WARMACHINEROX

Iron Man 3 (May 2013)

Primary Characters

• Tony Stark/Iron Man
• Pepper Potts
• Lieutenant James Rhodes/Iron Patriot
• Aldrich Killian

Secondary Characters

• Jarvis
• Happy Hogan
• Trevor Slattery/The Mandarin
• Maya Hansen
• Harley Keener
• Ho Yinsen

Notable Story Elements

• AIM
• Extremis

Times viewed: 3

• Original theatrical release
• Friday Family Movie Night sometime in the past year or two (though Melanie says she never saw it before this week)
• 23 Days of Marvel - March 24th, 2020

Easter Eggs

• Harley suggests that Tony make stealth armor, to which he quips that he should do that sometime; in the comics, there's a much-earlier model black stealth suit, and also a later version, when tracking down and destroying Extremis; that later version is Mk. 43, and his suit in this movie is Mk. 42, making it likely this is a deliberate nod by source-savvy writers and/or producers

• The executive supposedly executed by The Mandarin is from the Roxxon Oil corporation, which first appeared in Captain America in the 1970s and was involved in various criminal activities, especially after the Exxon Valdez spill

I liked Harley.

Melanie did not. (Her take: "No dad? Check. Secretly a genius? Check. Bullied? Check. UGH.")

I'm sure that if Iron Man 3 had been released in the '80s or '90s instead, and I'd watched it with my friend Brian then, Harley would have been branded "the annoying mini-kid." He's often cited when this movie is criticized, too. We're not talking The Phantom Menace Anakin Skywalker, though, are we?

Like Iron Man 2, there is a lot going on here.

• A flashback to Switzerland at the dawn of the new millennium, setting up the larger narrative, and including an appreciated cameo by Ho Yinsen. How would his life have played out differently if Stark had taken time to connect then? 
• Tony's PTSD following the near-death experience in The Battle of New York; "nothing's been the same since New York." 
• A new look for Rhodey. 
• The strained relationship between Tony and Pepper. 
• Happy played for laughs and then lingering near death. 
• An "Alas, Poor Yorick" moment with Tony gazing at his helmet, and another similarly-framed scene when Pepper thinks he's perished (Fake Death Count: 1). 
• Tony's time as The Mechanic and relationship with Harley. No armor, no problem; we'll science the shit out of this and make do with MacGyvered grocery goods. I loved this. 
• A series of action-spy investigations and confrontations. 
• Humorous puppet-villain. 
• The President has been kidnapped (not by ninjas). Tony and Rhodey are bad enough dudes to rescue him. 
• Pepper gets superpowers and dies (Fake Death Count: 2). 
• Tony has surgery. 

I missed all of Warren Ellis' Extremis storyline in the comics. He's an outstanding high-concept scifi writer, and watching this movie again made me want to resub to Marvel Unlimited and enjoy those issues digitally. If any of the local comic shops were open during the current COVID-19 quarantine, I might've even picked up the trade today.

Narratively and - especially - visually, Aldrich Killian is a stronger villain than either Iron Monger or Whiplash. The Ten Rings symbology returns, too, accompanying "The Mandarin." He's one of my favorite parts of Iron Man 3. The contrast of his televised menace and his in-person meeting with Tony - toilet humor AND drug humor, natch - fit well with the movie's recurring theme of multiple and often conflicting identities.

The end credits are the best of any MCU movie yet, a slick mash-up of all Iron Man's adventures to date. The future is blindingly bright at this point.

Sadly, no AIM beekeeper suits.

Ranking

1. The Avengers
2. Iron Man
3. Iron Man 3
4. Iron Man 2
5. Captain Marvel
6. Captain America: The First Avenger
7. Thor
8. The Incredible Hulk