The MCU is one of the greatest phenomenons to have hit the Big Screen. But what if the movies in it had been somewhat different? Would it crash and burn, or rise to even greater heights?
An idea born form desperation, but an idea nonetheless.
The idea of bringing together some of the most colorful, the most popular, and the most iconic heroes ever created and bring them together in the Big Screen. An idea to once more revolutionize how people would watch movies as Stan Lee had once done for Comic Books, something no one had seen so far and would probably not see for a long time to come.
This idea would be called the MCU...
...Or at least, that was what was supposed to be. Yet it only took single change, one single choice, for the idea to nearly die before reaching its true potential. The old Idea was dead, but a different one could still take its place...
If the right person comes along...
XXXXXXXXXXX
Your name is…
[ ] Write-in the name of the main character.
And you are a…
[X] Male [ ] Female (Sorry, not good at writing female POV's)
And this has to be either the most amazing, or the most catastrophic, moment in your career. You've just come out of Ike Perlmutter's office (Lovely man) to hear him mostly complain about the executives at Marvel, before he named you the next Head Producer for the entire MCU project.
You are not ashamed to admit your first thought was "WTF?!?!"
It was your third, second and fourth as well.
Yes, because apparently not only did Kevin Feige resigned after one argument to many with the 'Paragon of Civility' in front of you, but now it had to be you the one who replaced him, who now had the unenviable task of reassuring the entire Directors, Actors, staff, etc., who were now probably running around like headless chickens, who now had to take what was considered by nearly all in Hollywood to be Marvel's last gasp of air before it went under, and make it profitable.
No pressure, right?
This...this was beyond what you signed up for. You were only here because of Kevin after all. He'd seen you previous productions, and saw some promise there, enough to be hired and aid in some of the later films. The fact that you also had a deep love for the comics and a full collection dating back decades was just another bonus in his opinion.
You're sure that's one of the reasons why you got the job, as you're one of the few who have some of the framework for what Kevin was planning for the future, plus some idea of what would anger the fans and what would make them attend in droves.
And yet, regardless of the reason, this was the situation you were in now. What should have been Kevin's job was now yours, and despite the whole negative aspects of it you would be lying if you denied feeling somewhat excited about it. You had dreamed of seeing the characters you fell in love with as a child in the Big Screen for a long time, and that dream had just recently come true with the productions of X-Men and Spider-Man among others. To give up now when you had gained what many would dream of (that is if you also removed the massive amount of debt the studio was in, and the many problems that would come at changing producers at this point) would be foolish.
Alright then! No more feeling depressed! It was time to get to work. First was reviewing what you had, beginning with yourself. Among your many productions you were sure that you mostly excelled at...
...though you would also admit your tendency to be overly intrusive in most of your projects. "Meddling" is what many would call you, but you'd made sure to at least make yourself useful, and managed to pick some skills along the way. (Pick three)
[ ] Script Quality: The writing room loves you for your input, and so do you with hanging around the writing room.
[ ] Casting Quality: Attracting big actors to your movie is easy for you. You're just naturally good at making the pitch of character roles sounds good.
[ ] Golden Tongue: You've always known the right thing to say, both in and out of the business. You've managed to get in and out of negotiations without hard feelings.
[ ] Choreography: Running, jumping, dancing, fighting. You know how to arrange actors' movements and camera for a scene and no one can deny it.
[ ] Editing: A both creative and technical part of the filmmaking production. You're excellent at manipulating those raw footages into complete sequences.
[ ] VFX: Special effect is your jam. The limitation of live footage can't hold your creativeness back from presenting itself, with digital process, of course.
[ ] Hyping: You have a flair for connecting to the fans and the regular viewers. You can make them feel the excitement and energy behind a project.
[ ] Actor Performance (pick one of the sub vote, each sub vote count as one skill)
-[ ] Protagonist. The protagonist must ooze presence and impress the audience, a role very vital in a narrative. You are skilled in extracting that presence out of the heroes of the story.
-[ ] Antagonist: Opposing the hero is the antagonist's job and they are as important as any protagonist. You demand those actors to perform well. And they better be or else..!
-[ ] Side Cast: Some people say that side cast isn't as important, well, they are wrong. They are essential as any other role and you won't let the actors underperform. "I'm looking at you, Grandma #14!"
And also...you had to face it, Marvel, if it's going to survive, needs their most popular properties, and for that they are going to need to play ball with the many other studios that have control of them. Before signing in with Marvel most of your work had been with...
[] Universal
[] Fox
[] Sony
...and still had many contacts and friends there. More than likely Marvel wanted to get as much use out of your connections to see if they could squeeze a better deal for use of their properties. It was a good idea, one that you could see if it could be expanded in some way...perhaps even regaining some of them?
...Yeah right. Then you'll see if chickens can fly.
You were still musing when your assistant contacted you about something you'd hoped you'd have more time for.
Jon Favreau knew about the change in Production.
And he was not happy.
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Seeing Jon leave your office with a satisfied expression on his face you could almost congratulate yourself in how you handled that situation. Sure, you had to agree to his demands for Robert Downey Jr. to be the main lead, but you had made sure that Iron Man would remain on schedule for the foreseeable future.
Well...this...this was fine. You smiled as you felt the confidence fill your body. If you can deal with this then-
"Sir? Sorry to bother you, but Universal just called. They heard of the recent restructuring and are feeling concerned. They're talking about stopping the Hulk movie."
...Fuck your life.
[] Well, you better get right on it. You need to keep the Production on schedule after all. (Negotiation Roll)
[] You know what? No. Marvel still has many characters that could make for good movies. (Begin new Production)
- [] Which Character: Write In
The quest begins with a simple ripple; Kevin Feige quits after an argument to many with the Head of Marvel, Ike Perlmutter, leaving you as the ne Head of the MCU in a compromise decision between Ike and the Marvel Executives. You aren't a big hotshot or influential person in the world of Hollywood yet. You're a regular producer brought in who has a limited knowledge of Feige's plan for the MCU. The player, you, will have to face various challenges from handling directors, cast, crew, etc; dealing with the higher up interference of your work while also trying to please them and prove that you can make the MCU the greatest Comic Book movies ever!
