Iron Man 3 Where are the Avengers?

[C. Lee]

"Where are the Avengers", that I can overlook.

The bigger question for me is [BLACKOUT]"Where is S.H.I.E.L.D. when all these acts of terrorism occur here and there, and there are fire-breathing soldiers arising"[/BLACKOUT].

Spoiler

I would say that SHIELD is "looking" for the Mandarin and terrorists the same as the US government and Iron Patriot are...and just happen to be as little success at it. There was no real reason to bring them into the movie. And as for the fire breathing soldiers...no one except Happy (who was in a coma at the time) knew about them.

 

[Norek]

Spoiler

I would say that SHIELD is "looking" for the Mandarin and terrorists the same as the US government and Iron Patriot are...and just happen to be as little success at it. There was no real reason to bring them into the movie. And as for the fire breathing soldiers...no one except Happy (who was in a coma at the time) knew about them.

Spoiler

Come on, S.H.I.E.L.D. are not "no one" - it's a little hard for me to believe that Tony's personal bodyguard can easily uncover a secret like that, but a super-secret spy agency with unbelievable resources, technology, equipment and man-power can't track down a bunch of terrorists with extraordinary abilities, you know, the kind of thing they're usually after.

 

[C. Lee]

Spoiler

Come on, S.H.I.E.L.D. are not "no one" - it's a little hard for me to believe that Tony's personal bodyguard can easily uncover a secret like that, but a super-secret spy agency with unbelievable resources, technology, equipment and man-power can't track down a bunch of terrorists with extraordinary abilities, you know, the kind of thing they're usually after.

Spoiler

That's how many things like this are discovered. NOT by high tech spying...but by someone stumbling on it. SHIELD were not looking for terrorists with extraordinary abilities....they were looking for terrorists...terrorists they believed were in the middle east. Killian was using all of his tech, money, and abilities to make the world think that a middle eastern terrorists was messing with us, they and the US government were looking for middle eastern I hate America I will strap a bomb to me and blow you up terrorists....Happy found out about the soldiers with special abilities because he was following one man he didn't like because he didn't follow his rules in his house. SHIELD and the US government were being fooled by a powerful man...Happy was being anal and holding a grudge and stumbled on things. It happens. Son of Sam was the subject of one of the biggest manhunts by the New York police department...he was caught because a neighbor complained about him making noise in his apartment.

 

[Norek]

Spoiler

That's how many things like this are discovered. NOT by high tech spying...but by someone stumbling on it. SHIELD were not looking for terrorists with extraordinary abilities....they were looking for terrorists...terrorists they believed were in the middle east. Killian was using all of his tech, money, and abilities to make the world think that a middle eastern terrorists was messing with us, they and the US government were looking for middle eastern I hate America I will strap a bomb to me and blow you up terrorists....Happy found out about the soldiers with special abilities because he was following one man he didn't like because he didn't follow his rules in his house. SHIELD and the US government were being fooled by a powerful man...Happy was being anal and holding a grudge and stumbled on things. It happens. Son of Sam was the subject of one of the biggest manhunts by the New York police department...he was caught because a neighbor complained about him making noise in his apartment.

Spoiler

That is a good post, but again, S.H.I.E.L.D. is not the NYPD. They're a fictional super-agency who monitors and deals with these things and I was left with the impression that they would react to a treat like this, even if they find it hard to track these guys down (which is still hard for me to overlook). They kept poking their nose into everything that happened during Phase 1, but somehow they're completely gone here. Some might argue that they're too busy with The Winter Soldier or Crossbones, and dealing with political stuff, but seriously, how more political can they go than having Americans executed live, and having the President of the US being caught and shown on TV by an army of super-soldiers?

 

[Mr.M]

SHIELD could be busy with alien matters and the works. Maybe the U.S government wanted to keep them out of this investigation. This administration made Mandarin "personal" and wanted to dispatch him without the aid of the SHIELD, which does not fall under US jurisdiction.

 

[DN91]

Spoiler

Didn't the American government simply want to handle matters on their own without SHIELD intervention, hence why they designated Lt.-Col. Rhodes as the more-PR friendly Iron Patriot as a morale boost in their efforts to stop the Ten Rings?

