SpiderTitan

May 4, 2013 9:32 am The Iron Man movies have kind of mirrored themselves after The Dark Knight Trilogy except from different angles & with a more humorous & lighthearted atmosphere. Iron Man 3 for instance (SPOILER) The Mandarin shoots Tony's house down & pretty much leaves Tony out in the open without his technology to fight with. Now thats not exactly The Dark Knight Rises verbatim, but in essence it is a very similar story of a villain having the huge upper hand half way through the film & then the hero is left extremely vulnerable (albeit Bruce a lot more so than Tony) to collect himself & fight back against his foe. So with the description Paul left with it being "The Deconstruction Of Tony Stark," I immediately thought of the Deconstruction of Bruce Wayne as well with TDKR. Now with the Mandarin angle, although it could've been played out differently like having him be more of a Bin Laden figure like the 1st Iron Man kind of set him up to be, but really they did that super terrorist angle already with TDK & TDKR. So if Shane Black were to have gone on to doing The Mandarin that way, it would be too reminiscent of TDKR with Bane being an already established super terrorist. Now I also believe that there is much more to be seen with the Mandarin as they did end the film quite openly I might add, perhaps Ben Kingsley actually is the Mandarin & only did all that as an act to rise up once again in the future like Iron Man 4 perhaps, now THAT would blow people's minds.

April 29, 2013 7:29 pm I saw a list that had Michael Chiklis as the Kingpin & I've decided that that was the absolute PERFECT choice for him. Even with the idea of Tony Soprano appearing in the Marvel universe, Chiklis as the Kingpin is just too tantalizing an idea to let go of. However Ryan Gosling as Matt may just be as Perfect as well. He could really turn Murdock into the status of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, but arguably with more appeal.

April 29, 2013 7:18 pm I actually saw Iron Man 3 & it was AMAZING!!! However I think it will divide the majority of fanboys depending on how they respond to certain things in the film. So I am actually excited for Star Trek Into Darkness, Great Gatsby & (even though you guys didn't mention it) Fast & Furious 6 as well pretty equally for different reasons. Weird I know lol :)

February 27, 2013 7:30 pm Ummmm WOW! Did not see that coming. Although I was kind of rooting for Massee to be Norman, Cooper should be exceptional in the role. My only concern is the balance of villains throughout the film. Will this heavily feature Rhino & Electro & Goblin comes in ASM3? Or do they somehow put them all together & accomplish the highly difficult job of making 3 villains work? From what I understand it, Gwen is mostly likely going to die in this film, so not having Gobby be the villain to her death would be borderline shameful, IMO. Aw well, lets see what happens, I am still more excited for Days Of Future Past than ASM 2 though

February 13, 2013 8:57 pm Paul I was very taken aback by the gravitas & maturity of your review. Also I was so mesmerized by the fact that my thoughts were of similar rhythm to yours good sir. Your examination of the "dance" that the Joker does so enjoy could very well have put the relationship between him & Batman at an new level of playing field. Whereas their relationship has always been understood (or at least mostly) as a game very much like Sherlock & Moriarty as you've mentioned above (although I would argue that Bane is the more literal personification of Batman's own Moriarty). Yet with the cover, the way Snyder does so hauntingly deliver the ending to Death Of The Family (which reminded me of the ending scene in A History Of Violence because of their similar haunting atmospheres) & your viewpoint on their relationship Paul, I would say that the idea of Batman vs Joker being more of a "tango" of death, destruction & horror between the two of them & everyone that gets involved with them in the crossfire, just gives the whole feud that much more of an immortal feel. Like in a game there must always be a victor, thats how games end, yet in a dance, there's no telling when the tango would end, should it end, if it could end with these two foes dancing in that everlasting majestic tango. One can only imagine. in other words, well done Paul, well done :)

January 21, 2013 9:15 pm Wow, I can't believe how much change is coming in the early part of the new year. I have been an avid fan of iFanboy for around 6 to 7 years now. iFanboy was the site that got me into comics after accidentally stumbling upon the graphic novel collection for the Heroes comics that came out during that show's peak success at their 1st season. Ron has always gone hand in hand with iFanboy for all that time & while I am quite excited to see what Ron has up his sleeve for Image Comics, I will most definitely miss you Mr. Richards, as I'm sure a lot of us here at the iFanbase. On that note Congrats Paul!!! I have always loved your film reviews & well enjoy your podcast appearances so Ron's replacement was definitely a no-brainer there. Thanks for the laughs, the excitement & the guide Ron, will look forward to your future projects at Image!!! :)

January 10, 2013 10:17 pm David Mazzucchelli has to be the DEFINITIVE Batman artist, IMO. His single image of the Dark Knight in smoke after bursting into Carmine Falcone's dinner party with all of the Gotham rich socialites who have ruled its underground crime till Batman arrived there with a threat & a promise through the smokey exterior in order to create the right tone of fear, seriousness & ominous presence that has come to be essential for Batman to appear, IMO.

October 17, 2012 11:59 pm Which I am noticing they're doing (which I love) is keeping the show within a grounded/realistic tone that obviously is inspired by Nolan's Batman Trilogy (or my generation's most defining Trilogy, IMO), but that also means that they are keeping their villains relatively grounded as well & my question is whether DC has enough villains who do not have superpowers that would be able to fit into Arrow & no Flash's Rogues do not count as their weapons are their superpowers & I mean to last the show for a healthy amount of seasons (if it continues to provide such great quality for that long), basically like 4 or 5 seasons worth of villains & that's also assuming/expecting villains to make return appearances & some new ones crafted from already introduced characters (i.e. Ollie's Mom & Tommy Merlyn, hint hint).

October 17, 2012 9:01 pm Um.....wow! Talk about a twist of an the ending! Who the hell could that be? Are they taking a Morrison Action Comics turn here with Oliver? Can't wait til next week, two words: DEAD SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!! : )

October 17, 2012 8:45 pm @Conor I agree there's a lot of Mike Grell in this show, with touches of Year One here & there, but as long as they keep up with the Grell inspired stuff, this show should be consistently compelling, albei the action is pretty top notch i.e. Laurel's home invasion from the Triads.