Man of Steel and Iron Man 3: Two movies of 2013 that has divided comic book fans and movie goers

[Parasondox]

Happy New Years From the UK Escapist,

Now 2013 is almost over for some and still going on for others, I want to talk about these two movies that has made millions and even billions in the box office but still divides everyone.

Iron Man 3 came out first and many Marvel fans were outraged at the sudden twist and plot holes of the movie however those who went to see it to enjoy a good action movie, liked highly and thought it was a great movie with interesting characters and a certain twist that they liked. Because of that it is now in the billion dollar movie club and many critics either loved it or hated it. The was the story for one of its heroes after the Avengers but some were left unsatisfied with a bad taste in their mouth. Others of course thought it was one of the best Marvel movies to date apart from the Avengers itself.

Man of Steel came out with it heavy advertisement and heavy trailers to a cinema near you hoping for it to have move action that its previous predecessor Superman Returns and an alternative origin story to the original. Many even, going in to see the movie, went in cause they saw Christopher Nolan's name highlighted as the executive producer and thought,"well this will be a great movie". After viewing many hated the new darker Superman, the writing, the editing and then changed there mind from "a Christopher Nolan movie" to "damn Zack Snyder ruined the movie". Some thought this new take on the super hero works and some didn't but still divided DC fans who either loved or hated it and movie goers who went in for the action a different story and got what they wanted from it.

Why have these two movie split fans and movie goers so much in 2013? Because both had very very VERY high expectations? The trailers gave one thing but the movies it self did a bait-and-switch? What do you personally think it could be?

SIDE NOTE QUESTION: Also to add, is the whole "butt-hurt" phrase that.s used to describe someone who personally and passionately hate the movie, getting used too many times now? eg. "Marvel fans are so butt hurt at Iron Man 3, they should get over it cause it was a great movie and best of the year".

 

[AustinN]

Switching out the villain in Iron Man 3 was a risky move. Many were looking forward to seeing The Mandarin on the big screen, and replacing the main character's arch enemy isn't something that would fly with any other hero. Evidently Killian is supposed to be the Marvel Film Series version of The Mandarin, and evidently does have some of the character's more subtle traits. But many fans still feel that the other character would've made a better villain, and think that he can't be considered the Mandarin because he lacks too many of the character's core attributes. But perhaps the reason people are divided on it is because most movie goers don't know who the hell the Mandarin is.

I haven't watched Man of Steel, but based on what I've heard of it, I'm not sure it was the right direction to take a Superman film. There are many things that benefit from a darker interpretation, but I'm not sure Superman is one of them. Or whatever darkness there is should be there so that he can shine all the brighter.

Is "butt hurt" overused? Well, that depends on what arguments it's being applied to, doesn't it? Some of it may be whining, but dismissing well reasoned arguments with "You're just mad" is close minded and a disservice.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Iron Man 3 I thought was fine, it was a good film. Not great, but good. I think Guy Pearce is awesome in everything he's in and was similarly brilliant in this. I don't know who the Mandarin is but I liked the twist involving him, I thought it was quite clever and played with audience expectations.

Man of Steel was one of the most disappointing films of the year. The fact is Superman doesn't need an origin story to be retold, they should've just "gotten on with it". Second, Clark Kent is much more interesting than Superman and yet instead we got a stupid action film which IMO existed only to peddle us 3D FX. It is the epitome of the direction films are going in now...shallow, poor plot, terrible writing, mediocre acting as placeholders for snazzy 3D action shots. I was bored of the action after 10 minutes but it went on for another 30-40 minutes after.

 

[Angelous Wang]

Switching out the villain in Iron Man 3 was a risky move. Many were looking forward to seeing The Mandarin on the big screen, and replacing the main character's arch enemy isn't something that would fly with any other hero.

The fact is Killian doesn't stop there from being a real Mandarin in a future Iron Man film, Killian's think tank could have simply used an already existing they myth found in a history book (well what they thought was a myth) to create their fictional Mandarin.

Directors should stop telling Superman origins stories, everyone knows who Superman is and if they don't that what all the previous movies are for. If they really feel they need to cover the origin in the movie then they should do like 5 min comic book style flick book thing to sum it up quickly.

We need a Superman movie that is just Superman being Superman on a regular day that Lex/Zod/Darkseid or such does some evil thing.

 

[kurupt87]

Bucking the popular trend I am that awkward bastard that didn't much like Ironman 3 but did like Man of Steel.

But, I've never read a comic in my life so you can all safely ignore me.

 

[Lieju]

I liked IronMan 3, although I didn't think it was a great movie or anything.
Also I'm not a huge fan of the Ironman comics, so while I knew that Mandarin was a nemesis of IronMan, I didn't know enough of his character to really mind.