 

[JerseyJoker]

SHIELD doesn't interfere on every piece of superhero business.

You can read countless comics of Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine taking on baddies who are wrecking up towns and never comes to help.

SHIELD is only looking to interfere when its a global threat like an alien invasion, earth blowing up, etc...

Plus with the SHIELD tv show...who knows if they bring up or talk about the events of IM3, Cap2, or Thor 2.

 

[Drizzle]

I can imagine it now.

Maria Hill: Sir, our transmissions have been interrupted by a terrorist who calls himself The Mandarin. Orders?

Nick Fury: *leans back in his chair and yawns* Ehhhh...let Stark handle it.

 

[JerseyJoker]

To be honest...feels like something Fury would say, lol.

 

[cleverusername8]

Maybe Cap 2 will shed some light as to what SHIELD has been up to during the duration of Phase 2 because I doubt we'll see them in Thor or Guardians. That's a nice little chunk of time that they'll have their hands full for.

Better yet, the SHIELD TV show can explain it if it ever turns into a full fledged show.

 

[JerseyJoker]

Even though we introduce SHIELD, I hate the idea of having them always pop up. Talk about them and acknowledge them is fine like they did in IM3, but no need to have Fury show up.

 

[ciscostudent561]

I can imagine it now.

Maria Hill: Sir, our transmissions have been interrupted by a terrorist who calls himself The Mandarin. Orders?

Nick Fury: *leans back in his chair and yawns* Ehhhh...let Stark handle it.

Bingo

 

[Spider-Fan]

Spoiler

That's how many things like this are discovered. NOT by high tech spying...but by someone stumbling on it. SHIELD were not looking for terrorists with extraordinary abilities....they were looking for terrorists...terrorists they believed were in the middle east. Killian was using all of his tech, money, and abilities to make the world think that a middle eastern terrorists was messing with us, they and the US government were looking for middle eastern I hate America I will strap a bomb to me and blow you up terrorists....Happy found out about the soldiers with special abilities because he was following one man he didn't like because he didn't follow his rules in his house. SHIELD and the US government were being fooled by a powerful man...Happy was being anal and holding a grudge and stumbled on things. It happens. Son of Sam was the subject of one of the biggest manhunts by the New York police department...he was caught because a neighbor complained about him making noise in his apartment.

Spoiler

We also don't know the whole puzzle. Cap 2 seems to indicate SHIELD will be very involved with what is going on in that one, so we don't know what SHIELD is up against. Plus, like you said, Kilian was creating a ruse so SHIELD was probably looking in all the wrong places like everyone else. I wasn't bothered by SHIELD not being around because of that.

 

[Saitou Hajime]

I don't know why some people put too much stock in SHIELD's investigative prowess. They couldn't even locate Loki and his crew until he deliberately allowed himself to get spotted, what more a target that doesn't even exist?

 

[DACrowe]

Maria Hill: Sir the President of the United States has just been kidnapped by a man using Iron Man armor who may or may not have fire breathing capabilities and who has just shot down Air Force One with Tony Stark presumed dead.

Nick Fury: I'm keeping an eye on it.

Maria Hill: Sir, you're watching House of Cards.

Nick Fury: Shhh, Kevin Spacey is talking to the camera. I love that ****.

 

[Poeman]

After the Avengers, this threat against the President comes and our Avengers are not around...Not even one of them.

 

[kosh33]

I can imagine it now.

Maria Hill: Sir, our transmissions have been interrupted by a terrorist who calls himself The Mandarin. Orders?

Nick Fury: *leans back in his chair and yawns* Ehhhh...let Stark handle it.

haha ... hopefully Fury is still the man in charge during this tme.. cant wait for cap2 for the answers to shields wearabouts during this crisis

 

[LostSon88]

After the Avengers, this threat against the President comes and our Avengers are not around...Not even one of them.

This was touched upon in the first scene between Tony and Rhodes where basically this was 'Americas' problem, not a 'Superhero' problem.

Unless the situation escalated to a point of threatening the planet, its really not SHIELDs business.