And as the newest Head to lead the MCU you have to manage the fractured movie comic books universe you're trying to build that is full of characters rights issues. Don't count on studios just allowing their use either. They are your competition, unless you can convince them to work with you or sell their properties back.
Even with all the competition you can let your creative juice shines through. This is a creative media quest, craft your universe from the ground up with what you have of Marvel properties remaining. Just remember, the domino effect is real and what this timeline ends up with may be different than ours.
Discussion is encouraged in-thread to make ways for voting options and movies ideas. Write-ins are also allowed as long as they are reasonable. Omakes are certainly welcome and useful. They will be explained further down.
A project tends to start with the development of a script, be it as an adaptation of a particular comic book story or simply a character in general. This phase begins with you and the Director you selected; assisting them, taking a script that had already been written, or even only you yourself planning out the details of the script to pitch them to the higher ups at Marvel in hope for the project to get greenlit.
This process can take between 2 to 12 months, depending on the complexity of the script. GM will roll 1d100 (with varying modifiers for how difficult a certain concept or adaptation might be to get right) to determine Script Quality. If the thread feels the resulting roll isn't acceptable, you can choose to reroll up to 5 times (each adding 2 months) until getting something workable. Whatever the quality of the scripts are, you can then choose to present them to Marvel Studios, put it on the shelf temporarily or permanently, or scrap it and start the project again from scratch.
The initial script pitch as well as as other outside effects of Hollywood's climate might effect the two rolls of Appeal and Finance (both are 1d100 with varying modifier).
The Appeal roll represents you pitching the idea to the studio and the chance it gets greenlit. A success means the project is good to go, and the reverse is true. The actual budget needed for the project depends on the complexity of the script.
The Finance roll is for the extra money that went above script's budget requirement. So every subsequent actions would wage on the extra budgets (casting, allocating money to specific production part, extra effect, reshoot)
This phase is where you narrow down the options of the production, setting the vision of the projects and completing all the planning that takes place before the camera rolls. During this phase you'll work out the casting.
This process typically takes between 1 or 2 months, depending on how long the locations and set up (based on the script) take. A hidden 1d100 (with varying modifiers) to determine if things run on the schedule you've set. In addition, there will be a Casting Quality roll (1d100 with varying modifiers) to determine the list of actors to choose from.
The choice of which actors (and directors/screenplay writers) are casted can effect the modifier. There's potential benefits and downside to the choices presented.
This phase is the actual shooting of the movie and the aftermath! It's key to keep planning ahead of the daily shoot. Stick to budget, stick to schedule, and make sure there's communication between location, set, office, and all other parties involved. The bulk of post-production consists of reviewing the footage and assembling the movie (editing) for the first cut.
The entire process typically takes between 8 to 13 months (typically 10 months). Most of the rolls here are universal 1d100. A lot of these rolls does effect each other bonus and malus (as well as the previous result of script, casting choice and production come into play too).
The rolls are: Protagonist Chemistry ; Antagonist Chemistry ; Side Cast Chemistry ; (optional) Romance Chemistry ; Actor Screen Presence (Performance) ; Choreography ; Production Quality ; Sound Design ; Editing ; VFX.
This phase is where you gonna delay and reshoot/reediting the first result (if the thread choose to). The movie is gonna get delayed and more time and budget will be spent, if the thread find any dice result from the previous phase unsatisfied. They can choose to redo them, which prompt into a reroll of the result. You get three rerolls per month to finish, depending on the speed..
If the quest choose to reshoot: Pre-Production Phase --> Production and Post-Production Phase (The Voting for Additional Production Phase) --> Additional Production Phase --> Box Office and Reception Phase
If the quest not choose to reshoot: Pre-Production Phase --> Production and Post-Production Phase (The Voting for Additional Production Phase) --> Box Office and Reception Phase
Be careful with the budget as well as the delay, there are possible different consequences if this keeps happening. The studio might not be pleased, dwindling hype for the movie, etc...
There will be a roll for Fandom Buzz (1d100 with varying modifiers) to determine overall fandom reception to the movie (scale by determinate factors).
A Reviewer Buzz roll (1d100 with varying modifiers) to determine critical response to the movie (scale by how "professional" the movie is presented)
A Merch roll (1d100 with varying modifiers) to determine the number result from selling merchandise of the movie (toys, DVD, etc...).
The results of the previous phases all help contribute to the rolls as well as other third party effects in the Hollywood scenes (trend, competition movies in the same release date, etc...).
Especially in regard to Box Office (International and Domestic), there won't be any rolls for those. Box Office Results are determined by the GM through GM's owned mathematic multiplier system and chart of rolls results. All the previous phases rolls contribute to the final result of how well the movie performed.
In addition to the basic mechanics above, there will be a number of events and hidden dice rolls mechanics that may come in factor if we are lucky (or unlucky).
Omakes can help in the process by giving some bonuses the subject they are written about I.E. Actors' performance, Casting Call, Hype, Finance, etc., etc., etc., ..., or any of the different phases you may think will need help.
In the end you can write about anything, but the bonus will go to the subject of the Mmake. But only good quality Omakes will receive the Bonus, also i would prefer if at least there was a minimum of 500 words for Omake.
For butterflies, worldbuilding, or if you want an Actor, Writer or Director to have a better chance to join, then it can also work, but for that to happen the Omake will need to be longer than just 500 words.
-Script Quality: You've dabbled enough that your presence is welcmoe among the writers and their staff.
-Casting Quality: You can just recognize who is going to be great at which role.
-Golden Tongue: A lifetime of dealing with recalcitrant Directors and untractable Producers has allowed you to hone your skill at bullshit- *Ahem* convincing others.
-Fast as Lightning: Where other Productions may need 8 to 13 months to film, yours only needs 6 to 10
Worked at: Universal Studios
Characters/Actors
Iron Man Tony Stark/Iron Man-Robert Downey Jr.
