Footnote: 8th anniversary of a fateful event

Facebook image Marvel put on Facebook

Today, May 2, is the eighth anniversary of the release of Iron Man. Things haven’t been quite the same since.

Originally, Quantum of Solace, the 22nd James Bond film, had that release date. That was always going to be ambitious, given that Casino Royale came out in the late fall of 2006.

Eventually, Sony Pictures, Quantum’s distributor, decided it couldn’t be met. The 007 film would be released in the fall. Truth be told, given the issues Quantum had as it was, shooting for a May 2008 release likely would have made things worse.

Nevertheless, that move opened up the May 2 slot for Iron Man, the first movie Marvel would produce itself instead of leasing characters to other studios.

Marvel had an ambitious plan — starting a movie “universe” of connected characters. To make it work, though, Iron Man needed to be a hit. Marvel was taking a chance on star Robert Downey Jr., a talented actor, but one who had a history of personal problems.

The gamble paid off. Iron Man was a hit. Walt Disney Co. later bought Marvel because of its movies and characters.

Eight years later, Downey Jr. is still the biggest star in the Marvel movie universe. He’s a major presence in Captain America: Civil War, which makes its U.S. debut this week.

Meanwhile, Civil War is the start of Marvel’s Phase III of films. Until Iron Man came out, nobody talked about “phases” of movies. Happy anniversary.

The 007 (like) song in The Jungle Book

One of the big hits this spring has been The Jungle Book, Jon Favreau’s remake of Walt Disney Co.’s 1967 cartoon version of the Rudyard Kipling story. In the new version, live action is combined with a lot of computer generated effects.

Anyway, in the movie’s end titles, Scarlett Johansson, who’s also a voice performer in the film, does a rendition of “Trust In Me,” that sounds very James Bond like. Here’s an audio-only version on YouTube. Thanks to @maycausefunny on Twitter for tracking it down.

 

 

We weren’t the only one who felt the song had Bond-like qualities. After the above video was posted on the blog’s Facebook page, a poster provided the following link on Vimeo where Gregory Bertrand combined the Johansson-performed song to SPECTRE’s main titles.

<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/163940708″>Spectre (2015) – Opening Credits &quot;Trust in me&quot;</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/gregorybertrand”>Gregory Bertrand</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

UPDATE: Over on Facebook, a commenter says the Scarlett Johansson version doesn’t sound like a Bond song and it “reminds me of the original sung by Sterling Holloway” in the 1967 cartoon version. You can view that below and make up your own mind. It’s definitely the same song (the Sherman brothers get a credit in the 2016 movie) but to our ears it’s a much different arrangement.