all of them were weighed down by scenery-chewing baddies. The comics regularly use the government or villains who work for it as the bad guys, which is probably how the sequel will go - using Stark's technology against him again - but make sure it's a charismatic villain this time. No offense, Jeff Bridges fans.
3. YOU'RE FAMOUS, SO WHAT?
Please, please, please avoid the fame issues that have sometimes sunk superhero franchises in their post-origin era. Let Stark deal with fame between movies. After the revelation at the end of Iron Man with arguably the best closing line in superhero movie history, it would be incredibly easy for a lazy writer to do one of those stories about the "perils of superhero fame," something that helped sink Spider-Man 3. Does anyone want to see Tony Stark dealing with those same issues about "what makes a hero"? Of course not. Let him just BE a troubled, drinking, womanizing hero. One of the best things about Iron Man is how subtly Downey plays the transition of Stark from warmonger to peacemaker. Imagine how melodramatic that move could have been with a lesser actor. It will be incredibly easy for a writer to dip into that pool with the sequel and focus on Tony "dealing with" being a hero. Don't go there. Deal with alcohol, Maxim models, and his true love for Pepper Potts, but don't deal with paparazzi and the perils of fame. The last thing we need is a whiny Iron Man.
4. WINK AT THE FANS BUT DON'T BE A TEASE
The first Iron Man contained two well-publicized gigantic winks at the fans who knew how to catch them (along with a few other, more subtle nods to comic book fans). The big winks were a brilliant move because they caused the film's most dedicated fanbase, heavy internet users, to get excited on message boards and in the blogosphere in general. The first was obvious - James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Terrence Howard) staring at the Iron Man technology and making it clear that his comic-book alter-ego, War Machine, is coming in future films with a brilliant line reading on "Next time, baby.". Actually, Howard has been commenting on War Machine in interviews for over a year, implying that the main reason he took the underwritten part in the first film was to expand into a superhero in the second one. Set-up done. Now is the time to pay off. In the next few weeks, Favreau and his team should announce that Rhodes' transformation into War Machine WILL happen in the second film, otherwise that wink in the first film feels like a cheat. And, of course, there's the super-sized nod to fans after the credits, when Samuel L. Jackson shows up as Nick Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D. It was such a wink that Favreau actually held the scene from advanced screenings, including ones for critics. It's for the fans. That's great, but don't make it a false promise. Imagine if Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. aren't a part of the sequel. You'll just piss off the fans who you winked to in the first film. Jackson's not signed on yet. Make that your next priority. If War Machine and Nick Fury are announced in the next few weeks for Iron Man 2, fans will have more confidence that this project is going in the right direction before the script is even finished.
5. DON'T DULL STARK'S EDGE
A common problem in superhero sequels is a desire to appeal to as many demographics as possible. The Fantastic Four sequel got even more family-friendly and X-Men 3 and Spider-Man 3 felt softer than the previous films in the franchise, leading to angry fans. If Iron Man loses his edge, the franchise will collapse. Luckily, Favreau has said in interviews that he's interested in exploring the alcoholism that was a major part of the comics and only hinted at in the movie. With Stark even more on top of the world than he was a weapons dealer, booze and stewardesses on stripper poles need to stay a part of his world. We love the Stark/Potts dynamic and we don't want to lose that part of the story but we're very worried about a domesticated Tony Stark. That would be a disaster. If anything, we need to see Stark go more off the rails and with his increased popularity in the next movie, it shouldn't be hard to make a troubled character even darker than he was in the first film.
6. DON'T 'MARY-JANE' PEPPER
Gwyneth Paltrow actually does some of the best work of her career in Iron Man. She's charming and beautiful and her chemistry with Downey is essential to the final film. The same was true of the dynamic between Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire in the first two Spider-Man movies, but, without question, Mary-Jane became far too big a character in the third film. We never want to see Pepper Potts singing. We never want to see Pepper and Tony cooing at each other hanging above the city. And, for the love of Galactus, we NEVER want to see Pepper and Rhodey doing the twist like MJ and Harry did in Spidey 3 (a scene that still turns our stomachs just thinking about it.) Pepper has significantly more edge than MJ and we don't want her getting soft on us. Don't get us wrong - we absolutely love Spider-Man 2 but the lovey-dovey dynamic of MJ and Peter Parker simply would not work between Tony and Pepper.
7. THERE SHOULD BE BLOOD
Finally, let's up the stakes in Iron Man 2. When Tony is first held hostage and he looks beaten and bloody, it's one of the few scenes in the movie with any sort of emotional stakes, largely due to the work of Downey, but also because the pain feels real. After Tony blasts his way out, the action in Iron Man gets very comic book-safe. The film barely even earns the 13 in its rating. Let's see Stark really get hurt in Iron Man 2. Let's see him battered, bloody, and on the precipice of death. It might even be wise to kill someone close to him early in the second film. Make the potential for danger feel real, something that distinguished Batman Begins from its brethren and the ride will be that much more rewarding. We're all going to take the ride. Let's make it count.
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