Iron Man 3 Where are the Avengers?

[Norek]

The thing is... As far as we know S.H.I.E.L.D. never gave a crap about terrorism.

Even when it involves [BLACKOUT]fire-breathing super-soldiers with extraordinary abilities[/BLACKOUT]? And apparently they do, since they'll be a huge part of the Winter Soldier movie, which is said by Marvel to be a political thriller.

 

[kosh33]

But how many people actually knew that people with fire-powers were responsible or involved in the blasts, kidnappings etc..
Shield files that Tony had on the blast never talked about people with powers, they thought a bomb exploded...

as seen in all the individual movies leading to the avengers, shield officers are usually a bit late on the scene or wont unless its a global catastophe

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Well with something like a terriost attack on the US Shield would be involved in some degree. They would probably send normal agents in like Phil or even people like Natasha and Hawkeye. They would save the big guns like Hulk, Thor, and Cap for bigger things. Though Cap would probably want to be involved in something like this. I just assume that the events of winter solider take place around the same time as this.

 

[Immortalfire]

During the final battles, my thought was "Now would be a great time for Cap to lend a hand!" lol

 

[ShadowBoxer]

During the final battles, my thought was "Now would be a great time for Cap to lend a hand!" lol

Hulk would have been somewhat useful. But he probably would have caused more problems than he is worth lol.

 

[divan]

Even when it involves [BLACKOUT]fire-breathing super-soldiers with extraordinary abilities[/BLACKOUT]?

To be fair no one knew about the soldiers until the Air Force One was already attacked.

And apparently they do, since they'll be a huge part of the Winter Soldier movie, which is said by Marvel to be a political thriller.

Yep, forgot about this one. You're right. Let's see if they explain something in that movie. Maybe they'll say something along the lines 'this is a special case because it's CAp buddy' or something but if not, you're right.

 

[metaphysician]

Honestly, I suspect SHIELD *was* involved, they just didn't make the relevant connections to find the places that really mattered. After all, Tony needed both a lot of technical resources and a few specific bits of evidence in order to put together the connections, which were also reliant on him knowing something about the original tech and the people involved.

And honestly, even if SHIELD agents *did* track down one of the operations, how well do you think they would have done against Extremis soldiers? Especially when said soldiers won't have any incentive to take them alive, like with Tony and Pepper?

 

[DorneyDave]

Where are the Avengers? Who cares? I feel like this whole thread is that little kid asking Tony about it.

It's not a big deal, leave it alone or the aliens might come back.

 

[Rock Sexton]

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.

Bigger fish to fry? Was that a serious response?

You have a threat kidnapping and nearly killing the commander in chief of a country and utilizing technology/soldiers unlike anything ever seen before on the planet.

Let's not pretend SHIELD is just a 3 man team preoccuiped with another task. They're a fairly large organization. I thought the movie did a good job in the early going when Rhodey explained to Tony that the Mandarin wasn't superhero problems ..... and then when Happy ended up in a coma it made it personal for Stark so he acted on impulse of his ego to take the challenge head on. JARVIS also made it clear via intercepts that the Mandarin had been on SHIELD's radar but they too were being lead by a series of misdirection. Amazing though how Jarvis is easily able to deconstruct them and pinpoint the location in 10 seconds LOL.

After that it gets flimsy because of how Stark contacted Rhodey and got him involved. He could've very well got on the horn with SHIELD (I'm pretty sure he knows how to get in touch), but perhaps maybe his distrust is what prevents that. In that kind of situation though, if it were me I'm calling in the big guns.

 

[Rock Sexton]

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.

Sorry man. The movie explains that SHIELD "cares" about terrorism when JARVIS pieces together the intercepts to pinpoint Mandarin's location.

 

[jonathancrane]

Trying to explain the absence of SHIELD and The Avengers would have diverted the focus from the narrative. If anything, I suspect Marvel will answer it in a prequel comic series to one of the upcoming films, which is fine. I was pleased that it was Tony facing his own problems without having to rely on others (a la Iron Man 2.)

 

[divan]

Sorry man. The movie explains that SHIELD "cares" about terrorism when JARVIS pieces together the intercepts to pinpoint Mandarin's location.

True. Then I suppose they weren't really effective either. I remember Tony having to to 'intersect' databases between S.H.I.E.L.D. and some other security organizations to find his clue, though.

 

[Warhammer]

Honestly, how was no government agency involved when the president was almost killed?

 

[Rock Sexton]

Trying to explain the absence of SHIELD and The Avengers would have diverted the focus from the narrative. If anything, I suspect Marvel will answer it in a prequel comic series to one of the upcoming films, which is fine. I was pleased that it was Tony facing his own problems without having to rely on others (a la Iron Man 2.)

How would it divert focus from the narrative? The cat is out of the bag already, SHIELD is inherently a part of the narrative in every single one of these films anytime events take place on Earth. They can't simply choose to undo that whenever they want to isolate the character ....... unless of course they're willing to get creative about it.

I'm not a fan of the retcons with the prequel comic series. The general audience doesn't read them. It's kind of cheap to me.

 

[LostSon88]

Was Earth in danger? Was the entire planet at risk?

Until it is, it will not be SHIELDs fight. Their primary objective is the protection and security of the planet. They are the alpha dogs, the ones you call in when you have no other option.

So yes, considering what and who Nick Fury works for (he clearly doesn't answer to the POTUS)...yes, this was a blip.

However if this situation were to escalate to the point of risking the security of the planet, then they'll step in.

Until then, like Rhodey said, this is 'Americas' problem.

 

[Rock Sexton]

Was Earth in danger? Was the entire planet at risk?

Until it is, it will not be SHIELDs fight. Their primary objective is the protection and security of the planet. They are the alpha dogs, the ones you call in when you have no other option.

So yes, considering what and who Nick Fury works for (he clearly doesn't answer to the POTUS)...yes, this was a blip.

However if this situation were to escalate to the point of risking the security of the planet, then they'll step in.

Until then, like Rhodey said, this is 'Americas' problem.

SHIELD isn't relegated to just showing up if only the entire planet is threatened. Where are you getting that from? Their name means "Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division." They're an umbrella agency monitoring the entire world and Mandarin WAS on their radar as explained by the movie. They were actively trying to find him themselves.

 

[LostSon88]

I'm aware they were part of the investigation. I had mentioned it in a post from last night.

They will help and assist in the situation to the best of their ability but as far as intervening...it wasn't at that threat level yet.

I didn't mean to suggest they were stating out of the situation completely, just that their role was more to serve as a resource and provide information to the investigating parties.

It's like in 'The Incredible Hulk', there was a brief scene where General Ross mentioned that SHIELD was helping to locate Banner by allowing the Army to use their database BUT left the actual operation in the hands of Ross and the Army.