Avengers Movie: Grrrr....stupid iron man

[Reiper]

So I was watching the Avengers again before I went to see the dark world, and it really struck me how ridiculous the amount of screen time / lines / badass factor that iron man was given compared to the other heroes.

Even ignoring romanoff / hawkeye, it felt like Tony Stark was centre stage the whole movie, and I really disliked it. The avengers are supposed to be a team, and on that team, iron man isn't even the leader. Despite that though, the movie basically felt like iron man 2.5

Take for example, the scene of Captain America vs loki. Basically cap fights loki and is losing, but horray, iron man comes in and subdues him with ease. Or when the nuke is about to level the city, "hey which character hasn't had enough screen time? I know, iron man! Look he can make the sacrifice too!".

Basically the pecking order went like this
Iron Man: largely drove the plot, his subplots and devices were key to the movie
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thor: Had his fair share of screen time and badass moments
>>>
Captain America: Seemed underplayed and had poor lines, especially for the supposed "leader"
>>
Hulk: Wait who was he again? Oh right he had a couple of rage scenes and then showed up at the end where he could magically control his powers.


I know Robert Downey Junior was paid $50 million vs $8 mill for the other stars, but was it really necessary for him to overshadow them so badly? Why do you think this happened?

 

[TekMoney]

I don't think at all that Iron Man drove the plot, what makes you think that? As for why Iron Man made the save in the Cap/Loki fight. Well one reason was they needed to bring the team together and have a flowing action scene. And the other reason is that Cap actually would be overmatched against Loki.

As for the nuke. I guess maybe Thor could have taken it out. But it's not like the team was full of guys equipped to handle impending nuclear doom.

Also Ruffalo may not have been the star, but he's definitely the actor who delivered the most memorable performance.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I understand what you mean about calling it Iron Man 2.5, but I think it could just as easily be called Hulk 2.0, or Hawkeye 1.0, as both of those characters received quite a lot of screen time for their character development.

I think Whedon did a pretty stellar job at balancing out the screen time, although I would have liked to see a bit more of Captain America's readjustment, and Thor (especially with the whole getting back to earth plotpoint being completely ignored.)

 

[Laughing Man]

Thor (especially with the whole getting back to earth plotpoint being completely ignored.)

It wasn't ignored it just wasn't elaborated on besides Thor: Dark World shows how Loki managed to move in and out of Asgard unseen, again not explained in any great detail but enough to make you go huh that's how it's done.

Why did Iron Man seem to get more awesome time, simple he has had more movies than anoy of the other and the last two, especially the third one have been the worst of the franchise movies, on the flip side Thor's latest one is just about EVERYTHING that Iron Man 3 should have been and was freaking awesome.

Iron Man is an awesome character, but only the first movie and The Avengers have been good enough to show us that.

 

[Tono Makt]

Could be because Iron Man is the only one of these Joss Whedon actually knows how to and wants to write? That's what i would bet on, anyway.

I was so going to say this. So I'm going to say it again, just differently.

Joss Whedon has a particular voice that he writes well, and Tony Stark is an almost perfect representation of that voice. He was able to bring a bit of Bruce Banner into it, as well as Agent Coulson and Nick Fury, with a little bit of Black Widow and Loki. Thor and Cap were atrocious in the Avengers because Whedon doesn't write in their kinds of voices very well.

As for Tony Stark/Iron Man driving the plot... I can see that line of thinking. Who gets to talk to Loki for an extended period of time? Iron Man. (Hulk gets the best line, but Stark gets an entire monologue) Who gets to save the Helicarrier when Hulk is let loose? Iron Man directing Captain America. Who is the focus of some of the snappiest banter of the arguing teammates? Iron Man vs Cap. Who gets the "Bromance"? Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Who gets the big "sacrifice" scene at the end? Iron Man. Who takes the team out for shawarma in the post-credits scene? Iron Man.

I'm trying to think of any conflict between Cap and Thor, or Cap and Banner, or Thor and Banner, or Hawkweye and anyone, and I'm drawing a blank. Granted I haven't watched the movie since seeing it in theatres, but the only parts that have stuck with me are the Iron Man things. If there was problems with Cap, Banner and Thor that didn't involve Iron Man... I got nuthin. So maybe there is something to your assertion that Iron Man drove the plot.

 

[TekMoney]

Can someone explained to be why Black Widow, a fucking Russian. Is being played by Scarlet? Especially without an accent?

It's really bothered me so far.

Because a thick Russian accent would make infiltration hard?