Virginia "Pepper" Potts-Jessica Chastain
James "Rhodey" Rhodes-Omar Epps
Obadiah Stane-Jeffrey Dean Morgan
The Incredible Hulk Bruce Banner/Hulk-Hugh Dacey
Elizabeth "Betty" Ross-Lena Headey
General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross-Tom Skerritt
Rick Jones-Garrett Hedlund
Samuel Sterns/The Leader-Christopher Eccleston
The Mighty Thor Thor Odinson-Jason Momoa
Loki Laufeyson-Tom Ellis
Odin Borsson-Brendan Gleeson
King Laufey of Jotunheim-Ian McShane
Heimdall-Vladimir Kulich
Lady Sif-Gal Gadot
Donald Blake-Eric Allan Kramer
Jane Foster-Tatiana Maslany
Hawkeye Clint Barton/Hawkeye-Karl Urban
Nick Fury-Samuel L. Jackson
Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow-Gemma Arterton
Jacques Duquesne/Swordsman-Jean Reno
Dean Helm/Silent-Yayan Ruhian
The Invincible Iron Man Tony Stark/Iron Man-Robert Downey Jr.
Virginia "Pepper" Potts-Jessica Chastain
James "Rhodey" Rhodes-Omar Epps
Ivan Vanko/Whiplash-Johnny Depp
Justin Hammer-Neil Patrick Harris
Whitney Frost/Madame Masque-Elodie Yung
Barbara "Bobbie" Morse-Margot Robbie
Howard Stark-Josh Hartnett
Wonder Man Simon Williams/Wonder Man-Ryan Reynolds
Neal Saroyan-Robin Williams
Darcy Lewis-Kat Dennings
Eric Williams-Hayden Christensen
Luchino Nefaria-Brendan Fraser
Arthur Parks/The Living Laser-Sean Patrick Flanery
Abraham Laughton/Scarecrow-Hamish Linklater
Captain America Steve Rogers/Captain America-Chris Evans
Peggy Carter-Hayley Atwell
James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes-Kit Harington
Johann Schmidt/The Red Skull-Mark Strong
Henrich Zemo-Christoph Waltz
Timothy "Dum-Dum" Dugan-Michael Cudlitz
Jim Morita-Kenneth Choi
Gabriel Jones-Orlando Jones
Count Niccolo Nefaria-Riccardo Scarmacio
Colonel Chester Phillips-R. Lee Ermey
Howard Stark-Josh Hartnett
The Avengers Tony Stark/Iron Man-Robert Downey Jr.
Steve Rogers/Captain America-Chris Evans
Thor Odinson-Jason Momoa
Clint Barton/Hawkeye-Karl Urban
Barbara "Bobbie" Morse-Margot Robbie
Simon Williams/Wonder Man-Ryan Reynolds
Bruce Banner/Hulk-Hugh Dacey
Nick Fury-Samuel L. Jackson
Maria Hill-Eliza Dushku
Miscelaneous Movies (Phase 1) Agent Phil Coulson-Clark Gregg
An Iron Man 2 Pitch Idea
So I figured I could throw out a very basic pitch for an Iron Man sequel that's different from what we got IRL. I'm not married to this idea but I think it's a neat skeleton that can be fleshed out with something stronger later on down the line.
The basic plot
The movie opens with a cosmonaut up in space going about his day on a space station. We learn a bit about him when something goes wrong with the ship and he's forced to deal with it. He enters a giant crimson suit to try and repair things but stuff goes wrong and he's forced to crash land on earth, landing in the middle of the midwestern United States. The man in the suit then sees a billboard with Stark on it and he growls the name with hatred. We then cut to the title of the movie.
We now shift over to Tony Stark. After his debut as Iron Man (and potentially an Avenger) he's living large and enjoying partying more than ever. He's famous and successful and enjoying things. The state of Tony's life is established as mostly good but hints that his excesses are going to overwhelm him come from Pepper who tries to get him to be less excessive with his behavior. The man in the giant crimson suit flies in and starts screaming about how he's going to kill Howard Stark and ranting about excess and overindulgence of capitalist monsters.
Tony naturally suits up debuting a new Iron Man suit (for toy sales and to potentially show off CGI much like the suitcase scene with the IRL Iron Man 2) and goes to fight off the rampaging man. Though the Crimson Dynamo suit is much larger than the Iron Man suit, Stark's superior tech lets him fend off the attacker. The crimson suit flees and Tony initially moves to pursue but spots that due to fighting a little tipsy, he let the collateral damage get too high and so now people are in danger. Instead of moving to pursue the man in the crimson suit Tony instead goes on to save the people at the party. After the saving people's lives he meets the beautiful Whitney Frost and due to not thinking straight he sleeps with her which gives her the opportunity steal schematics on the Iron Man suit without him knowing after temporarily disabling J.A.R.V.I.S..
The media goes on to dub the attacker of the event the Crimson Dynamo and Tony gets chewed out by Pepper for being completely and utterly excessive in his drinking and partying as of late. Tony brushes it off which only infuriates Pepper more. Even Rhodey and Happy are unable to get through to Tony as he's completely over the edge. Tony then opens up a secret compartment in his workshop and we learn that he is dying. Turns out working in a cave with a box of scraps tends to lead to side effects and complications. Tony has an idea of how to save his own life but he literally cannot invent fast enough to save it. He's frustrated that he feels stuck in a world that's too slow and so he's started to make moves to prepare people for when he dies. Tony muses on the fact that he's basically choosing to die of over-indulgence like how his dad died driving drunk but ignores that and states that what he's doing is different from his dad as he's not being selfish and is instead sparing people by acting like this.
We then cut to the Crimson Dynamo. Due to being cut off from the world he initially thought the Cold War was still going on and that technology would now be the same. Now he realizes he's lost and adrift in a world that's left him behind and forgotten him while moving too fast to be relevant. He's hiding out in some barn or something drinking alcohol lamenting his irrelevance when he's approached by a woman in a mask (Madame Masque). While he's initially hesitant to agree to anything she says, the woman eventually offers him a way to make his life mean something and to get back at men like Stark who are born and die with everything while he has nothing. Crimson Dynamo eventually agrees.
