Remember ELF? Still his best movie.

I just wonder why fanboys cannot understand that mystical elements in a mostly realistic movie world are tremendously out of place. Just imagine if in Batman 3 Christian Bale is suddenly involved in deep discussions with Mr. Mxyzptlk .

I also think they should roll with the magical/supernatural nature of the Mandarin. We've already seen Tony take out two tech-based main enemies – I have to think that tech-based bad guys wouldn't really pose much of a challenge for him anymore. Plus, considering the end of 2, a supernatural element has already been introduced to the story, so it's not like the Mandarin would be the first magical being in Favreau's narrative.

Letting magic sneak into the Marvel Universe would open it up for Dr. Strange and whole lot of other fun stuff.

I think it would be magical if someone from CHUD would review NOES 2010!

So a magical hammer in New Mexico is far more believable than magic rings?

***"He also has 10 magical rings, and it just doesn't feel right for our thing, so it's either tech-based or the rings are not really rings."***

…so Fav,are you saying Thor's Hammer in IM2 is a piece of technology, what bollocks, there's nothing wrong with 10 rings of power.

If I'm forced to accept something magical in the IM universe, I'll take a huge hammer wielded by a Norse god over 10 faggoty rings any day of the week.

Last three posters pinned it on the nose. Is the hammer going to be tech based? Doubt it. So if it's okay to have a magical hammer in Iron Man, why are magical rings so far removed?

I just wonder why fanboys cannot understand that suits of flying armor made out of fantasy metals make for a mostly realistic movie world.

A magical hammer isn't fruity? And besides that, all of the so-called tech in these movies seems pretty magical, anyway. A man in some flimsy armor is going to fly and whip around at those velocities and not be reduced to a pulp those suits? There's a reason why some in the Department of Defense want to remove human pilots from fighter jets and replace them with drones. Faster, crazier maneuverability without worrying about a pilot passing out or dying in the cockpit.

Mandarin backed Hammer and Vanko and brought them together. Ancient Chinese tech not revealed to Western world plus alien tech ala Fin Fang Foom

Totally agree about the dramatic potential of Tony versus the magic rings. If they're really that apprehensive about it, they can always use the alien-tech explanation for Mandarin's powers. Tony's tech versus something so advanced that it seems like magic is virtually the same conflict. Maybe he could even prove that it's tech rather than magic as part of the climax. The alien angle could also be a nice way to work in some preliminary Kree/Skrull stuff if they want to go that route. (Or Fin Fang Foom, as has been mentioned.)

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Why does everyone continue to think the rings are magic based? Especially people who are comic book readers or folks who say they love the source material? Since their inception the rings have been the tech remnants of a spaceship crash. Alien tech, NOT magic.

</nerd>

Thor's hammer is, in fact, technology as are the rings of The Mandarin. It's simply tech that we do not understand and only seems to be magic in our world. Look it up fanboys!

Magical or alien or whatever, the article fails to mention that Iron Man 3 likely wouldn't be hitting until at least the next 3 Marvel Universe films are out, so there might be a lot of elements that seem ridiculous in the film continuity now that would be completely plausible 4 movies from now. The Thor flick alone will open the door wide open for more mystical or supernatural shenanigans to occur, and someone else mentioned alien invasions and such, so before long, anything can work in the movies, as long as it's not introduced in a half-assed manner. Also not mentioned was the Green Lantern film that comes out next year. While it's a DC film and completely unrelated, it's still going to hit first, and there may be a "been there, done that" reaction to the "cosmically powered ring used as a weapon" thing when Iron Man 3 rolls around. It's very possible that audiences might not care one way or another, but they could also think (especially if Green Lantern is very successful) that it's a rip-off of GL's power. Regular movie audiences might think differently about it than comic fans that might be a little more accepting to the similarities between the two, but I could see them tweaking Mandarin's rings somehow for the sake of being different from what's already out there. As long as the reason for the difference makes sense IN the movie though, it should be fine.

to be fair devin, you didn't mention the rest of favreau's quote: "But maybe with ‘Thor’ and all those others [‘Captain America’ and ‘The Avengers’] you’ll introduce magic to that world and it won’t seem as out of place.” so he's not throwing it out willy-nilly. and tony stark had to figure out a way to keep himself from dying in IM2, so I think that qualifies as a challenge to overcome.

After the IM2 debacle, I have negative interest in this.

#12 for the win, Alex! Plus: Sure let's see how the Thor movie plays out then, let's go Doctor Strange!

I say go with magical mandarin in 3. Because if they turn him into yet another "villain with Iron man esqe suit" that would be lame. only 2 movies in and the concept it getting stale, like "armored suits" is the only idea this franchise has. After 2, (where the movie was mostly about Tony wallowing in despair and his friends having no compassion for him, along with a weaksauce villain who, surprise surprise, just ended up in a suit when they promised something different,) I'm kinda glad that the next time we see the character will be in a full fledged Avengers movie, where things can be shaken up. But if there is a true Iron Man 3, please do a different idea. Mandarin being magical would fill the bill nicely.

Tony did not overcome anything in Iron Man 2? What? COME ON! He overcame being a philander and his daddy issues. That's huge for this character and pretty much sets him up to being the Iron Man the Avengers will need in two years.

Tony did not overcome anything in Iron Man 2? What? COME ON! He overcame being a philander and his daddy issues. That's huge for this character and pretty much sets him up to being the Iron Man the Avengers will need in two years.

DEVIN, you need to use the entire quote of Favreau. "…rings are not really rings. But maybe with ‘Thor’ and all those others [‘Captain America’ and ‘The Avengers’] you’ll introduce magic to that world and it won’t seem as out of place.” In this context it looks like John F. is talking about how Mandarin wasn't used in Iron Man 1 and 2 because of the need to set up a realistic world for stark. But with IM2's ending he can now bring in the magical elements. Just my opinion, maybe update the article.

This was the best 2 hr Avengers commercial ever.

A third film definitely needs some sort of strong antagonist. The problem with this one was that they tried to ride on the charm of Downey again. It worked for an origin movie, but people need more than that for a second go around.

The Mandarins Rings ARE tech. They are part of the landing craft of FIN FANG FOOM. Maklu-ian tech is still tech.

Poster #15, Thor's hammer is magic. Not Tech.
The hammer is created when Thor's adopted brother Loki cuts off the hair of the goddess Sif as part of a cruel jest, and when threatened with violence by Thor, promises to fetch replacement hair from the dwarf smiths. Loki commissions the hair from the Sons of Ivaldi and the obliging dwarves also make a magic ship and spear as gifts for the gods. Loki is convinced that no one can match their workmanship, and challenges a dwarf named Eitri to make finer treasures. Eitri creates a golden ring and golden boar with magical properties, and finally begins work on a hammer. Loki panics at the sight of the treasures, and afraid he will lose the wager, transforms himself into a mayfly and stings Eitri's assistant on the brow as he is working the bellows for the forge. The assistant stops for a moment to wipe away the blood, and the bellows fall flat – the end result being that the hammer is shorter in the handle than Eitri originally intended.