Made In Hollywood

In addition to completing their own work, members of Duke's team were also passing on relevant experience to the staff from Marvel Studios who had joined the crew, using a mentorship approach. Just like every company that had just entered Hollywood, without help, Marvel Studios would also take quite a few detours.

Duke was the largest shareholder of Marvel Comics, and in the future, it would be impossible for him to only make superhero movies for Marvel. The faster Marvel Studios grew, the more it would undoubtedly align with his interests.

"Duke, I think you're still too conservative in your construction of this parallel world."

After walking around the set under construction, Stan Lee, who had come all the way from New York to Los Angeles, said to Duke, "A lot of the technology and powers from the comics aren't really described much in the script, which is based primarily on your ideas."

Duke slowly shifted his gaze from the model of Tony Stark's mansion that had been set up ahead and said, "Stan, this is the beginning of the entire series. It takes time for audiences to truly accept a world full of superheroes. We still have many films to make in the future, so there's no need to rush."

"You seem even more confident than I am." Stan Lee took off his sunglasses and looked at Duke. "Will our world really succeed?"

Duke laughed, "Don't you want to see Marvel's superhero movies sweeping across the globe?"

Stan Lee also laughed. As the creator of Marvel's most famous superheroes, he wanted to see Marvel films succeed more than anyone.

According to the contract signed between Marvel Comics and Stan Lee, for any superhero created by him that was adapted into a movie, animation, or TV series, Stan Lee could earn nearly eight percent of the profits.

Not to mention anything else just the Spider-Man series alone could bring the old man an enormous income.

That's right. Stan Lee was indeed quite old now. It seemed like he was at a stage where money didn't matter anymore. But Duke remembered very clearly that back when Marvel superheroes dominated the world, Stan Lee once sued his former employer Marvel Comics over profit-sharing issues.

Now, every cent of revenue generated by Marvel Comics was closely tied to Duke. He had already discussed with Avi Arad the idea of further refining the profit-sharing contract between Marvel and Stan Lee to avoid unnecessary troubles in the future if the old man became too greedy.

Of course, every issue has two sides. From Stan Lee's perspective, he was just defending his rightful interests. But from the standpoint of Duke and the other major shareholders, the other party was coveting a slice of the cake that rightfully belonged to them.

After chatting with Stan Lee for a while, Duke handed him off to an assistant from the crew to host him. Although the old man was undoubtedly the spiritual core of Marvel Comics, the crew was currently in a busy preparatory phase, and Duke couldn't afford to spend too much time on him.

Moreover, the Marvel writers led by Stan Lee were most useful when it came to worldbuilding and writing storylines. When it came to film production, they were complete outsiders. Duke wasn't foolish enough to let outsiders meddle in the filmmaking process.

For example, Tony Stark's suit of armor was one thing in the comics, but presenting it on the big screen was something entirely different.

Comics and movies were fundamentally two completely different media.

Industrial Light & Magic was responsible for creating Tony Stark's armor. Ever since Duke entered Hollywood, due to his relationship with George Lucas, Industrial Light & Magic had offered him considerable support. Every film Duke made involved a heavy use of special effects. Aside from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which, for convenience, used Weta Workshop, Industrial Light & Magic had participated in the special effects of almost every one of his films.

Originally, Duke wanted to use the workshop of model-making master Stan Winston for the prop design in Iron Man. But the head of Industrial Light & Magic personally approached him, expressing strong interest in participating in the special effects for the film and promptly submitted a complete set of design proposals.

Every director likes to work with familiar people during film production, and Duke was no exception.

Although CGI technology was constantly advancing, in Duke's vision, the film would not rely entirely on computer-generated effects. It had to combine real props in the shooting and production process. And this approach of combining props with digital effects was first created and used by Industrial Light & Magic, so there was nothing to worry about entrusting them with the task.

Even a decade later, Industrial Light & Magic would still be the best special effects company in Hollywood—if not the entire world.

During the earlier preparations, Duke had already communicated extensively with the crew's two concept artists. They had combined elements from the original comics with Duke's suggestions to create the initial concept designs, which were handed off to Industrial Light & Magic's modeling department to produce the first-generation prototypes. These prototypes had to go through Duke's review before the final version could be confirmed.