Tony hosts another big press conference where he announces that he's stepping down as CEO of Stark Industries so that he can focus more on being Iron Man and presents Pepper as the new person in charge. He refuses to answer any questions but before he can get away he is once more attacked by the Crimson Dynamo. This time the Crimson Dynamo's suit has been upgraded with Stark Tech, which Tony notices and he's able to beat Iron Man in a fight. Rhodey tries to help Tony but is effortlessly batted away by the Crimson Dynamo.
Crimson Dynamo gives a speech that men like Tony and his father are nothing but poison that will only drag down and hurt the people in their lives with their selfishness and greed. He then states that Tony Stark is nothing without his money and the moment someone faces him on an even playing field he's helpless against a better man. Pepper then challenges the Crimson Dynamo's assumptions and says he only managed to get this far due to sneak attacks and that if anything he proved he needed to stoop lower than Tony in order to win. This gets under Crimson Dynamo's skin enough that he agrees not to kill Tony. Instead he tells Tony that they'll finally settle the score on an even playing field in one months time. He then kidnaps Pepper to ensure that Tony will show up to the fight alone when he calls and flies off to parts unknown.
Wracked with guilt at the fact that his actions supposedly led to Rhodey getting hurt and Pepper getting kidnapped, Tony gets even worse about his drinking and fully indulges in it. He's utterly apathetic and hates himself more than ever. It is in this state that Nick Fury arrives to find Tony. He's surprised and irked at Tony's behavior and tells him some stuff to get him to snap out of his funk and get him to do what he needs to. He tells Tony that he's not like his father and that he can always be a better man even if he wasn't a perfect one before and that the one thing Stark's keep on doing is improving.
Tony then reveals that he's dying out of frustration with getting the speech and that nothing could save him. Fury then reveals that he doesn't know how to save Tony either but he brought up old things that Howard left for SHIELD in the hopes that he could use it to improve the Iron Man suit enough to beat the Crimson Dynamo and that maybe it can also save Tony's life. Tony starts looking over the stuff and gets engrossed in it but Fury admits that there was one other reason he came as he recognized the crimson suit Tony first fought in the media that showed it and he hands Tony a dossier on who the Crimson Dynamo actually is.
Meanwhile back with the Crimson Dynamo, he has taken Pepper to a secret abandoned lab controlled by Madame Masque where they are attempting to make better arc reactors and Iron Man suits. Madame Masque comes in and is angry about how Crimson Dynamo refused to kill Tony Stark when he had the chance. Crimson Dynamo responds that he wants to destroy Stark's legacy not just the man himself and Madame Masque reluctantly concedes.
Pepper eventually gets to talking with Crimson Dynamo and he reveals why he hates the Stark's so much. Crimson Dynamo grew up in the USSR and his father worked alongside Howard during WW2. After that war ended Howard and the Crimson Dynamo's fathers were on opposite sides of the Cold War. Crimson Dynamo was loyal to his country and his people but somehow Howard Stark managed to use his wealth and influence to convince Crimson Dynamo's father to betray the USSR and sell secrets. When his father got caught Howard did nothing to help or save him, instead using his lavish wealth to build new products and host parties. Crimson Dynamo states that he lived all of his life as a traitor's son and was forced through the most grueling and brutal conditions, even signing up for a potentially suicidal space mission, just because Howard Stark ruined his life and didn't even have the decency to try and help him. He had nothing and now he woke up in a world where everything he'd dedicated his life to was gone and Howard Stark's son had everything he could ever dream of and was no better than his father.
Pepper eventually tells him that he is viewing Tony as his father much like how people viewed the Crimson Dynamo as his father which makes the Crimson Dynamo hesitate but he still forges onwards with his plan, stating that he's given up too much to just be forgotten when he dies.
Back with Tony he looks through Howards old things and eventually figures out how to save his life but he still can't figure out an easy way to guarantee the Crimson Dynamo's defeat just by upgrading his own armor. He watches old recordings of Howard Stark and comes to the conclusion that he's not going to be like his father, he won't be one man against the world and he's going to let people in and work with them and not bury his weaknesses in alcohol and parties. Tony comes up with a plan and creates a second suit of armor for Rhodey to wear in order to defeat Crimson Dynamo. He's going to fight smarter not harder as that's what he's the best at. Rhodey agrees to the plan.
Crimson Dynamo gives his broadcast and reveals the location of the lab he is hiding in and states if anyone but Tony Stark shows up he'll kill Pepper Potts. Tony flies off and confronts the Crimson Dynamo demanding that he let Pepper go and asking him not to let what happened between their father's lead to further violence. Crimson Dynamo lets Pepper go but refuses to back down. He and Tony fight a bit and Tony is losing but he calls in Rhodey's help and the two together start winning against the Crimson Dynamo. Crimson Dynamo declares that Tony Stark is cheating because he's not better than him but Tony reiterates that he's cheating because he's learning to be better and that means not doing everything alone and leaving other people behind like Howard did. Eventually the two of them overpower and take down Crimson Dynamo.
However before they can leave they decide to head in deeper to take down whoever gave Crimson Dynamo Stark tech. They head deeper in and encounter Madame Masque. Iron Man fires a repulsor blast that knocks off her mask revealing Madame Masque to be Whitney Frost. Madame Masque picks up her mask and reveals to the two of them that she rigged the whole lab and every arc reactor in it, to explode leading to untold collateral damage if they don't contain it.
Rhodey and Tony make the choice to stay and try to contain the blast and Madame Masque makes her get away but not before acknowledging that things aren't over quite yet. Rhodey and Tony do their best to keep the explosion from occurring but because of reasons one of them at least is required to go into a room that could fry them with the ensuing energy in order to prevent the explosion. Crimson Dynamo comes to and he sees that Tony and Rhodey are working to save people while the woman he worked with abandoned them all to die and would kill thousands of people as collateral for a vendetta. Crimson Dynamo makes the choice to be different and be a hero.
