You can take a screwdriver or any toys, but it’s something no one will ever take me…I am Iron Man!
Overview
Iron Man 3 picks up right after the Avengers. Tony seems to be living in is work, ignoring everything else…even Pepper. Iron Man 3, I find, brings something fresh to the MCU. It deals with the psychological effects of what Tony went through in the Battle of New York. Now suffering from PTSD, anxiety attacks, he’s devoted all of his time to developing new Iron Man tech to keep the world and most importantly to him, Pepper safe. Meanwhile a ghost from Tony’s past surfaces in the form of Aldrich Killian. At first, Killian appears to simply want to partner with Stark industries on some new technology, Extremis, which ‘hacks’ an open spot in our brain. The ramifications of this could be huge for humankind, however, Pepper deems it highly weaponizable and therefore declines.
The Villain
With all of this going on, a new threat emerges in the form of The Mandarin. Ben Kingsley is an absolute gem in this film and such a joy to watch. So without getting too plot heavy, as I’m sure you’ve seen it, The Mandarin and Killian are working together in order to control the war on terror. The big twist of it all is the Mandarin is actually an actor from London. This twist garnered SO much hate. I have to admit when I first saw this film in the theater, it was such a sucker punch, it completely took me out of the immersion of the film. I honestly wasn’t sure how to process what had just happened. Funny thing is, I was still enjoying Ben Kingsley.
I actually came to love this twist as it could be argued, Killian is the Mandarin. He even says it himself. If you look up the Mandarin in the comics, there are even some similarities. They both fight Tony while in the armor ripping it apart, he’s incredibly smart and conniving, I’m sure I could go on. This twist was actually retconned in the Marvel short, All Hail The King, appeasing the fans who really hated it. I was actually pretty happy with this, although I became a fan of the twist in the film, the fact that the real Mandarin is out there still is something quite exciting. Especially with that way the MCU is heading, more off world. As we know the Mandarin’s rings are alien technology.
Character Development and World Building
Iron Man 3 does so much for Tony’s character development. Not only does it explore themes not seen often in superheroes, or not seen at all in the MCU, it shows Tony doesn’t need the Iron Man suit to be a hero. This is so important. As Captain America say’s in the Avengers, ‘‘Take the suit away and what are you?’’.Tony certainly can add hero to the list. One major criticism of this film is that his PTSD is never explored in future MCU movies.
I don’t actually agree with this at all. If you follow Tony’s thoughts on building things to protect the world, Pepper and the people he loves…this becomes his motivation for creating Ultron. He’s so terrified of what can happen, he does everything he can think of to prevent it. Furthermore, we see his fears in the vision Scarlet Witch gives him. All of this leads to Ultron. The house party protocol even mirrors the Iron Legion seen in Age of Ultron.
Final Thoughts
I honestly find Iron Man 3 such a fun watch, it’s classic MCU in all it’s glory, with one of our favorite characters. The comedy, as always with Robert Downey Jr. is on point, the action is awesome, the story is really cool and it explores some very important themes. The side villains are pretty cool and scary at times, The kid is hilarious, Rhodey is awesome as always. I actually hope, going forward, themes from this film are touched upon in the future of the MCU.
MCU Ranking
- Avengers
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Iron Man
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Iron Man 3
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Captain America: The First Avenger
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Iron Man 2
-
Thor
-
Incredible Hulk