Walking into a showroom next to the set, Duke found Phil Sanders, who was in charge of Iron Man at Industrial Light & Magic, already waiting. On the two fixed display racks beside him stood four Iron Man suits in two different versions.

One of them, relatively tall and dull gray in color, looked a bit rough. The other, slightly taller than a real person, had red and gold coating on its surface and looked exquisitely made—like a work of art.

"Well done."

After a brief greeting with Phil Sanders, Duke circled the four suits twice and said, "When were these completed?"

Phil Sanders followed closely beside Duke. "They were finished just yesterday afternoon. I had them rushed overnight from San Francisco to Los Angeles."

"These prototypes are made of polystyrene and are just models," he explained next to Duke. "After the final version is confirmed, in addition to polystyrene, the key moving parts will be made from lightweight and durable titanium alloy. Actors will have no issues wearing them during filming."

"If we go into mass production," Duke asked the next question he cared about, "will the cost be very high?"

"The cost will drop significantly with mass production." Phil Sanders did a quick mental calculation and said, "Titanium alloy can be replaced with aluminum alloy. In that case, we can keep the cost within two or three thousand dollars."

Duke nodded lightly. If the movie becomes a big hit, Mark I and Mark II suits could be released as wearable real-life versions, and no doubt a lot of passionate fans would be willing to pay for them.

Of course, the prerequisite is that the Iron Man suits must look cool and stylish enough to be appealing.

The four prototype models in front of them clearly didn't make the cut. Designs that looked good on paper, once turned into real-world items, seemed to lack something whether viewed by the naked eye or through Duke's camera lens.

"Phil, scrap these two versions."

After circling the Mark I and Mark II Iron Man suits again, Duke stood to the side, thinking for a while. He then had the two designers called in, along with the model makers from Industrial Light & Magic, and held a brief meeting in the exhibition room.

The meeting's topic was Tony Stark's armor.

According to the script, Tony Stark designed the first Iron Man suit while being held captive, referred to as Mark I. In early Marvel comics, it's also known as the "Gray Armor."

Duke reiterated his idea to combine the design with the comic's concept. "Mark I was designed while he was captured, especially under enemy surveillance. In my vision, this suit should look like something built in a junkyard from scrap weapons. It should be the most original prop in the movie."

Phil Sanders was not only a well-known model maker in the industry but also one of the top concept designers. After thinking for a moment, he suggested, "We could use clean metal sheets as the base material, inject some visualized tech elements into the design, and add panel accessories to make Mark I look like a combination of weapons and military equipment."

"Hmm, that works." Duke nodded in agreement and added, "But you guys need to remember a few things—this isn't an original movie, after all. It's based on a comic with a massive fanbase."

He laid out the points one by one. "First, it must not deviate too much from the original. Second, it should show Iron Man's progression. Ideally, the suit should look like something worn during an escape—like a powerful humanoid tank."

After thinking a bit more, Duke added, "And it needs to be light enough—preferably under ninety pounds."

Mark I isn't just for display. The actor needs to wear it for some scenes. If it's too heavy, forget about filming—just putting it on would be a challenge.

"We can completely separate the upper and lower parts." Phil Sanders walked to the display rack and pointed to Mark I's waist. "This will make both wearing and shooting much easier."

Duke nodded and also walked over, though this time his focus was on Mark II. "The overall design of the Mark II suit is good, but the biggest problem lies in its color."

He pointed at the red and gold paint on Mark II and said, "The colors are still too dull. Think about it—given Tony Stark's show-off personality in the story, if he chose these two colors, wouldn't he go with the brightest versions possible?"

Red and gold are undoubtedly vivid and eye-catching, perfectly fitting Tony Stark's flamboyant style.

Tony Stark's armor is not only a crucial part of the film's early-stage production but will also be a major product line after the film's release. And the group most likely to buy these products will surely be teens.

That group, generally speaking, doesn't like dull colors.

Both the Mark I and Mark II suits require significant time not only to design and make but also to test. The finished suits must undergo a series of real-wear and filming tests. Otherwise, if problems arise during official shooting, it would definitely impact the movie's production schedule.

By mid-August, suitable versions for both suits were finally confirmed. Just as Duke was about to relax, he received an invitation from Rupert Murdoch.

...

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