He heads into the room that would have killed anyone who entered it and does the necessary repairs, using his own engineering knowledge from his time on the spaceship to contain a breach and potentially has Tony guide him as well. Crimson Dynamo dies but the blast is contained and everyone else survives.
Tony approaches Crimson Dynamo and tries to save him but Crimson Dynamo accepts his death with resignation. He tells Tony he's a better man than his father and than Crimson Dynamo because he learned from their mistakes and asks selfishly that Tony doesn't let him be forgotten. Tony reluctantly agrees.
The movie ends with a resolution of Tony giving a speech about how the world needs to come together and band together to deal with their problems instead of having each man stand on their own and feuding with one another. Depending on where this movie lands more nuance can be added (asking Pepper to marry him, hinting at the Avengers, hinting at threats from space etc.)
A natural post-credits scene is Whitney Frost talking to either the head of the Maggia or Mandarin or some other shadowy figure depending on how you want the sequel to go.
Themes and ideas
So what I tried to do with this script is give it a few different themes and ideas to touch on. Naturally whatever movie is made ought to be more solid but I wanted to introduce a few ideas and primarily explore them through Tony and the main antagonist of the movie, Crimson Dynamo. There's the idea of men out of time, standing alone instead of working with others, sins of the father and of course someone having everything versus some having nothing. I didn't center on anyone theme too obviously but I think the script does a good job of exploring why Tony is a hero at the end of the day despite not necessarily always having been one.
One thing that is necessary for this idea to work is for Crimson Dynamo and Tony Stark to be strong foils for one another. I wanted to try something that hadn't been done in the early MCU and that was a tragic villain. Crimson Dynamo is someone who could have been a hero very easily and hopefully is at least somewhat sympathetic and likeable. That way his critiques and attacks on Tony feel more earned even if Crimson Dynamo is ultimately in the wrong. Additionally in order to get the foil thing to work a little more clearly on a visual level, especially since Crimson Dynamo is likely older than Tony Stark, you can cut a younger actor and include a brief line about how due to the relativistic speeds the spaceship he was traveling in was moving at, one year for Crimson Dynamo up there was many more down below.
Some stuff this hopefully sets up
When working in a cinematic universe you ought to be setting up stuff for you to come back to and explore later. What I tried to set up in this movie pitch were a few things. Firstly I wanted to set up Tony's potential role in Civil War by showing his tendency to take on guilt and care a lot about collateral damage. Secondly I wanted to set up an antagonist to be used later to tie to bigger stuff (Madame Masque). Thirdly I wanted to tie into some of the older SHIELD stuff and hint at some of what Howard did before the first movies in order to potentially give room to explore that stuff in a different series. On top of that if the movie comes out before Captain America stuff or a Hawkeye or Black Widow movie you can cameo or show off some of the connecting hints in order to make things feel more interconnected. Fourthly I wanted to try and introduce Rhodey as War Machine and give Pepper something to accomplish (actually turning Crimson Dynamo somewhat). This is the one I feel was the weakest part but it is still there to some degree.
I'd appreciate any thoughts or feedback on this potential pitch. I'll probably be doing more of these in the future. I'm not sure if this counts as an omake or not but I thought this would be a neat pitch for a hypothetical sequel even if it's way to early to start suggesting too much.
One of the major reasons we should go for Wonder Man, aka Simon Williams:
His origin would be perfect If we want to establish that these characters can interact with each other, rather than having them be siloed into their own things awkwardly (see the MCU Iron Man trilogy, for example), earlier than when the original MCU started feeling confident enough to do it. This would also make the setting feel like it's progressing and enhancing the worldbuilding.
We would do this by adapting his backstory where his family's company, Williams Innovations, slowly went bankrupt due to fierce competition from Stark Industries. We could show how Stark's exit of the weapons industry and entrance into "whatever industry I can throw my genius and money into" having implications in the overall setting, plus serving as a way to introduce a more lower-tier threat into the world through his brother's connection to one of the families in the Maggia.
His brother, Eric Williams (who in the comics is known as Grim Reaper and wields a high-tech scythe and other gear supplied by the Tinkerer) fell onto rough times and ended up joining one of the families that make up the international crime syndicate Maggia, a collection of many independent families with their finger in many pies (legal and less than legal operations) but definitely not as evil as groups like Hydra or AIM. At some point, perhaps out of a feeling of brotherly guilt (Eric had a worse off childhood than Simon despite living under the same roof) and of economic desperation with his family's company falling apart around him, he agrees to use his company to launder money for the Maggia... eventually getting caught and convicted while the rest of the Maggia agents continue to successfully subvert his family's company into nothing more than a front for the Maggia, selling off the toys to the other branches to increase their own standing in the organization as a whole.
From here, he was offered a chance to "get revenge on Stark" by being broken out of prison and becoming a test subject for an "ionic ray" treatment, enhancing his body and giving him the superpowers he will eventually use to become the superhero Wonder Man. In this iteration, the device could simply be a prototype that was developed in-house at Williams Innovation but discarded for not being too costly to complete the research and development of. His brother Eric, out of family loyalty and guilt, could have used some other equipment developed by the company to break his brother out and and to undergo the procedure.
Quick aside: There is another powerful villain in the Maggia known as Count Nefaria who is prominently in Europe and also uses Ionic powers, so having the Maggia get ionic powers from Simon letting them infiltrate his family's company could make Count Nefaria a kind of long-term nemesis for him (in addition to the Maggia at large, once his misdirected anger towards Stark fades away and he does the right thing). This would also establish more threats in other parts of the world besides just America, and give a potential large threat for SHIELD to take on in the shorter term that isn't as powerful or as evil as HYDRA, something where their skills as a spy organization rather than a "superhero organization" would take focus.
But this is all potential future implications, so let's continue with the proposal.