The funny thing was, that I had heard of this movie having a huge twist, but when it came, I didn't identify it as one, since it felt like a non-twist.

 

[Eamar]

I was really disappointed in Iron Man 3 but actually quite liked Man of Steel.

I think it all comes down to expectations: I'm a massive Marvel fan, but only ever read a handful of DC comics, and then only Batman. I was disappointed in Iron Man because I just expected... more, I guess, especially after Avengers, which I absolutely loved. And yeah, the twist was a bit of a shock. But of course, it wouldn't have mattered at all to someone who wasn't really looking forward to seeing the Mandarin. Man of Steel on the other hand, because I have absolutely no investment in DC/Superman (I never actually planned to see it, just went along with it on a date) and only minimal knowledge of the backstory etc, just came across as an enjoyable action romp. The fantasy-ish elements of Krypton also appealed to me and took me by surprise. For all I know though, it could have been a complete abomination in the eyes of hardcore Superman fans, and I imagine it'd be hugely disappointing to anyone, fan or not, who expected anything more than a big, dumb action movie.

So yeah - different expectations = different reactions = divided audience. That's my take on it, anyway.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm not even sure what they wanted my reaction to be to Man of Steel. Like, they seemed to want me to take it seriously, but I just couldn't. The action was actually pretty cool, but the whole "never show a full second of any one thing because the audience might get bored" bit is kind of a turnoff.

Still haven't seen Iron Man 3. I don't hear as much about it being divisive, though.

We need a Superman movie that is just Superman being Superman on a regular day that Lex/Zod/Darkseid or such does some evil thing.

I want a movie about Superman on laundry day. >.>

I agree with the sentiment that Supes is one of those people who least needs an origin story. The problem is, I'm not sure this movie would have been better had it taken the darker angle and just run with it, because there would be more utterly absurd "dark" moments in it. Or something.

 

[Gizmo1990]

As much as I would have liked to see a proper version of the Mandarin I was ok with the twist and the change. What I did not like was the Iron Man armor being ripped open like tissue paper. After seeing it hold up against aliens and bloody Thor, it was dissapointing that instead of creating an enemy that could take the armor on (the real Mandarin) they simply reduced its power.

Man of Steel was just shit for alot of reasons.

 

[Drummodino]

I liked them both. Granted I don't think I could watch Man of Steel again any time soon because damn that shit is slow and heavy. However I definitely enjoyed the film, the action was awesome and I thought Henry Cahill, Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon put in great performances. I was also one of the few who actually approved of Superman's actions at the end of it.

Side note - would anyone else have preferred to have seen a movie purely about Jor El and Krypton? Cuz the first twenty minutes of the film were awesome.

As for Iron Man 3 I went into it with extremely low expectations. I already knew the big twist and my friends had told me it was "a movie that killed the franchise".

So naturally I thought it was funny and a lot of fun. Sure it had flaws, such as paper mache suits, but RDJ was great as always and I managed to ignore the kid pretty well.

 

[The Harkinator]

I liked Iron Man 3, but I did come away disappointed at the wasted potential of the Mandarin, especially after his early scenes and that big power play with the President that let you know exactly what kind of man you were dealing with. Then the film took a giant shift in tone with the twist and dropped the side plots like it had gotten bored of them and just wanted to finish the film. Case in point, look at the film's logo from the trailers and the start. It's the arc reactor quietly flickering before failing and the logo itself is cold, blue and white colours set the film up to be a darker and less bombastic Iron Man film, probably more character focused too. Then look at the logo we get at the end IRON MAN THREE all in red and gold with loud music coming out at your face, surprise we've gone back to bombastic action!

I think I would have preferred Iron Man 3 to have kept a consistent tone rather than change abruptly. Despite this, it did provide a very strong two thirds of a darker, quieter film with a more subtle opponent and a (I don't want to use realistic) quite believable side plot of Tony having PTSD and feeling inadequate after the Avengers. Then it gave us a final third that was more like the Iron Man we are used to seeing. The end result was the first and second acts from one film and the third act from another mashed together that still managed to be enjoyable.

Man of Steel is (in my opinion) nowhere near as bad as many people think it is, much of it goes well together, I love the casting of pretty much everyone and I like the new Superman costume, the big issue is with the story and writing. It really needed an outsider to look through everything, plotting the timeline of the film would have helped too as the flashbacks are all over the place and disrupt the main narrative rather than add to it. I thought a lot of it was done in the wrong order too as Clark only joins the Daily Planet right at the end and I'd have liked him to have been there a lot sooner. There are a lot of things I'd have rather happened in a different sequence.

