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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
I remember hearing that there was a cut scene in Endgame where Tony met a grown-up version of his daughter in the Soul Stone after his sacrifice.
Personally, I would've had that scene feature Tony meeting Yinsen instead. It feels more emotionally satisfying to have him reunite in death with the man who put him on the path to becoming a hero.
I guess Stane got lost because he was the first, so he kind of set the standard for the typical MCU villain. Plus Loki kind of took the role as the best MCU villain until Phase Three came around.
It probably didn't help that Iron Man 1 came out a few months before The Dark Knight, so there was only one supervillain people were talking about that year.
Edited by chasemaddigan on Sep 28th 2019 at 9:43:21 AM
If you like Stane in Iron Man, I think you'd also like him in Iron Man: Armored Adventures, where he's the Big Bad.
The legend has returned.I haven't heard anyone call Stane outright bad, though I might argue he's overshadowed by some other villains.
I would say there's a bit of a case of "Seinfeld" Is Unfunny and/or Franchise Original Sin with him, though. He's a "Big, Grey Villain" and also a mirror of the hero's powers, both of which are cliches that people criticize with superhero movies.
To be fair, having your villain use the same powers as your hero is actually pretty elegant, especially for an origin story. Basically, it lets you combine their origin stories rather than have two separate ones, and it also makes them intrinsically linked.
Also, the core theme of a lot of superhero stories is the idea of someone receiving a gift and then choosing to use it to help others. This is actually a type of power fantasy, strangely. Basically, if you've ever saw something terrible on the news and felt helpless because you couldn't stop it, the idea that you could help them is the wish fulfillment core to superhero stories.
So, what makes the perfect counter to this story is a person who was given the same gift, but who chooses to use it to hurt others. This goes to the whole "with great power" thing. The supervillain is power without responsibility.
Leviticus 19:34Stane is simultaneously one of the most textbook and least ambitious villains in the MCU, and one of the strongest written and ultimately most effective villains in the MCU.
I'd go as far to say he's a big contender for the franchise's best villain.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Sep 28th 2019 at 7:31:44 AM
Edited by alliterator on Sep 28th 2019 at 7:43:14 AM
Obadiah Stane is enlightening because he demonstrates that a big part of the reason why Iron Man 2 and 3 are so inferior to the first film is because their villains just don't work on a basic level.
He's a very basic villain but he's carried very thoroughly by Jeff Bridges' menacing performance and he actually represents something important, both to the narrative themes of the movie and to Tony and the other characters. The sequels failed to either properly integrate the villains into the themes of the film, or were just totally uninteresting.
Being basic isn't necessarily something that needs slack cut to it in the first place, if the character is written and acted strongly enough regardless and the role works for the story it's trying to tell.
MCU is full of situations where more ambitious villains fail to do roles that more basic approach may or may not have been better suited for (Ultron), and vice versa - where basic villains fail to do roles that a more ambitious approach may or may not have been better for (Killian). Or, somehow, both at once (Malekith).
As always, it's the execution that matters.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Sep 28th 2019 at 8:23:23 AM
Honestly, they probably should have partially improvised more movies. The end result kinda makes you wonder if they stumbled onto a good idea.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

Yeah, for at least one Spider-Movie that wraps up Peter's high school phase once and for all a la Iron Man 3 and one MCU movie for I don't know what.
However, I recall reading that this mini-deal was made at the last minute so as to suddenly not lose Jon Watts, so it's entirely possible that after these upcoming movies are done and over with, Marvel/Disney and Sony will make up a new deal that solidifies the Web-Crawler's cinematic fate. (Assuming neither of them have a temper tantrum and restart the #SaveSpiderMan crisis all over again.)
But 2021 is still a ways from now, so we'll cross that bridge when we get there. (Still want Spidey to stick around in the MCU so we see him in college, but I don't want to tempt fate.)
Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Sep 28th 2019 at 4:44:01 AM