Simon, with his newfound Ionic powers, decides (after being heavily guided/partially manipulated) to get revenge on Stark. Perhaps earlier in the movie when Simon was convicted Stark testified at Simon's trial to serve as an expert witness into his potential motivation ("his tech sucks" kind of way) which served as the final straw, so Simon tries to track him down to take revenge as the climactic action piece for the movie.
But during the fight, once he has a chance to defeat Tony. He stops himself. He knows this isn't right. This realization could be spurred on by him seeing the terror he's causing for the civilians around Stark in his quest for revenge, or maybe Stark himself is able to convince him, perhaps with data that he's hacked showing how bad the Maggia are and what they are doing to his family's legacy, using the innovations for evil and so on... even his brother is in it, causing them to have a falling out, no longer seeing each other as brothers. That realization and fallout that proves Simon has what it takes to be a hero could happen in multiple possible ways (thanks to King crimson):
I think the script could be reworked in two potential ways if you wanted to go for it. Option one is to have Eric steal tech from Stark Industries during the fight between Wonder Man and Iron Man using the chaos as an opportunity to lift things. Thus Wonder Man's redemption isn't just "I didn't kill Tony Stark" but rather actively undoing the damage he's done and fighting the actual villains of the movie. As for why Tony isn't helping Wonder Man damaged his suit bad enough that he can't follow and so Wonder Man becomes the only person capable of stopping them from gaining Stark Tech.
Option two that I thought of would be to bring in a different antagonist to act as the third act climax. Have a version of the Living Laser who's another businessman screwed over by Stark's shift who underwent the same treatment and gained powers. Where Wonder Man stopped and reevaluated his actions and realized he was in the wrong, Living Laser didn't and doubled down on his position, planning to wipe out Stark in an action that will ruin even more lives as collateral damage.
Another alternate way to introduce him as a hero is that Wonder Man comes across the Maggia using his family's company and technology for evil himself and putting a stop to whatever scheme of theirs is, which may or may not involve them planning to steal technology from Stark.
Simon decides to make things right by helping Tony start taking down the Maggia, beginning by writing a detailed report with everything he knows about both his old company and the Maggia itself, and in return Tony doesn't press charges. Maybe he even decides to hire Simon and the "clean" employees from Williams Innovation that Simon identifies not only to save their careers but so he doesn't have to focus on the company part of his company, giving him more time to be Iron Man.
However, it's not all sunshine and rainbows for Simon yet: there is one man who is extremely interested in his past dealings with the Maggia and his newfound ionic powers...
Thoughts? I realize this could arguably be seen as an Iron Man 2 pitch as well, which if Wonder Man isn't chosen I would like to adapt this general story for that movie, although there would have to be a shift on focus and subject matter, probably more towards the overall industries that Stark has left behind and is entering with a larger scope on the overall market, maybe incorporating Justin Hammer or other CEO characters as well, and would probably leave off Wonder Man's story with just the conviction part with the rest being followed up in a future solo film, so I think it works much better and the scope is tighter as just a Wonder Man movie.
In conclusion, Wonder Man:
Brings Wonder Man, a character with many interesting foibles and character defects into the limelight.
Has a solid and interesting connection with Tony Stark that would enrich the worldbuilding
Introduces the Maggia as a criminal enterprise that would need SHIELD's subterfuge to deal with, giving SHIELD agents more to do that matches their training and skill set, as opposed to being babysitters for the superheroes.
Allows us to show more about how the in-universe public reacts to the changes that superheroes bring, setting the stage for future societal change.
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Villainous Motivation-Planning Session: Iron Man (March 2007)
[X] Plan rolling ball
-[X] Matthias "Matt" Miller
-[X] Male
-[X] Action
-[X] Script Quality
-[X] Casting Quality
-[X] Golden Tongue
-[X] Universal
-[X] Well, you better get right on it. You need to keep the Production on schedule after all. (Negotiation Roll)
Talking through the phone in order to reassure a movie studio that could end your project before it can get off the ground was not what you had expected your afternoon would look like. That it was on the heels of having to preserve and reassure the rest of the production team that you were not going under was just the icing on the cake.
You still can't remember what it was you said at that moment, but the fact was that you had somehow managed to get an appointment with your old stomping grounds, Universal Studios, in order to convince them to remain a part of the just growing MCU project.
Ronald Meyer, President and COO of universal Studios knew your name. You'd be more surprised if you weren't numb to the fact that you'd been sent to the man who was several pay grades above you just a few days ago.
The discussion got more surreal after that. From what Mr. Meyer and you discussed you recall convincing him to continue with the production for the Hulk (it was almost rehearsed there) but from there it came something that had stumped you. Ronald Meyer admitted to no longer feeling the Hulk was a profitable venture for Universal, but was not willing to just give it away either.
Basically, he was offering the Hulk back (and Namor if you wanted it), if the Hulk movie did over 300 million overall, and you convinced the higher ups at Marvel to pay the same amount to them. It was not something that could be written down of course, but it was an offer nonetheless.
You left your meeting with a continuing production, a more than generous offer, and time limit of 2 years to accomplish it.
...No Pressure right?
XXXXXXXXXX
You had not expected to like Jon Favreau, not after the whole debacle where you agreed to have him put Robert Downey Jr. as the lead of Marvel's Hail Mary for survival. But he surprised you once more when he turned out to be an affable guy. You had come expecting a fight due to your presence during the process (to be honest that was your experience with other Directors) but he'd been cool with it, even took some of your suggestion when it came to the action scenes of the script.
...Not all of them, but some is better than none, right?
To be fair, asking him to have Tony Stark nearly lose his company at the end with all the Iron Man technology spread around was a bit too far, you can admit that now.
But he liked your idea for Obadiah at least...or more that he did not reject it out of hand. From the moment you read the script you'd felt that it was a bit off to have the man who seemed like the epitome of "Company Man" to suddenly hire terrorists and start acting like some mustache twirling villain at the end.
Thus you'd suggested that he could just as easily not have anything to do with the terrorists save selling weapons, just like any Company Man would, and his fight and Tony be one of opposing ideologies and not one of petty anger and jealousy.