I loved most of Krypton, though if we were going with the origin story perhaps we could have spent a little more time there? I would have liked a few hints or sightings of Brainiac before we got properly started. I felt like Man of Steel was trying to retell Superman I & II at the same time and could have saved much for a second film. It throws a lot at you and doesn't spend enough time on everything, especially if they want to bring in other things from Superman. The film just goes KRYPTON!JOR-EL!ZOD!EXPLOSIONS!OHNOKRYPTONFALLS!EARTH!CLARKGROWSUP!FLASHBACKS!LOISLANE!JOR-ELAGAIN!SUPERMAN!ZOD! FIGHT!FIGHT!FIGHT!SNAP! THE END

They really could have taken Man of Steel at a slower pace and spent more time with Clark Kent getting to where he needs to be, learning how to control his powers, getting in with the Daily Planet and becoming Superman. It feels like they wanted to go through a checklist of Superman film requirements and now they're rushing ahead with Justice League stuff. We barely get to know out main character before the plot kicks in and drags everything off to the fight scenes.

Iron Man 3 abruptly changes tone and Man of Steel needs some serious rewriting in places.

On the subject of 'butthurt' it's an easy way to refuse to acknowledge any and all opinions you don't like, legitimate criticism gets filed under bitching and whining about unimportant stuff and as a result doesn't need to be addressed.

Butthurt: "I'm right, you're wrong and you're just lashing out at whatever because it wasn't exactly what you wanted. Therefore it's all your fault and you don't have any legitimate criticisms, you're just whining."

 

[Eamar]

Side note - would anyone else have preferred to have seen a movie purely about Jor El and Krypton? Cuz the first twenty minutes of the film were awesome.

Hell yes! I absolutely loved the opening and was secretly hoping they'd skip the normal Superman routine and give us more of that

As I've said though, I know nothing about Superman, so I'm probably not the person to ask about this sort of thing.

 

[Drummodino]

Side note - would anyone else have preferred to have seen a movie purely about Jor El and Krypton? Cuz the first twenty minutes of the film were awesome.

Hell yes! I absolutely loved the opening and was secretly hoping they'd skip the normal Superman routine and give us more of that

As I've said though, I know nothing about Superman, so I'm probably not the person to ask about this sort of thing.

Well I know next to nothing about Superman either, haven't read a comic book since I was like 8. I really do feel they could have made a kick ass sci-fi movie out of that intro though, would have loved to see Russell Crowe in a leading role.

 

[Eamar]

Well I know next to nothing about Superman either, haven't read a comic book since I was like 8. I really do feel they could have made a kick ass sci-fi movie out of that intro though, would have loved to see Russell Crowe in a leading role.

Fair enough Personally I'm always a sucker for that kind of blend of sci-fi and fantasy. Definitely agree that Russell Crowe was great, I think he was the biggest (pleasant) surprise of the movie for me. I went in with very low expectations and his performance at the beginning certainly helped the film exceed them.

 

[AustinN]

Switching out the villain in Iron Man 3 was a risky move. Many were looking forward to seeing The Mandarin on the big screen, and replacing the main character's arch enemy isn't something that would fly with any other hero.

The fact is Killian doesn't stop there from being a real Mandarin in a future Iron Man film, Killian's think tank could have simply used an already existing they myth found in a history book (well what they thought was a myth) to create their fictional Mandarin.

Maybe, but I doubt that future films will go that direction.

 

[Jiffex]

I really enjoyed the Iron Man 3 twist because I like to see they aren't afraid to move away from the source material but I do see why people were upset and maybe it would've been better to have the twist with a different villain. I haven't seen MoS so I can't really comment on that but I do like the idea of Superman having to compromise who he is to save others, because to me the biggest sacrifice a hero can make is their beliefs, like Superman's "There is always another way" idea.

 

[elvor0]

Screw it, I liked both of them. Granted I'm not big into my Marvel, so this was my first encounter with the Madarin, but Ben Kingsley was great fun regardless, especially the twist. I mean if I had been a huge marvel fan, maybe I would've been pissed and I can understand why people would be.

Man of Steel on the other hand I still think was really good, and I still maintain that this was the ultimate "origin" movie. There's a super /man/ in it, but he's not Superman, if you catch my drift. He's still learning how to use his powers when Zod Turns up, and as a result of killing him, it would appear he /then/ takes the vow to never kill, I guarantee Man of Steel 2 will have Superman in it, more in line with his comic counterpart, as a bastion of hope that he represents to the planet. He's wearing the outfit, but he hasn't yet become the legend.