Iron Man 2 How do you make The Mandarin work for a film?

[protocida]

I don't think Fing Fang Foom would fit the realistic world Favreau has set up in Iron Man. How was he portrayed in "Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas"? Still an alien dragon?

And Sam Rockwell did mention that Justin Hammer is "in cohoorts with a group of people."

 

[The Caped Knight]

And Sam Rockwell did mention that Justin Hammer is "in cohoorts with a group of people."

Kinda like in the 90's animated series Where Hammer is a pawn of The Mandarin .

 

[protocida]

It also ties him with Obadiah Stane.

Awesome.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

I don't think Fing Fang Foom would fit the realistic world Favreau has set up in Iron Man. How was he portrayed in "Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas"? Still an alien dragon?

And Sam Rockwell did mention that Justin Hammer is "in cohoorts with a group of people."

Ancient artifact that came to life.

And 1 billion percent bad ass.

 

[terry78]

Just make him a bioengineered creature Mandarin creates. Doesn't have to be all mystical chinese secret and ****.

 

[protocida]

Well, that IS badass.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

Like Terry said, if they can have magical gods, they can have a bioengineering dragon.

 

[protocida]

If it is a bioengineered mechanical dragon, I'm all for it! t:

 

[MichaelChen]

I don't think Fin Fang Foom or Ultimo work when teamed with The Mandarin. If you want to give him a name servant, it should be a sniveling assassin, not a great brute.

The thing about The Mandarin is, he's already a brute. Like Kingpin, he is his own brute and so doesn't need a brute servant. Instead, he needs a sneaky servant, an assassin or fem fatale or both.

 

[MichaelChen]

You know who would be awesome as a servant of The Mandarin? Ghost! Ghost, the ninja of ninjas, sneaky and slippery and utterly professional. The antithesis of the brutal Ghenghis Khan-like Mandarin, yet just as evil in his own cold way.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

Ghost is toooooooooooooooooo way out there of the realism world for Favreau.

 

[MichaelChen]

But his core concept, the ultimate high-tech ninja, is not. In fact, that core concept is the more grounded than Iron Man himself. You might have to use the invisibility only, and add some Batman toys to compensate for the lack of intangibility, but his core concept is solid.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

I never seent it like that.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I think Ghost is a cracking villain, and would fit perfectly into the world of the movies. I think incorporatng his powers of invisibility and intangibility (they had a device for generating intangibility in Fringe, so maybe it's not THAT outlandish) would be a nice way of introducing a villain with technology more advanced than Stark's, without being repetitive and resorting to just making the villain a guy in a bigger suit of armor. And his personality - the whole twitchy, paranoid "DOWN WITH THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX!" shtick - could allow for a strong performance.

That, to me, would be the perfect villain setup for film 3. The Mandarin as the main villain, with Ghost working for him.

 

[Art_of_Crime]

I like the idea of Mandarin being almost an urban legend. Referenced but rarely seen. Like Professor Moriarty, you see his handy work but rarely the hand.

 

[Chewy]

I think Ghost is a cracking villain, and would fit perfectly into the world of the movies. I think incorporatng his powers of invisibility and intangibility (they had a device for generating intangibility in Fringe, so maybe it's not THAT outlandish) would be a nice way of introducing a villain with technology more advanced than Stark's, without being repetitive and resorting to just making the villain a guy in a bigger suit of armor. And his personality - the whole twitchy, paranoid "DOWN WITH THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX!" shtick - could allow for a strong performance.

That, to me, would be the perfect villain setup for film 3. The Mandarin as the main villain, with Ghost working for him.

Ghost would be badass

 

[Rich Santoro]

I just watched a program on Discovery with Kevin Grevioux goes around meeting with scientists, assessing where in nature, characteristics analagous to a mythical dragon really exist (bombardier beetle for hot chemical spray, bat wings, Kimono dragon hide, condor wing span, etc). A genetically engineered hybrid beast could be pretty cool.

 

[Bren]

I don't know the character (Mandarin) very well, but I'm of the mindset that since this is a comic book movie, 'realism' really should take a back seat.

Anyway, would it work to have Mandarin being questioned by a 2nd in charge; he then actually lets the guy try the rings in front of his subordinates - Since the guy does not have the mental discipline to work the rings, his brain is fried.

Gives you indicators to Mandarins confidence and mental superiority. Would it work for the character?

 

[kedrell]

Ghost or Spymaster as a Mandarin flunkie in the 3rd film would work well.

 

[protocida]

If The Ghost is used, we could even get a movie version of "Armor Wars" by having The Ghost invading Stark Enterprises under The Mandarin's behalf and stealing Iron Man prototypes and blueprints, that are then sold by the 10 Rings in the black market and powering several villains, like Living Laser and Beetle, and putting a question mark on Tony's intentions, as he is the only one who could sell that technology. Becoming a public enemy, Tony's downfall to alcoholism is accelerated, which is part of The Mandarin's revenge for Tony's intromission in his bussiness in Iron Man and Iron Man 2.

 

[MichaelChen]

I just watched a program on Discovery with Kevin Grevioux goes around meeting with scientists, assessing where in nature, characteristics analagous to a mythical dragon really exist (bombardier beetle for hot chemical spray, bat wings, Kimono dragon hide, condor wing span, etc). A genetically engineered hybrid beast could be pretty cool.

A dragon is a brute villain. The Mandarin is a brute villain. It wouldn't work. It would be like giving a big fat bruiser minion to Kingpin. You want the minion to have a very different flavor than the boss.

The Mandarin is a passionate, ferocious character who alternates trying to roast people with his blaster rings with smashing them with his superstrong chi-amped martial arts attacks.

His minion should not be a ferocious creature who alternates trying to roast people with his breath with smashing them with his superstrong fist and tail attacks.

There's not enough contrast there. Fin Fang Foom is a bigger version of Mandarin himself.

The Mandarin minion should be his opposite in every way, much like Bullseye is Kingpin's opposite.

The Mandarin is passionate and ferocious. Ghost is cold and professional. The Mandarin is loud. Ghost is silent. The Mandarin has a macho sort of honor. The Ghost is ruthless and pragmatic. They are opposites in every way except both being pure evil. They compliment each other perfectly.

 

[protocida]

The Mandarin hasn't been a brute for a long time, but I like your logic.

 

[MichaelChen]

Yes, he is a brute, of course he's a brute! That's a big part of his appeal. In his last fight he twisted Iron Man's arm until it snapped. And before that he was kicking poor humans to mulch:

The Mandarin is a brute, the second coming of the Genghis Khan, a savage martial artist, the ultimate barbarian warlord.

 

[protocida]

I'm going to take your word, since I haven't been reading "Iron Man" lately.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I think the words "brute" and "savage" might be a bit misleading, as the impression I got in Haunted at least was that he was the ultimate cool operator - smooth, soft-spoken, utterly unflappable, but still incredibly deadly. But other than that, I get where you're coming from, MichaelChen. I agree with your reasoning for why Ghost would be a great match for him in terms of a team-up.