In the end he decided to:
[] [Obadiah] Keep Obadiah as he is; he will betray Tony Stark due to jealousy and anger at his genius and wealth.
[] [Obadiah] Make the suggested change; with Obadiah and Tony facing each other due to conflicting beliefs.
Before you left you decided to ask Jon about the possibility for a Mid-Credit Scene. You'd been informed about the Post-Credit scene with Nick Fury (and thank all the Gods that Samuel Jackson had not needed any persuasion!) but you wanted to add a little something extra, something to show that this was your Production now, not just a retelling of Kevin's.
Jon mentioned that if it wasn't that long then it could be added.
You just grinned as you told him your idea.
[] [Mid-Credit Scene] Write In:
Something Old, Something New – Pre-Production: Script+Casting Call: Iron Man (May 2007)
[X] Plan Butterfly Wings
-[X] [Obadiah] Make the suggested change; with Obadiah and Tony facing each other due to conflicting beliefs
-[X] [Mid-Credit Scene] Write In: The scene shows Phil Coulson speaking to his boss on the phone about the Iron Man situation. He talks about what a mess it was and that he's glad that it's over. The conversation concludes with a talk about how he hopes the situation with the hammer will be more easily resolved. The camera then pans and we see that the hammer in question is Mjolnir.
When you received the first draft you could hardly contain your excitement...actually that's a lie, you did not contain your excitement. You had to deal with complaints about your noise for nearly the entire day. Then again, could they blame you? The Iron Man script was so bright that it could be used as a lantern...Okay, bad analogy, but it's the thought that counts, right?
God, the story is so good! And the new direction going with Obadiah makes his fall even more tragic and sad without taking away the heroism of Tony as well. Growing up you were always more of a Spider-Man and Captain America fan (Soon my lovelies, soon) but damn if this movie doesn't make you want to read the comics again...
Like there was any doubt. Both Ike and the rest of the executives at Marvel had invested too much into this project to stop it now (No mention on Hulk, but you should get a response soon enough). The extra money was good; it will certainly be put to good use.
This, unfortunately, did not help when it came to casting. Most of the big name stars the studio had spent so much time courting had second thoughts once the drama at Marvel was known. You were lucky that you managed to get some others interested, but this is mainly because of hours and days of pleading and convincing them to just give it a chance. Whether they return for the other movies is not certain.
Do not vote until this post is one hour old. This will give time for additional casting suggestions. Casting suggestions are appreciated.
Casting Pepper Potts: Pepper Potts is Stark's Girl Friday. A personal assistant and budding love interest, she is described as smart, levelheaded, and grounded. "Fun in an innocent yet sexy way." As Pepper is prominently redheaded we're looking for actresses with either natural red hair or who could pull off dyed red hair.
[] [Pepper] Jessica Chastain – Hey, an actual redhead! Chastain is best known for her theatrical and television performances, but has expressed a recent interest in breaking through to the big screen. Iron Man as a big budget high-profile flick looking for someone who looks just like her could be a perfect vehicle to help her get there. Focusing on skilled people who aren't superstars yet has been an interest of yours.
[] [Pepper] Charlize Theron – Not a redhead, but this successful award-winning actress and producer has made an impression in the Hollywood scene for the last decade. Though mostly noticed for her looks, she also has expressed an interest once you presented your case for the role. She had been considering another role for a movie with Will Smith, but she is reconsidering.
[] [Pepper] Christina Hendricks – This talented actress is best known for her TV performance. At the moment she is also considering an offer from another TV series which is about to air, but you've seen her talent and she does have what it takes to be in the big screen. That she is also a redhead helps as well.
[] [Pepper] Isla Fisher – Another iconic redhead who had her breakthrough two years ago with Wedding Crashers, Fisher has been best received so far in her romantic comedic roles (which Iron Man sort of fits but also not at all) but has expressed some interest in breaking out of that genre. Sacha Baron Cohen is also her fiancé if we want to find a cameo for him (or Borat) as one of Tony's kidnappers!
[] [Pepper] I'm thinking of someone else (write-in).
Casting James Rhodes: "Rhodey" Rhodes is a friend of Stark's, and the liaison between Stark Industries and the Air Force's department of acquisitions. The actor should be able to portray the clash between his strict military life and Tony's independence, as well as potentially play the hero War Machine in a sequel film.
[] [Rhodes] Don Cheadle – Cheadle has had a busy year so far, having just co-starred in Ocean's Thirteen, but he's available now and could be convinced (Hopefully) to play the part. He's been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor so everyone knows he's good at what he does, but he's also funny and likable in his own right, making him potentially a really solid choice to portray the future superhero in this film. (Negotiation Roll Required)
[] [Rhodes] Edi Gathegi – He just made is first debut a couple of years ago, but the reviews on his performances so far are solid enough. At the moment he's auditioned for another movie aside from this one. Something about...Sparkling vampires...What are kids looking at these days. He's no fan of the comics, but he seems capable of adapting to the role.
[] [Rhodes] Omar Epps – He's mostly known for his performance as Dr. Eric Foreman in House, but he has also appeared in other movies, sometimes as a crook, sometimes as a detective, and sometimes as just comic relief. He hopes this might be the role that gives him his breakthrough.
[] [Rhodes] Mahershala Ali – A somewhat untested film actor, Ali has mostly starred in television thus far though you've heard he's being considered by The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. From what you can see though he's damn talented and not unwilling to get involved in a comic book movie. His television roots could actually be a good thing. Marvel gets a fresh face and he doesn't expect as much.
[] [Rhodes] I'm thinking of someone else (write-in).
Casting Obadiah Stane: Obadiah Stane is Stark's business partner, mentor, and friend who becomes the film's antagonist after Tony returns from captivity. While looking for an older actor here, Favreau is searching here for qualities similar to what he's looking for in Stark, seeing as Obadiah represents the old version of him.
[] [Stane] Ed Harris – He can certainly pull of a sinister villain and he looks like the comic version of Stane. He's not quite as comedically rooted as the other guys under consideration but he's a damn good actor who has done great in various roles throughout the years. If we want a threatening and intense villain it'd be hard to find someone better for the job.
