Re-Visiting the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Iron Man 3

"Iron Man 3" (2013)

[So, I started writing this back in 2017, when I initially began this little project. Clearly, it fell by the wayside, but I'm committed to bringing it back. I just started re-watching the MCU movies to get ready for "Captain Marvel," so it's the perfect time. And as luck would have it, I just finished "Iron Man 3.]

"Marvel's The Avengers" did OK. Understatement of the century. The film that brought together the MCU's heaviest hitters for the first time was an unqualified, smashing success. It shattered box office records at the time of it's release including but not limited to highest grossing opening weekend and week, May opening, superhero film of all time. Needless to say, Marvel Studios was riding high. 

"The Avengers" closed the book on Phase One of the MCU after effectively telling the origin stories of the main Avengers and bringing them together. It was time to move on to Phase Two and "Iron Man 3" is the film to usher in that era. Shane Black joins the franchise taking over directing duties from Jon Favreau. Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau return and are joined by series newcomers Guy Pearce and SIR Ben Kingsley. The film opened on May 3, 2013.

After "The Avengers," you would think that the first film in the Phase Two era would lay groundwork or plant some seeds but "Iron Man 3" is a mostly self-contained affair. It's not as if the previous film is ignored, Tony is dealing with a lot of post-traumatic stress from the Battle of New York, having panic attacks and snapping at multiple children who bring up the wormhole that almost killed him, but the film stays firmly focused on it's title character and is all the better for it.

"Iron Man 3" is an unconventional superhero movie. It's even more unconventional when you factor in that it was the first movie after "The Avengers." This is a movie about how trauma and how someone copes with trauma. Tony Stark is the perfect character to use for this because he's so slick. Tony is very much the kind of guy who would scoff at therapy, even when he needs it the most. From the beginning of the movie, it's clear that he's off his game. He's working fanatically, trying to design armor that is more and more advanced. Armor that he can summon with but a thought is his main focus. He's gone 72 hours without sleep and things aren't great.

Mandarin Slattery

"Iron Man 2" was not nearly as successful as it could have been because it was worried about being a standalone Iron Man film last. It was primarily concerned with introducing new characters, establishing the new MCU. This is easy for me to forgive because look at what the MCU has given us. Sure there was going to be some hiccups at the start. No one had done anything like this before. There's a learning curve to these things.

"Iron Man 3" doesn't make the same mistakes. This movie is all about Tony Stark from the very beginning when we flashback to his partying days at the start of the new millennium. Extremis is a relatively new concept in the comics and the film version of Extremis is pretty different, but it works. Putting Happy in mortal danger works. It's the perfect catalyst and the perfect problem for Tony to aim his PTSD. Tony issuing a death threat to the Mandarin via the media could feel like a step backward in his character progression, but when you factor in Tony's trauma it makes perfect sense. He can't control his emotions. He can't prepare for them, but he can prepare for this.

The extended sequence in Tennessee is wonderful. RDJ's interplay with young Harley is the lightness that the film requires. I love the unconventional action scenes. There really isn't much of Tony being Iron Man in the conventional sense, which I love. It's a lot of fun to watch Tony Stark sans armor using his smarts to take out these Extremis enhanced soldiers. Even the Air Force One sequence is a red herring. You think Tony is in the armor but he's controlling it remotely. It was a genuine surprise.

The thing most folks remember about "Iron Man 3" is The Mandarin specifically the big Mandarin reveal. Ben Kingsley's casting was a big deal and kind of a head scratcher because in the comics the Mandarin is Chinese, not a huge shock. The reveal that Aldrich Killian is "the Mandarin" and Kingsley's Trevor Slattery is a paid actor is great. It works on all levels. Let's be real, the Mandarin is an outdated, racist caricature. It would be really difficult to bring a comics accurate version of that villain into the MCU, so why even try? This make so much sense for the Iron Man universe and I still get a kick out of it, no matter how much I watch it.

Guy Pearce is a great Killian and he continues the Iron Man film tradition of seedy, unscrupulous businessmen bad guys. He's super slimy from the moment he's showing Pepper his impressive brain. This is also Gwyneth Paltrow's best showing as Pepper Potts. Usually all Pepper has to do is react and shriek, but in Iron Man 3 she gets to be pretty badass thanks to a shot of Extremis. I'm not sure she had to save Tony with in a sports bra, but you take the good with the bad.

"Iron Man 3" acts as a legit concluding chapter to this trilogy of films. Tony blows up his suits. He has the arc reactor removed. You know that Tony will be back in other MCU films, but this is a nice tidy wrap up for his solo character films.

The post-credits scene is a cute therapy session between Bruce Banner and Tony Stark. It turns out that Banner is who Tony's been narrating this story to and he's been asleep for most of it. It's really fun and goes to show that not ever post-credits scene has to be this Earth shattering reveal.

She is woman, she'll kick your ass.

The blu-ray of "Iron Man 3" contains the Marvel One-Shot, "Agent Carter." It stars Hayley Atwell once again as SSR agent, Peggy Carter. It's a fun story of Peggy ignoring her male chauvinist bosses and going rogue to stop some terrorists from releasing deadly gas. The events of this one-shot seemingly take place after the events of her solo series and one year after the events of "The First Avenger." Peg certainly had a busy year. Atwell is everything as Peggy Carter and watching this 12 minute short made me sad again for "Agent Carter"s cancellation. I'm all for more Peggy Carter in the MCU, so let's make that happen Kevin Feige. I know that Atwell is interested. The one-shot ends with Peggy headed to SHIELD and there's even a post credits scene with Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) and Dum Dum Dugan (Neal McDonough) marvel at the newest invention sweeping the nation: the bikini.

"Iron Man 3" is a killer rebound from the lackluster "2" and serves as a nice epilogue to "Marvel's The Avengers."

 Next up, Thor has his first solo encore and deals with dark elves straight out of a Star Trek movie. We'll be back soon with "Thor: The Dark World."

Do you love "Iron Man 3?" Do you hate it? Am I way off base? Was there a way to do a non-racist, Chinese Mandarin? Let m know in the comments.