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Secrets Of Iron Man And Heroes Season 3

spoilersq5.jpgWe have a whole weekend's worth of spoilers to digest, in one extremely massive spoiler-blast. A ton of new reviews of Iron Man came out, including loads of ironclad plot details and a couple dozen photos. There are also pics and video which reveal a new villain in the next Doctor Who Christmas special, now being filmed. We also learned a ton of new info about the storylines of Heroes season three, and a few snippets about the tail end of Lost season four. Plus there are new stills from The Dark Knight, Star Wars: Clone Wars and Hancock, and a few details about Wanted. We've gone spoiler crazy, and we're taking you with us.


Miscellaneous:

Empire Magazine has new stills from Batman: The Dark Knight, Hancock and Star Wars: Clone Wars. [Empire]

Wanted:

In Wanted, James McAvoy plays Wesley, who's apathetic and "nearly clinically depressed," having been manipulated by the government, his family and his bosses. He shares one "epic snog" with Angelina Jolie during the film. [Ohnotheydidnt]

Iron Man:

More Iron Man reviews have turned up online, and they include some plot details for the movie, which opens Friday. (The overall consensus: It's a fun movie, but suffers from the common problem of having to do an origin story and then include a tacked-on final battle.)

Empire says Tony Stark is shot down (ironically) with his own military hardware, and then imprisoned in a cave by Afghan terrorists who want him to build a missile capable of leveling cities. Stark instead builds his first Iron Man armor, which looks nothing like the missile he's supposed to be building. The terrorists have him under video surveillance, but somehow don't notice the substitution. The film rushes to get Iron Man into his armor, and then flounders around a lot. A lot of the plot deals with how those terrorists got their hands on Stark's weaponry in the first place.[Empire]

When Tony comes back from Afghanistan and announces he wants to change the direction of Stark Industries away from weapons, it's not just bad-guy Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) who's resistant — Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts also digs in her heels at first. There are lots of scenes of Tony working day and night on his improved armor in his workshop. The "global conspiracy" that Tony has to fight at the end of the movie sort of comes out of nowhere, and involves those terrorists from the start of the film. [Emanuel Levy via Rotten Tomatoes]

Also, those Afghan terrorists (the "Ten Rings") get their hands on what's left of Tony's original armor after he escapes, and they start putting it together. They also use some of Tony's weapons to terrorize the locals. The terrorists' leader Raza wants to be the next Genghis Khan. Tony's self-appointed "international enforcer" role pisses off the U.S. military, who send those two fighter jets you've probably seen after him. And then, as you probably know, the climactic battle is between Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges, both wearing armor that seems sort of clanky. [Variety]

And here are some new Iron Man stills. [Slashfilm]

Heroes:

The first episode of Heroes season three will include some new characters:

  • Jesse, a "mean-looking SOB" with an explosive temper.
  • Two reporters, covering the news in Odessa, Texas.
  • An E.R. doctor working Odessa, Texas.
  • A commentator on a national TV news program
  • Two "scary thugs" preying on innocent people in New York City.
  • A paramedic administering emergency care to a seriously injured patient (Nathan?).
And the second episode, "Dreamtime," will feature that aborigine storyteller we've been hearing about, a "member of the Maasai, Samburu or another similar nomadic pastoral tribe. A storyteller with great wisdom."

Also, we'll learn more about the mysterious group of older heroes who included Angela Petrelli and Kaito Nakamura. As for how we'll learn more about these characters' pasts, says producer Allan Arkush, "We are going to play with time and we are playing a lot with space and where people are on the planet." The new season will focus on "Villains," including Sylar and some new characters, but also on morally grey characters like Angela and Claire's dad Bennett. Matt Parkman will be exploring his new psychic power and will be "flashing someplace," which will be a "cool surprise." We may see more different versions of Hiro, along the lines of his badass self from the alternate future. And we'll see more of Niki/Jessica/someone.

Another huge storyline in season three: the "genetic essence" of these characters' powers, and how they got them in the first place. And the fact that the first episode is called "The Butterfly Effect" is significant, because a major theme of the new season is that whole "chaos theory" thing about stepping on a butterfly and "changing the flow of the universe." [Heroes Revealed]

Doctor Who:

The official Doctor Who site includes season four wallpaper art, and a section on the fat-people-infesting Slitheen is "coming soon." Does that mean they'll be farting their way across our screens again soon? [CoolSciFi]

And there are more details of the Christmas special filming. The normal-looking Cybermen are leading some children away, along with an Undertaker who's mind-controlled by a flashing blue earpiece. The children try to run away but some "cyber-shades" (those cyber-ghosty things) hiss at them. And then the undertaker yells, "Enter the court of the Cyber-King! March!" And the children go in.

Meanwhile the Doctor and his new companion "Rosita" (Velile Tshabalala) are watching the cybermen lead the children away. The Doctor says the cybermen's lair will be too well-guarded to try and sneak in. They run away, but two cybermen sneak up on them. Which the Doctor says is "cheating." "Did you put your legs on silent?" And then Mrs. Hartigan (played by Dervla Kirwin) shows up, standing between the cybermen. The Doctor tries to convince her to move away from the cybermen before they can attack her, but Mrs. Hartigan says she has nothing to fear from her "shining knights." The Doctor says Mrs. H. hasn't been converted into a cyber-woman, so she should still have her own free will, and she replies that she's with the cybermen of her own volition, and "no-one can make me change my mind."