 

[Yuuki]

Can someone explained to be why Black Widow, a fucking Russian. Is being played by Scarlet? Especially without an accent?

It's really bothered me so far.

Because Scarlet is one sexy piece of work. That was enough to fulfill Black Window's role in Avengers.

 

[Tono Makt]

Can someone explained to be why Black Widow, a fucking Russian. Is being played by Scarlet? Especially without an accent?

It's really bothered me so far.

Because Bewbs R Kewl.

I dunno. Too flippant, maybe, but my thoughts on the matter is that Scarlet is one of the most popular female actresses with the "Comic Book Nerds" online. Seriously, just look at the love she gets from geeks and geek sites online - it's creepy. Very few people care about her ability to act, they just care about her curves. So my bet is that Whedon and the producers of The Avengers (and related movies, like Iron Man 2) decided to drop the idea of a Russian accent in favour of just having Scarlet in skintight leather outfits and know that anyone who dared object would be called "Gay" in very short order. (yeah, you better believe that if the Escapist didn't have moderators, someone would be posting something stupidly homophobic about you for saying anything back about Scarlet)

Essentially? You want something true to the character, while the target audience just wants to see a 40ft tall Scarlet in tight black leather.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I thought that the character interplay was nice, but forced. There were so many moments in the film where characters acted weirdly just to force a conflict. Thor losing his temper and throwing Mjolnir at Iron Man made sense. Thor acting smug and declaring "You puny humans are so petty!" goes completely against the character development he went through in his own film.

And Captain America was really underused in the film. And he didn't get many good lines. Just getting angry at jackass Iron Man, and telling Hulk to Smash. Other than that he really didn't get to do much.

But that's Joss Whedon for you. If it isn't smug, rich assholes, it's tiny ass kicking women. Hence the Iron Man/Black Widow show that was most of the movie.

 

[Mutie]

In a Thundercats film each Thundercat would have their cool moment and exposition, but at the end of the day it's Lion-O that's gonna kick ass. Same with Iron Man and the Avenger. Maybe should be Captain America but HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no. Captain America is no super hero, he's a super soldier, and America is the primary villain in all this.

 

[faefrost]

Iron Man did get a bit more to do. But that is largely driven by the huge popularity of Robert Downey Jr as Stark, and his ability to deliver all of those beloved lines and character moments. Black Widow got almost as much time as him, and much of the movies begining section, once again a wildly popular movie character. I think Cap probably got the most shorted (something that is obvious if you watch the deleted scenes. He lost a few major character scenes to the cutting room floor.)000

 

[Luminous Chroma]

I'm curious about the point of this thread.

Avengers has been out for over a year now. If ever there was a time to rant about desired changes to a movie, wouldn't it have been BEFORE the release of said movie? People are still signing petitions against Ben Affleck as Batman, but it seems a bit late to be upset over how much screen time Iron Man got in LAST summer's blockbuster.

What are we trying to accomplish here? Are we shooting for a recut of Avengers, a la the '90% Less Jar-Jar' edit of Phantom Menace? By all means, post your opinions. I'm genuinely confused regarding the endgame, though.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I completely agree. I couldn't help but feel that easily seemed like the main character in the film and that's just stupid since he'd already had two movies about him.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

Its in Ironmans character to act like that though. I can't see Tony Stark sitting back and letting others take the spotlight anymore than I can see the hulk wanting to draw attention to himself.
The plot could have focused a little more on the tesseract or something but otherwise it was fine.
And judging by how well it sold, most people agree.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Stark was featured the most because his character was the most developed and it made the most sense in the plot.

Somebody had to back up Captain America against Loki. Banner wouldn't be sent in, he wasn't brought in for combat and SHIELD didn't know how capable he was on controlling the Hulk.

Somebody had to question Fury's motives. Stark has the most history with SHIELD to be suspicious and the tech know-how to get some answers. Banner would have just kept his head down to get the job done and go, and Capt'n had little reason to suspect anything until the two smart guys started piecing it together.

Stark was the dominant member of the team(before they really acted as a team) because he likes to be the center of attention, had familiarity with SHIELD, knew about the Avengers initiative beforehand, and found a new best buddy in Banner. Captain America on the other hand was still looking for his niche in life and had little in common with the other Avengers. Similarly, Thor had little in common with the other Avengers, and therefore had little interaction with them until shit hit the fan.

Now that he has led the team and will develop more in Winter Soldier, I suspect (and really hope) that Captain America will have a much stronger presence in the future movies. Same goes for Thor, not sure about Banner though.

So yea, to me it makes sense that Avengers featured RDJ so prominently.