The Road to the Avengers: Iron Man (2008)

Can you imagine how this film would have gone had they cast it differently? Perhaps you could have gotten some to do the Obidiah Stain character proud that wasn't Jeff Bridges like maybe Ron Perlman. But who could you get to play Pepper Potts? Maybe Charlize Theron. But what about Tony Stark? I can't think of anyone except Downey. Not Brad Pitt, because he's nto charismatic enough, though certainly a fine actor and handsome man. Marvel had already been burned by Ben Affleck in Diredevil (which isn't that bad of a movie). Matt Damon and Viggo Mortenson are great actors but like Brad Pitt are missing that little something. There is Jason Lee who has that kind of personal charisma to pull it off, but not the acting chops. Maybe, just maybe, you could have cast Aaron Eckhart as Tony Stark and pulled it off. He had some of that going on in the Dark Knight. There is one character that you know the actor can be replaced on, and that's the Colonel Rhodes character which saw Don Cheadle replace Terence Howard. So, the alternative cast is Aaron Eckhart as Tony Stark, Charlize Theron as Pepper Potts, Ron Perlman as Obidiah Stain and Don Cheadle as Colonel Rhodes. It might have been good. In an alternate universe that film was made, and if I ever perfect my Transdimensional Inducer Mechanism, aka T.I.M. I swear that I will report back with a full rundown.
In all of the super hero movies over the last few years that are based on comic books, almost none of the characters are as cool or as likeable in the films as in in the print media. Some are as good, like Ron Perlman as Hellboy or Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and pretty much everyone in Watchmen. Out of all of them, there is only character that I like better in the movies, which is to say that I like him in the movies, but don't care for him so much in the comics, and that is Tony Stark. I would say that is about 75% due to Roberty Downey Jr. and about 25% to the writing.
When you think about it, Iron Man is almost Marvel's answer to Batman. I think the main difference is scope. Batman doesn't wear armor but he largely battles street thugs and super villains that are more about brains and schemes then about brute force. Iron Man on the other hand is all about taking on the big causes. In fact, the bigger the better. The other difference is how they approach the issue of being a super hero without any super powers, though both are arguably geniuses. Bruce Wayne turns himself into a weapon and makes do with retasking technology around him to work as the cool toys the Batman uses. Tony Stark on the other hand is always striving for the upper hand through superior tech and devotes his considerable intellect to solving the problem with technology much of which he invents as opposed to making himself a weapon. I think this is Marvel's answer to the problem posed by Detective Comics with their Batman. How can one man with nearly limitless resources but no super powers compete against super powered individuals and make a real difference in the battle against evil? Well, you build a super suit and you fight the good fight. DC, who mind you rolled Batman out some 25 years before Marvel debuted Iron Man, came to the conclusion that you make the man as hard as any man can possibly be. You make him physically hard, mentally hard and emotionally hard.
I'm on an Avengers Film Extravaganza now (though I still need to watch one more flick for the FFE) and I'm going to watch them in order which means that next up is the Hulk with Edward Norton followed by Iron Man II, Thor, Captain America and then the Avengers. I've only seen the Avengers one time so far, but I think not counting any change that may come about from a second watching, I think this is my favorite of the series. Though if the Avengers had included Natalie Portman instead of just showing a picture of her I might be telling a different story.

Iron Man on IMDb

The Avengers (2012)

All bow before the mighty mightiness that is Joss Whedon!
How long have I been waiting to watch this film? 10? 15 years? When did the first X-Men film come out? I've been waiting since then. I think I've secretly been wanting one since I saw that 80s-something Captain America movie and the David Hasslehoff film (made for television film maybe?) where he plays Nick Fury. I say secretly because both of those movies totally sucked, though I will admit here to the world that I've seen the Captain America movie twice. I didn't want an Avengers movie that sucked. So, we get that X-Men movie and it was pretty good, and I really liked the first Spiderman, so then I was all like, ya, now we can have an Avengers film.
Of course, I would have cast the Avengers differently - I don't mean the actors whom I am pretty much okay with - well let's say on balance I'm okay with them. I guess I really mean the line-up. Where's Dr. Pym? Where's his lady love, Janet VanDyne? It seems kind of weird to have an Avengers without Antman/Giantman/Goliath and the Wasp. At least they got Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, all of whom are essential. I'm okay with Hawkeye and Black Widow. I guess. Hulk? Not so much. I understand this venture is as much about a movie franchise as about anything else, so I understand why they want to tie their lines together. And I'm a big fan of the Iron Man movies - and I liked both Captain America and Thor. Heck, I even liked the Hulk movie. Both of them. The Hulk is not a franchise I'm terribly interested in, especially hearing that the next Hulk film will reboot him once again. But, you know what would really rock? A movie about Vision and the Scarlet Witch. You could bring Pym in through that, and that's how you beef up the ranks of the Avengers without the Hulk.
You know what I really liked about the Avengers comic books? You're really bring together already established heroes, so when they're together they have a whole bunch of baddies that allow for match-ups you would never see in the individual books. Plus, back in the day, it was not uncommon for the Avengers to cross paths with both the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. Throw Spiderman into the mix and you've got all the big names of the Marvel Universe. I know this leaves the Hulk out, but every once in a while you can use him as a foil for The Thing or for Thor. And lest you think I forgot about Daredevil, he can guest star in one of the Spiderman movies, and maybe even get a spin-off, but only after we've spun off several mutant teams.
Which reminds me, why the hell is there even one Ghost Rider movie? Now two of them! That is a crime against nature. There are so many worthwhile comics that can be made into film...like instead of giving me these crap Ghost Rider and Blade movies, give me something Alpha Flight flavored, please. Notice, I'm not hating on the Punisher movies. The Dolph Lundgren outing aside, they're actually pretty good, I just don't happen to really like the Punisher.
Okay time to actually get to the casting of the Avengers. Scarlett Johansson - really? She didn't suck as Black Widow, but the casting was a move not unlike casting Jennifer Garner as Elektra. They're both decent enough actresses, but so not the best choice for those roles. Or you know what while I'm on this subject, Halle Berry as Storm. Berry is competent and cute and everything, but so not Storm. Everyone knows that Angela Bassett should have been cast as Storm. She would have kicked ass! I guess now I've got to supply answers to the obvious questions of who I would have cast as Black Widow and Elektra. Elektra is easy - I would have cast Angelina Jolie. She's a little old now, but when Daredevil and Elektra came out, she would have been perfect. Then maybe Ben Afleck would have gotten together with her and Brad Pitt would have stayed with Jennifer Aniston. Oh the world would be a different place. For Black Widow, I wanted someone sulkier and silkier - I mean she is the ultimate femme fatale, not the dangerous school girl. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't even have used Black Widow, I would have stayed more true to the Hawkeye angle and use Mockingbird. I'm not trying to sneak out of answering this - I would have gone with Kate Beckinsale as BW.
The other actor I'm not fully on board with is Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner. Don't get me wrong, I like Ruffalo and he does a good enough job, but he just doesn't look like Dr. Bruce Banner. You know who would have been an inspired choice? Joseph Gordon Levitt. I'm not just saying that for my librarian, I really think he would be good.
I really liked this film. Except for the bit about Phil. Phil! What will we do now?

The Avengers at IMDb