Later, the Doctor discusses Mrs. Hartigan's evil plans, which involve something dreadful happening on Christmas, which will affect the whole British Empire. She asks who the Doctor is, and how he knows so much about the cybermen, and he tells her his name. They cybermen say his appearance doesn't match their visual records. (Which would mean they're not the same cybermen he met in the alternate universe?) The cybermen are about to kill the Doctor, who asks Mrs. H., to let him die happy by telling him what she wants the children for. She replies, "What does anyone want children for?" The Doctor throws something at the cyberman, who catches it and tells the Doctor it's ineffective against the cyber-race. And then David Morrissey (the "other Doctor") jumps out and shoots the cybermen with some sort of weapon. And here's a video. [Doctor Who Forum]

Lost:

In this Thursday's Lost episode, Jack has appendicitis and Jin gets a gun. Sawyer, Claire and Aaron run into Frank Lapidus, the helicopter pilot, who tells them to hide because Kearny is still alive. They hide, but then Aaron starts to cry. All of the Oceanic Six, plus Sayid's wife Nadia, are at the funeral of Christian Shepherd. Sayid actually storms out of the Oceanic Six's press conference because he doesn't like telling lies about what happened. There's a party at Hurley's mansion. [Nicole's Lost Blog]

But other sources suggest the party at Hurley's Mansion takes place in the season finale, not this week's episode. (And possibly that press conference as well.)

6:00 AM on Mon Apr 28 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
7,405 views
22 comments

Comments

  • Image of braak braak at 06:42 AM on 04/28/08 *

    I thought "Aborigine" generally referred to "Aboriginal Australians."

    Aren't the Maasai in Africa?

    What am I talking about? TV writers don't know the god-damn difference. "Are they brown?" "Yes." "Do they wear pants?" "Not usually." "Do they have a highly-romanticised, non-Western culture, that's strange and mysterious to us retarded Americans?" "Yes." "Okay. Aborigines."

  • @braak: When you capitalize the "A" in aborigine, it's the Aborigines in Australia; when its not capitalized, you're referring to general indigenous people... if that makes any sense.

  • @braak: I believe the Dreamtime is an aboriginal concept, too. I'm sure there's similar in other cultures, but when you say "dreamtime," I think Australian aborigine.

  • Image of braak braak at 07:12 AM on 04/28/08 *

    @beelzebuddha: Well, it does, I guess--but did IO9 use the lower-case "A", or did the Heroes writers? What about Heroes Revealed?

    And, really, if you've already cast the part, it should be pretty easy to tell the difference between an Aboriginal Australian and a Maasai.

  • LOL, braak.

  • What's with the embedded ring on Stark's chest in that one pic from Ironman? I'm absolutely gonna go see the movie, but I've never really been an Ironman fan, so I don't know.

  • Image of braak braak at 07:46 AM on 04/28/08 *

    @SunZhiQian: When Stark first got blown up, he had shrapnel near his heart, and needed special magnets to keep it from killing him. My guess is that the thing in his chest is some variation on those magnets.

  • @braak: Ah, thanks. Makes sense.

  • yep. Heart saving space magnets.

    Also Ten Rings, the terrorist organization is a coded reference to Iron Man's original adversary the Mandarin (who sports ten rings of power on his withered old hands)

  • Image of braak braak at 08:23 AM on 04/28/08 *

    Yes, ten space alien magic power rings!

  • @braak: I have a feeling any subtleties in the uppercase/lowercase A have long since been lost in transcription... and I'm sure the Heroes writers meant Australian Aborigine, and were just tossing around names that they thought were from the Outback. My hope is that this Aborigine storyteller dispenses great wisdom to the white characters and then sacrifices his life to save theirs at some point. That would be AWESOME!

  • Image of braak braak at 09:42 AM on 04/28/08 *

    @Charlie Jane Anders: It would be extremely awesome if the aborigine guy was like the aborigines in the Crocodile Dundee movies.

    Just wearing blue jeans, tripping on things in the dark, going to Yale.

  • @Charlie Jane Anders: It would certainly be pretty weird!

    By the way, anyone else getting pretty tired of Odessa, Texas? Especially since there is no longer any reason for anyone to hang around there? Oh, and Niki/Jessica/whatever. Love the actress, can't stand the character.

    And Doctor Who: Whaaaaaaat?

  • I've been wondering if I'm missing something and not paying enough attention, but many Iron Man posts have been spelling Robert Downey Jr's last name as "Downie." Is it because they think he's a downie (Down's Syndrome kid)?

  • Oh, and according to this British review (the first!) [timesonline.typepad.com] there is no Nick Fury, so that's that rumour dead.

  • @GenXCub: NO, it's because we're dyslexic. I'll fix that, thanks :)

  • @jbq: The Nick Fury rumor has been dead for a while....

  • I read that old-school Aboriginal (Australian) teachings teach that the world is re-created anew every day, and they see themselves united with the process. Pretty sweet.

    Also, if you've ever looked at Aboriginal drawings of spirits they look remarkably like the "Grays" in ufo sighting lore.

  • @Charlie Jane Anders: If that's the case, then they're a bunch of big dummies, and I've lost all hope for the future of the franchise. They might as well have said "We're thinking about a Native American character, maybe somebody Khalkha or Tuvan."

  • @92BuickLeSabre: To be fair, it also could have gotten garbled by the site I lifted it from. But at the same time, I'm not holding out much hope for Heroes season three...

  • @Charlie Jane Anders: I found it to be repeatedly brought up, as in "Or not."
    But it didn't make any sense anyway, so whatever :-)

  • Am I the only one who found the trailer to Hancock to not suck nearly as much as was expected? Granted, some parts were kind of hokey to me, but the bar's been set pretty low for movies of that kind, and some parts seemed genuinely interesting to me.

    And good lord I hope that Heroes starts being less stupid. Get the guys from Journeyman on the writing team or something, at least they managed to do time travel with a sort of internal logic. Hiro's wishy washy stance on altering the past annoys me. Also, poor writing, hackneyed writing, stilted dialog...I have no idea why I look forward to being disappointed by it on a weekly basis again.

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