They'll help and provide resources but other than that, it's a government operation.

SHIELD has bigger fish to fry.

 

[kosh33]

This was touched upon in the first scene between Tony and Rhodes where basically this was 'Americas' problem, not a 'Superhero' problem.

Unless the situation escalated to a point of threatening the planet, its really not SHIELDs business.

They'll help and provide resources but other than that, it's a government operation.

SHIELD has bigger fish to fry.

i agree.. i think Shield is more of a global enforcement agency, and not just limited to the USA.. and its quite early in Phase II, maybe there are players in shield who want a change in the presidency as well

 

[LostSon88]

And frankly, if SHIELD and the Avengers were rounded up to settle this issue, this whole incident would've been settled in a matter of hours.

Like I said, this incident really is little more than a blip on SHIELDS radar.

 

[dru-zod2501]

Well... I assume the reason Cap, Black Widow and Hawkeye don't help is because Captain America Winter Solider takes place around the same time as Iron Man 3. And with Thor we don't know if the bifrost is fixed yet during the time frame of Ironman 3, and I hear Banner has a cameo in Iron man 3 (thanks to people posting spoilers all over the internet, Facebook, Twitter, SHH, Youtube) but Hulk wouldn't be much help here. However, I think it would have been cool to have Tony and Bruce working on the Hulk Buster armor just in case Hulk became a threat.

try and say that one line again, just more convincingly

 

[J.Howlett]

And frankly, if SHIELD and the Avengers were rounded up to settle this issue, this whole incident would've been settled in a matter of hours.

Like I said, this incident really is little more than a blip on SHIELDS radar.

The kidnapping of the President and replacing him with a VP that's in cahoots with a terrorist organization is a blip on SHIELD's radar? Really? After the events of the Avengers?!

SHIELD, which deals with HOMELAND security on a national and global scale, can't be bother?

I'm just going to stick with the Thor franchise after this film. He's in a different dimension. These questions will never pop up.

 

[divan]

The thing is... As far as we know S.H.I.E.L.D. never gave a crap about terrorism. In Iron Man, Coulson pops up because they suspect there may be some 'Super Tech' involved in Stark's comeback that they could exploit in their 'Avengers Initiative'. In Iron Man 2 they just help Stark with the Vanko fiasco because they want him to be a part of The Avengers. In Thor, they came because they had detected a frigging extraterrestrial object. And in The Avengers, it's implied that a) they don't work for the USA Government, but for the WSC and b) they deal mostly with very high-level threats or otherworldly events.

A (supposedly) normal terrorist cell attacking America is not something S.H.I.E.L.D. deals with. They really didn't know there were Super-Soldiers involved and, while the President being kidnapped is a very abd thing... A megalomaniac Alien-God appearing out of nowhere, declaring himself to be the supreme ruler of the Planet and threatening to subjugate its population or accidentaly blowing it up is... A little worse.

Besides, Rhodes said this is a USA thing to handle. As I said S.H.I.E.L.D. works for the WSC, so I suspect they are also included in the 'do not interferce' embargo.

 

[kosh33]

i am not sure of the time frame between the kidnapping of the president and his eventual rescue by Tony, but i think it was within a day.. probably not enough time for the beaurocrats at the world security council to mobilise a strike force (another other than a nuclear strike on a city) especially since they werent aware of where the president was taken.. maybe there are people there under the influence of the ten rings as well

we dont know what is status of SHIELD at this point in time... maybe they are in disarray in the hierachy since the events of the avengers..

also, the VP may have been in cahoots with AIM for his daughter's sake, and he was probably unaware of the link between AIM and the ten rings...

These questions will be posed by the comic-knowing and MCU-knowing crowds.. thats why we will need to watch the next installments in Phase II to understand how the plots intertwine and what the grand scheme is
for the general audience, this movie showcases Tony in a stand alone capacity with a clear starting and ending, and that what they came to see..

 

[kosh33]

also, if SHIELD were expected to interfere in every coup/crisis around the world, wouldnt they have disposed of the ten rings and all terrorist organisations, and militia around the world?
then we wouldnt need any superheroes.. just the Shield global force led by Fury to maintain law and order..