Iron Man 2 Extremis, says I!

[Saint]

The title is fairly self explanatory: I'd like to see the sequel rooted, to a degree, in Extremis. Extremis managed to distill most of the defining element of Iron Man into a relevant and modern package, while updating a few things here or there, which I think makes it ideal for film adaptation.

As for the technicalities of the book, obviously we wouldn't be talking completely faithful, but the idea of a terrorist hijacking a super soldier solution would fit nicely with the Mandarin's cabal (or whatever) of terrorists. Could be a Mandarin plot and Mallen could be a Mandarin lackey. Cues could be taken from the recent Mandarin story in Iron Man: Director of SHIELD, which also involved Extremis and managed to update Mandarin for the modern age (and was an excellent story in it's own right). The exploration of Tony's character in Extremis would also fit nicely.

As for Tony "upgrading" himself...that's more complicated. My preference is to keep it. Obviously some will disagree (realism, etc.). As I thought when I read Extremis, it's the logical place for Iron Man to go. Iron Man's upgrades have always seemed lackluster; this was one of the few that had real meat and real purpose to it--one of the few that actually created change.

 

[Brian Braddock]

Extremis would be great to watch, cinematically.

I remember when I 1st read it, I thought it played out very much like a movie in terms of structure.

Mallen would perhaps have to be toned down though. Some of the stuff he gets up to wouldn't see the light of day I'd wager.

 

[Saint]

Extremis would be great to watch, cinematically.

I remember when I 1st read it, I thought it played out very much like a movie in terms of structure.

Yes, that was my thought, as well.

Mallen would perhaps have to be toned down though. Some of the stuff he gets up to wouldn't see the light of day I'd wager.

You mean in terms of his crimes? Hm. It would certainly be bad to dilute the gravity of his actions, but yes, unfortunately the brutal violence would not mesh with the tone of Favereau's Iron Man. Ideally there would be a way to mute actual violence while keeping the gravity, and still communicating the apathetic brutality of Mallen.

 

[Brian Braddock]

Yeah, sorry Saint. I was referring to Mallens brutality; I should have made that more apparent.

I have faith that Favs would be able to temper the brutality sufficiently.

Having said that, maybe he plans to go all '2nd movie' (ala Star Wars: 'ESB' and Star Trek: 'WoK') and make a movie darker in tone to the original in which case, he could get away with a lot more. 'Extremis' with a bit of 'Demon in a Bottle' in there for good measure.

TDK has shown how a movies rating can be stretched to it's limits; and it's reaping the rewards both critically and commercially.

 

[The_Dean]

I'd really rather the Iron Man movie franchise stay away from the "Extremis" vision. I enjoyed the story, but having Tony essentially inject himself with superpowers took a lot of his humanity away for me. I prefer him a brilliant technologist, rather than your average mutie or lab accident.

As for Mallen, he really dragged "Extremis" down for me. I thought he was painfully boring and was nothing more than a stock thug character Ellis used to introduce the capabilities of the virus.

I would love to see some combination of "Armor Wars" and "Demon in a Bottle." Maybe instead of the Avengers you could have SHIELD precluding Iron Man from hunting down more potential Iron Mongers (people stealing his technology - maybe introduce Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man), and that obsession driving him to drink.

...or whatever.