I spent quite a bit of time agonizing over how I was going to do the "box of scraps" bit. On the one hand, it's one of the most iconic and memetic bits of dialogue from the film. But on the other hand, it's set in a scene with no actual player characters. So it gets a nod in the form of a flashback.
Kind of sad to suggest this now, when it is too late, but with PvP being a thing, and "heroes" duking it out being a thing, what if Stane had also been a PC? Maybe that becomes the "curse" of these games; someone's character keeps going off the rails and winds up the bad guy.
You could even make it the same player's different characters, until he's so fed up with it he stops being a PC, and just becomes an assistant GM. It could even be partially justified.
Let's call this player Jack. The short version for the Iron Man film's story is Jack built Stane and helped Rob build Stark. They were supposed to be partners in crime. Literally and figuratively; Jack had intended for Stark and Stane to eventually build something akin to the Iron Man armor, but Jack built Obadiah Stane to survive and advance, and to compliment Tony Stark. Rob made last minutes changes to Tony without telling Jack. Jack had to miss a session, and Rob basically enacted their 6-month plan in a single session... and somehow got away with it. Jack is shocked, but can settle for playing catch-up...
...except Rob had his change of heart, just like Tony. Suddenly, Jack's character is in trouble. Obadiah is most likely going down for everything Tony and he did. The GM isn't making it easy for Obadiah to replicate the technology, and Rob is suddenly Mr. Role-Player, and thinks Tony would be hesitant in sharing all the technology right away with Obadiah. The tweaks Rob made to Tony are what got Tony captured and nearly killed, but are what made it possible for Tony to build the armor so quickly. Meaning Jack can't do it without session after session of having his character work on it, or without Tony's help. I think Rob should be why Jack had to miss that session, because it is enough Jack decides Rob played fast and loose with him, so he's going to play fast and loose with Rob. The events happen similar to the film, and Jack's character Obadiah dies.
Jack keeps having this happen. Maybe he's Bucky, or even a Red Skull who was supposed to have a heel-face turn but the group didn't allow it. He's Loki, and that almost works out. Etc. Etc. It culminates with him convincing the GM that, at this point, he should be the assistant GM/adversary/whatever this game would call it. In other words, he'd ultimately be running Thanos.
You're not all that far off, actually. Obviously (I should think) I don't have the plot for EVERY film planned out 100% in advance, but the idea of adversarial players is definitely in the cards. I just didn't think Obadiah was the place to start, I love him as a film villain but he didn't strike me as a particularly compelling protagonist/player character (or at least that with the dynamics I already envisioned between Rob, Kevin, and Terrence there wasn't a lot of room left to make him one without feeling redundant). I'd give some hints on who to expect, but I feel like even Low-key ones would give things away, so the details will have to remain Mysterious.
I wouldn't count on the same person showing up as multiple adversaries, though, in part because of the planned structure of how the various campaigns are going to go. Should be more evident (hopefully) by the time we get to Incredible Hulk and Thor.
Yeah, right now I am assuming you won't be doing a "Same Players x Different PCs = Different Films" approach. Though this does have the obvious downside of ballooning the cast. Good luck! And I mean it! XD
As for Stane not being that interesting... that was kind of the point. Probably the weakest parts of these films, especially these earlier films, are the villains. But you can change that. With Stane, the idea is that he wasn't the intended villain. He was just going to be another player who - like Rob - wanted to steer the game in another direction. The difference was, I suggested he have the in-game skills, the out-of-game charisma, and the patience (in both places) to pull it off. Which you can totally think is stupid! I just wasn't sure if you were getting that, given your response. ^^'
I mean, in the actual films, Tony Stark has a hand in creating, or at least enabling, multiple villains. So have that reflect on his player, Rob a bit. I was setting up an intentional parallel, between two players and their characters. Rob takes plans he worked out with (hypothetical player) Jack, then does his own thing with them. Jack would then have Obadiah kind of do the same thing to Tony, with respect to his plans for the Iron Man suit.
Again, if my specific take is bad, not a problem. XD At this point, I just want you to remember that, even though this is a photo cap campaign web comic, you can do what you've already done with some of the secondary and tertiary characters, and "re-invent" the villains within the limits of the available footage. Now, if you don't want to... that's okay too. :) I mean, it ain't like I'm spending my time to make a comic to entertain others, while making nothing off of it. I know it can get annoying, but I just tend to get ideas into my head and don't always know the right time, place, or circumstances to share them. Especially if when the answer is "none" or "never" to all three. XP
Thanks, the big cast is definitely going to be... interesting, assuming I get far enough in for things to REALLY get crazy. But I feel like expanding outwards was part of the challenge of making the MCU work in the first place, and that relatedly the best way to reflect what an insane prospect the whole thing is would be to preserve that feeling of "there are way too many people to make anything coherent out of this" and then doing it anyway. We'll see if it pays off. XD
And don't worry about it, I don't think the idea is stupid at all, or mind the suggestions, I just didn't think Stane as a PC was necessary with the party dynamics I already had planned and felt that Pepper, Rhodey, and Coulson all seemed like better characters for the roles I had in mind. There's other (admittedly silly) reasons, but that bridge will be crossed when we get to it. ;)
To be fair, it might be because Iike pineapple on my Canadian Bacon (ham) pizzas. ;)
Kidding aside, I think I liked Stane, and just by his last name and my hit-or-miss knowledge of Iron Man comics, I knew he'd almost certainly be the film's villain, as (at that point), who would have thought they would plan ahead? It wasn't a ground-breaking performance for the character, but at least I remember Stane somewhat fondly.
Or maybe I'm just overly positive because I not only was able to enjoy a meal with my mom at Pizza Ranch today, but I snagged four pieces of ham and pineapple stuffed crust pizza.
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