Review by C.J. Bunce
In his foreword to The Art of Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 2, you get no sense that the Jon Favreau of 15 years ago had even the vaguest idea of the future that lay ahead for him, for Marvel and Disney, and for hundreds of millions of fans around the globe. You get no shred of a clue that 24 “Infinity Saga” movies were coming. We’re looking back to the second of those movies today, director Favreau’s Iron Man 2, as we revisit Iron Man 2: The Art of the Movie, from the 24-volume MCU library from Titan Books. My big takeaway from the movie, other than its introduction of Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, is the Hall of Armor, which made its way in the real world to a grand exhibit of movie costumes at San Diego Comic-Con. This was a movie where you could just see Marvel creators having the most fun in their toy box.
This look inside the Marvel movies begins with Favreau, Ryan Meinerding, Kevin Feige, and others discussing all the coordination involved. First step was figuring out the who, what, where, and how of building an Iron Man suit that could come out of a suitcase.
Along with Black Widow, readers will see the development of the first big screen appearance for Don Cheadle as War Machine, with more of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts, and Favreau’s own Happy Hogan. But the big villains were Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash and Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer. Readers will find each character presented via used and unused design renderings.
Along with the giant set pieces, the bulk of the book reveals the development of the armor that continued to expand from the first Iron Man movie. Readers will follow that creation from concept design to sketches to 3D modeling to the building of the suits for Robert Downey, Jr. and others to wear in the movie–along with the visual effects team that filled in the blanks.
The book includes several pages of storyboard sequences. Key environments are included, each in its original method of creation, from quick sketches to CGI renderings. Readers will also learn about the comic book history and influence on the characters and key scenes in the film.
The works of several MCU contributors are highlighted here, from property master Russell Bobbitt to concept artists Adi Granov, physical suit effects supervisor Shane Mahan, head of visual development Ryan Meinerding, visual effects producer Victoria Alonso, lead modelmaker Tony Bohorquez, production designer Michael Riva, animator artist Genndy Tartakovsky, set decorator Lauri Gaffin, costume designer Mary Zophres, and many more.
Don’t miss our reviews of other books in the series: Iron Man: The Art of the Movie here, The Art of Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 2 here, Marvel Studios’ Thor: The Art of the Movie here, Captain America: The First Avenger–The Art of the Movie, here, The Art of Marvel Studios’ The Avengers here, The Art of Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 here, The Art of Marvel Studios’ Thor: The Dark World here, The Art of Captain America and the Winter Soldier here, The Art of Guardians of the Galaxy here, The Art of Avengers: Age of Ultron here, and The Art of Ant Man here.
The two next entries are available for pre-order now: Captain America: Civil War–The Art of the Movie, available here, and Doctor Strange: The Art of the Movie, available here. Look for reviews of both here at borg in June.
The original edition of the Iron Man 2 book is hard to find, so this re-release is a great buy for fans of the MCU. For every fan of the Marvel Infinity Saga and Jon Favreau’s sequel that set the stage for the crossovers to come, don’t miss The Art of Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 2, available now here at Amazon. Iron Man 2 is streaming on Disney+.
