Friday
Jan082010
Tony Stark Facing Demons in a Bottle in 'Iron Man 3'?
Friday, January 8, 2010 at 6:45AM
My brother was the comic book geek in our house, but I read a few growing up. The one I remember most is Iron Man. He was
my favorite character as a kid and Tony Stark had that great alcoholism storyline, which when you transfer it to the movies, is a natural subject for
Robert Downey, Jr., who
has so famously and candidly faced his own serious problems with addiction.
"I think they've come up with a terrific segue to the third film, which I think is going to be fairly powerful. My understanding is that the third film could very well be the Demon in a Bottle story mixed in there with everything and I'm kind of looking forward to that, if that's where they wind up going."The only drawback to this idea is that it won't be the only thrust of the story no matter when they bring it up. I do get the sense that Iron Man 2 has at least one more bad guy than it needs, and the later you go into these franchises, the bigger the stakes have to become. That save-the-day stuff may not be the kind of counterpoint to a frank discussion of addition and substance abuse, but given Downey's own history, he may fight a little harder to tone down the action to give this subplot more of the spotlight. But would audiences rally around it?
Reader Comments (2)
I think they should start working with some character development in the comic book movies. It would be a welcome change. A vulnerability other than the classic "loved one is in trouble" storyline is a great direction to take thigns.
I think one of the reason why Superman fails so hard is because he has zero depth. his biggest weakness is that he's too nice and has to be absolutely good, and literally nobody can identify with that... maybe jesus, but he probably doesn't have to pay to get into movies so it's not a good target audience.
I totally agree. However, the thing about Superman, is that he is pretty much that way. He never was my favorite DC character (Batman fan here from a LONG way back).
The Marvel folks may run into that with Captain America as well. Though, at least with the Avengers arc they could bring in the conflicts regarding leadership and teamwork (like Tony Stark going his own way, or Hank Pym and his temper). I think the sky is the limit with the Avengers arc as long as they do work the character development and keep the villains cool, but not quite over the top.