2. Neutered Shane Black
Iron Man 3 was a failure but Shane Black shouldn't feel bad about the experience. He's just another in a long line of "unique talents" hired by Marvel to fool nerds into believing something worthwhile was being done with the material. In reality, a director hired by Marvel, no matter how talented they are, becomes a powerless figurehead; a studio shill who squanders their talent to serve the machinations of a large commercial entity. Look at Kenneth Branagh and how his directorial style with all its grandiose theatricality was completely absent from Thor. Joe Johnson's more classical (and fun) directorial style evident in movies like Honey I Shrunk The Kids, The Rocketeer and Jumanji was lost in the boring narrative and uninspired patriotism of Captain America: The First Avenger. Lastly, Joss Whedon's unique since of style (whatever that is) was completely absent from that big behemoth of a movie called The Avengers. Then there's Shane Black, distinguished in the action genre by his gritty humor and ruff poetry. Surely he of all people would escape the fate so many of his contemporaries and emerge from the Marvel machine victorious, brandishing a a film that spoke more of his own personal vision than that of a company's financial planning. Or not. Did you really think they'd let Shane black off the leash? We're taking about the same guy who gave us the darkly satisfying human drama of Lethal Weapon, the highly emotional culture and sports satire of The Last Boy Scout, and the action packed profanity laden feminist musings of The Long Kiss Goodnight? Did you think a person like that would have free reign in the Marvel universe? Of course not. All you saw in Shane Black's Iron Man 3 was a talent adult writer be reduced to playing with toy's for 2 hours. Merry Christmas, indeed.