[] [Stane] Willem Dafoe – While he is currently appearing this year in Spider-Man 3 for Sony, William has made his intention clear on appearing in any Marvel film that will have him. He's displayed the energy and presence that he brings to all his projects, and seeing him bounce off of Robert is a blast and a half.
[] [Stane] Jeffrey Dean Morgan – He's made an impact in his role as patient Denny Duquette in Grey's Anatomy. Known for playing amoral and villainous characters, Jeffrey has looked at the script and liked what he has found. That he can also nail the comedic aspect of the character makes him nearly a shoe in.
[] [Stane] Graham McTavish – Mostly known as the submarine captain in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, this Scottish actor has appeared in several TV series in both Britain and in the U.S. While tending more for a serious approach, he does fit the look for Obadiah that Jon was looking for.
[] I'm thinking of someone else (write-in).
First Take - Production and Post-Production: Iron Man (February 2008)
Well, well, well. Not too shabby, right? Sure there were some hiccups here and there, but you can say that overall the technical aspect should be considered a success...
If it wasn't for that colossal fuck-up that the VFX team thought to call "acceptable"!!!
What were they thinking?! Were they even thinking?! The whole things looks like a fucking PlayStation cut-scene, and not even a good one for crying out loud! You had half a mind to just fire the whole lot on the spot had Jon not calmed you down at the last second!
It will be a long time before you can trust them with something this serious again though.
On the bright side the sound design and editing was on spot on both occasions. The Music is catchy as hell and the scenes transition smoothly from one to another. The fight scenes are another delight to look at, all just showing the struggle as well as the eventual triumph of the hero without seeming contrived.
Or at least they would if that fucking VFX team had not-!!!
Protagonist
Robert Downey Jr Screen Presence: 109
Jessica Chastain Screen Presence: 86 Romance Chemistry: 96
You have to hand it Jon...And you have a lot of crow to eat as well. When he had told you the price for continuing the production was to have Robert Downey Jr. as the lead you'd been ready to have a lot to explain to Ike about why the movie hired such a sub-par actor as the lead. Yet looking at the performance just now...well...you can't imagine anyone else taking his place! His take on the character is witty, confident, arrogant, and kind of an asshole, but in such a charming way that you can't get angry at him. His redemption arc is filled with such emotion that you're sure you saw a camera man sniffing a few times.
Yes, Jon was right in the end, not that you'll ever let him know.
But you have cause to feel pride as well. You had scouted Jessica Chastain when she was looking to break into movies, and you had struck gold this time. Her performance as Pepper Potts has that professional air of a PA, but the longsuffering of dealing with an eccentric boss combined with an emotional attachment that just hints at more. Heck, the chemistry between both makes it difficult to remember that Robert is already married!
You don't envy him when you wonder how he'll explain this to his wife.
Omar was the new kid and he knew it. Bless his heart, he gave everything he got for the performance of a lifetime, yet at best he could only be called...average. Where Robert and Jessica soared, he had to struggle just to glide. Much of it is owned to most of his experience being playing a Doctor and then having to adopt a Military Man persona, but it doesn't change the fact that in comparison with the rest he just falls behind.
Yet at the end of the day all of them feel like a complete unit. The ease when they talk and interact, the small improvised jokes, the comfort when they are near each other, it all screams "long-time friends" whenever they're on screen. You're certain that the audience will feel just that the moment they see them onscreen.
Jeffrey has almost the opposite problem as Omar. He's very good at what he does, but you can see a disconnect when he's trying to move past it. When the change was made to have Obadiah be more of a gray figure, someone that still loved Tony as his son, but opposed him because he still thought him wrong, it became important that the character showed that kind of fatherly pride mixed with arrogance and anger. Jeffrey could nail most of them, but it's clear that he excels mostly on the villainous side rather than the more gray area.
It still makes him an excellent foil for Tony though, which is one of the key aspects necessary for the finale. The scenes where he and Tony argue and devolve into yelling are some of the most potent you've seen in a while. The similarity in looks makes it seem like Tony is arguing with his own father, and considering their relationship in the movie that might very well be the case.
All in all, this final session has given you much to think about. And not enough time as soon enough you are bombarded with you first...
Production Issue Triggered
You've received a note from Ike himself with the direction to have Obadiah Stane die in the final fight of the movie. You and Jon had been discussing the future of the character when it arrived and got into an argument about it. Jon feels that with a bit of reshooting Jeffrey can make the character work for future appearances. You, on the other hand, felt that with Jeffrey's performance it might be a good idea to just scrap the character at the end.
In the end, you decided to:
[ ] [Obadiah's Death] Just go with Ike's request and kill the character.
[ ] [Obadiah's Death] Trust Jon's instincts and fight to keep the character alive. (Negotiation Roll)
You had also received a request from the Editing team. They had seen the entire footage and as such they had come to ask you if you'd consider switching the Mid-Credit Scene (Coulson and the Hammer) with the Post-Credit Scene (Tony meeting Nick Fury) as they felt it helped the story flow better.
[] [Switch] Yes, switch the scenes (Meeting Fury will be first, seeing the Hammer will be at the end).
[] [Switch] No, keep them as they are (Seeing the hammer will be first, meeting Fury will be second).
It is now February 2008; the movie is set to premiere in April 2008. You currently have two months before release, is there anything you want to change?
(You have 3 rerolls)
[ ] [Reshoot] Reshoot to improve a roll.
-[ ] Reroll what result? (Write-in)
[ ] [Reshoot] Intense Focus on a single roll (+10).
-[ ] Where should you focus? (Write-in)
[ ] [Scene] Add or change a story element in the movie.
-[ ] Add or change what?
[ ] [Reshoot] Delay the movie to reshoot (Hard Negotiation Roll)
-[ ] Reroll what result and how many? (Write-in)
-[ ] Add or change what? (Write-in)
[ ] [Reshoot] No reshoot. Greenlight to release.
A.N: If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
