Director Shane Black Talks Extremis Virus in ‘Iron Man 3′
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Revealing only a few but yet promising clues, the arrival of yesterday’s Iron Man 3 trailer left several of us here a little more than eager to see how elements from Warren Ellis’ ‘Extremis’ storyline will be used on the big screen. The Extremis arc from the comics focused on a new bio-engineered nano virus developed to both rewrite and “upgrade” basic human DNA code from the molecular level. This new technology, developed by Dr. Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), also allows for Tony Stark’s ability to network his mind to his Iron Man hardware after being administered the virus.
While speaking with SFX Magazine, director Shane Black recently took the opportunity to explain how Extremis will develop on the big screen.
“In the Extremis comic book, there’s a type of thing that takes over and basically upgrades DNA. Sometimes you die. But if you live through the experience then you come out this changed thing. But the way they do it is the guy that does it is not some man chosen to be the super soldier -he’s just a militia guy. There’s an element of realism to it as well. So what we’ve tried to do is take this very science-fictiony concept of super people, and ground it in the type of people who volunteer for this being not necessarily super villains, but just people who upgrade.
I love the idea of a super villain that doesn’t wear a cape, that doesn’t wear a super suit. That goes around dressed as you are right now. As for the science of it, once again we’ve gone back to the comic books, and I think pretty much lifted the Maya Hensen idea, that she met [Tony] long ago and had the germ of an idea, which now has come to fruition full circle, but she’s afraid because it’s gotten out there. And we go from there.
I think you’ll be interested in the effect that we generate to demonstrate what Extremis does to a human being. It’s a pretty interesting special effect. But we’ve deliberately stayed away from defining, ‘Oh it’s nanites.’ What we do keep from the comic is the idea that there’s a slot in the brain that seems to have been dormant, but exists in human beings, almost as though it’s waiting for human beings to find a way to fill it. It’s been there forever.”
Directed by Shane Black, Iron Man 3 stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall, Ashley Hamilton and James Badge Dale and is scheduled to arrive in theaters on May 3rd, 2013.
via [SFX Magazine]
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