Yep that is lame on the copyright excess and those movie stills are terrible... You couldn't give us one decent post production shot?
Ok how about just one of the Iron Man MkI in a glass case, just like Tony Stark would keep it in...

I'm ambivalent. I've seen the trailer and it looks like a decent movie, but I don't want to support Marvel's descent into madness and chaos. And yes, all the logos are overkill.

Sadly, this has been the case in their "Wallpaper Section" at Marvel.com. I have to check, but I am pretty sure some of the images there didn't have "branding" on them.

@NefariousNewt: I agree.

As much as I would love to openly endorse said move, doing so would promote Marvel to sell more and more movie licenses, which would inevitably lead to horrible renditions of my favorites.

Fire up the Gimp or Irfanview and crop the image if the branding bothers you that much.

This is Marvel getting greedy again about its brand. They are forgetting that strategic charity is far more useful to their brands credibility than putting their god-damn name on everything.

@NefariousNewt: They lost me at Robert Downey Jr.

In answer to the original post: No, I don't really want a release date on my desktop. That's what put me off the otherwise gorgeous Ratatouille desktop wallpaper that Disney initially put out.

At least the date is relatively small on the Iron Man wallpaper.

@Mercurypdx: Ironically, they also lost Robert Downey Jr. at Robert Downey Jr.

My wife and I have a three tier system for movies:

1. Films we can't wait to see in the theater, huddled in the dark with a room full of nerds participating in the closest thing to religion we have.

2. Movies that look like they might be fun but we won't waste that much money on but won't mind adding to the Netflix queue.

3. Stuff to download off bit torrent, because there's no way in hell I'm paying money for what A) should be free (BBC and other television stuff we don't get in the states or gets butchered to hell by editing in comercial breaks, aka Doctor Who/ Torchwood) or B) could be crap.

This is clearly a Netflix level film, at best.

Their gonna F it up like they F up all other comics to movies

I guess they are guilty of a bit of over-branding, but they're trying to promote they're movie. Isn't it pretty normal for there to be a release date on these? The placement is actually pretty good from a marketing view. I'm not saying the movie will be any good, but it's just desktop wallpaper.

since everyone that cares already knows it's marvel and everyone that doesn't care has no idea what marvel is i can't help but wonder, does the fan art so greatly rival marvel's in workmanship that it actually takes no less than a logo, a copyright, and a watermark to draw a distinction between the two? i wonder why i think the movie will suck...

Iron Man --- this is the same comic book pulicator that shot to death Captain America --- run for it! Now!!!

@Gyrus: I just realized that we have been operating under a similar system, only we had not formalized it in this fashion. Fortunately, we have a relatively open minded, independent video store operator in the neighborhood and save on the Netflix charges. If we really need that theater feeling on a marginal film, we have friends with more money than sense and a theater room in their house.

Copy edit a little guys? Only we commentors get to be semi-intelligible, 'cuz we're doing it for free.

But yeah, the overabundance of marking is tacky as hell. I find myself getting less and less excited about this movie the nearer we get to release date, unfortunately.

@DocGratis: We did give you that!

[io9.com]

Logos aside, concealed fist aside, I'm still going to pay money to see this film - After all, why not see a movie in which the star is consistently off his pickle (Robert Downey Jr may have cleaned up his act somewhat, but secretly we all know that he just wants a big fat line between the butt cheeks of some awesome model.... I'm so jealous.).

At work, people think I have extra hidden eyes because I see so many things that other people miss...

Like right now, I'm seeing the fact that whoever created the background of this image relied WAY too heavily on the rubber stamp tool. Look on the right side of the image to see what I'm talking about...

If you're gonna do that, at least mix it up and change your source spot every now and again...

@milesfromnowhere: I just realized that we have been operating under a similar system, only we had not formalized it in this fashion.

Formalization is simply the byproduct of two librarians living under the same roof with a 400+ DVD collection.

We'd probably forgo Netflix if we had a good Video rental place but well we don't, alas. Which is why Netflix and bit torrent are just so awesome.