With just eighteen days before the release of Iron Man 2 the seemingly traditional viral marketing campaign has hit the web with a vengeance. The theme of said campaign centres around ‘Stark Expo 2010’, glimpsed briefly in the previously released trailers. The more you explore the intricate and comprehensive mix of viral videos, interactive maps and endorsement tie-ins the more apparent it becomes that the makers of Iron Man 2 have approached the marketing with the same conscientious, attention to detail with which they seem to have made the films.
If I have only criticism of the trailers for Iron Man 2 to date is that they are perhaps a little categorical. It could be argued that the trailers leave little to the imagination however; this latest part of the campaign seems to focus very astutely on the public face of Stark Industries. The implication of this is that all the remaining cool fighty, shooty stuff is being saved for the big screen.
One of the most intriguing products of the campaign is a simple memo seen below.
Interestingly the Memo references the first movie, which seems to reflect the viral campaign as a whole. If you remember Iron Man’s climax you’ll recall that Stark came to blows with his profiteering partner Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) when it was revealed that Stane had more nefarious intentions for Tony’s pivotal ‘Arc Reactor’.
Watching the various ‘Stark Expo’ promos it would seem that this misappropriation of Stark’s tech will form the spine of the sequel and a fleeting mention of industry rival ‘Hammer Industries’ (owned by Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer) backs this up. Also mentioned in the letter is Stark’s ‘dear-old-dad’ Howard. Whilst the late Howard Stark’s inclusion in proceedings was revealed when Mad Men’s John Slattery was cast in the role he has been absent in all the promotional material so far. That is until now.
The promo for Stark Expo 74 gives us our first glimpse of Stark senior (and his tash) who may well prove to be a pivotal figure in Marvel Studio’s multi-pronged franchise. As casting for The First Avenger: Captain America gathers pace I’d lay money on Slattery’s involvement. If Stark Industries illustrates the media whoring side to Tony Stark’s personality then S.H.I.E.L.D. must represent the more clandestine Iron Man facet. It would seem that this close history between the Stark family and Nick Fury’s agency is implicated further by a quote attributed to Howard Stark on one of the subsidiary websites. The quote reads “Technology, the sword that protects the Nation” possibly an allusion to S.H.I.E.L.D? Of course, it’s not just Sam Jackson’s expanded role that implies more involvement for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. If you look closely at Scarlett Johanson’s Natalia Romanov on the latest poster…
…you’d be remiss if you failed to notice the Shield emblem emblazoned on her sleeve. Whilst this sadly clears up any mystery pertaining to Romanov’s true allegiance it does suggest that she may also be a product of the same super soldier program as Steve Rogers (soon to be Chris Evans).
The sum total of these clues seems to suggest that Iron Man 2 will take all the things that were great about the first movie and increase them in a very ‘non-Michael Bay Way’. Also, I think we can expect to see a heightened level of anticipation surrounding Thor, Captain America and the, possibly Joss Whedon directed, Avengers movie.
