Like a fabular goblet that overflows eternally with wine, it seems that IRON MAN 2 marketing machine will never run dry in regard to promo pics, will it? Even after the movie’s finished, even after a mega-update, there’s still more new photos of the movie in action. Today, Marvel’s let loose an aggressive octet depicting Justin Hammer leading a throng of counterfeit mecha suits and Whiplash going about some serious smithing in his lair, as well as Tony Stark enjoying some sophisticated cocktail bar conversation with Pepper Potts and some laid-back donut shop talk with Nick Fury.
Enjoy the rest of the photos below. While I suppose I COULD comment about the photographic expertise that went behind these - - speculating as to what speed the filmstocks were, what F-stops they were shot at and just what length the depth of field is - - I’d rather point out something that I didn’t realize until recently. Just as THE DARK KNIGHT was cobbled together from THE KILLING JOKE and THE LONG HALLOWEEN, so too does IRON MAN 2 appear to be based off a specific storyline - - that is, THE ARMOR WARS.
THE ARMOR WARS ran through IRON MAN in the 80s, during the Michelinie/ Layton run, and it was drawn by M.D. Bright and Barry Windsor-Smith. The storyline concerned the shellhead hunting down and taking out a throng of armored villains like the Crimson Dynamo, Stilt-Man and the Controller whose suits were engineered off of Stark Industries designs that the Spymaster had stolen and sold to Justin Hammer. Does that sound a bit familiar? Like I’ve said before, if you want clues as to how the Thor and Captain America movies might play out, pay close attention to what Marvel’s doing, right now. It’s not a random coincidence that both an Ultimate version of ARMOR WARS and an update, IRON MAN & THE ARMOR WARS, ran last year.
== TEASER ==
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia. Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this April - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.