Iron Man 3- It's much better than people tell you it is. (Films I watched 2)

People don’t like this film, I don’t know why- I think it’s one of Marvel’s best.


Writer/ director Shane Black has made at least 2 other great films: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Monster Squad (or as I like to call it, Stranger Things from the actual 80s- look at the trailer!)

Tony Stark’s character arc (Tony's St-arc?) is brilliant;


Iron man 1, he is selfish and uncaring. Narcisistic, arrogant, arms dealer.

Iron Man 2, his arrogance returns, he becomes grandiose about being a superhero- Iron Man becomes bigger than Tony

Avengers Assemble, despite what Captain America says about him not being willing to make the ultimzte sacrifice, he makes the Ultimate sacrifice and nearly dies after throwning a nuke into a worm hole

Iron Man 3 he has PTSD, he has to go back to basics striped of his wealth and tech. His previous bad behaviour is his downfall, even though he’s morally beyond that. The woman he had a one night stand with and a man he humiliated through his arrogance. Even though he’s now a good guy, his hubris from before still haunts him. He discovers that it is Tony Stark and his compassion and love that is super, not the Iron Man suit

then a million other things happen- but consider Civil War and ENd Game and tell me this is not increadible story telling!


Knowing the End Game, this is a very significant part of the story.  It is here he first has a patriachal relationship with someone- setting up Spiderman and parenthood in End Game

Random thoughts (minimal spoilers)

I love the iconography with The Mandarin’s videos, he’s such a mishmash of different cultures and religious symbols- he is all about appearance and perception- it all fits intot he theme of armour and outside perception

The theme of having armour and/ or how you are perceived. Tony loses the suit, which became an unhealthy obsession (he's made 40 odd, he is only focused on that and not his girlfriend or company)- but Harley (the child) makes him realise it is his skills in engineering and invention that make him special, not the suits.. The Mandarin is not what he seems, people are fixed by the serum to look fine on the outside. But on the inside they are endangered. The serum can fix the outside, but not the inside- the people grow back the limb they lost, but on the inside they are damaged still- same problem Tony has
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Best bit- 75 minutes in, a toilet flushes and one of the best comedy twists of all time kicks in. I love Shane Black
Real best bit- 94 minutes people falling out of a plane, brilliantly directed to create tension and then the second great comedy moment!

I don’t want to spoil it if you haven’t seen it, but it’s much better than Mr Husbands tells you it is
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Finally, if you ever want to write about or do a comparative study on superhero movies- I recommend William irwin’s The Avengers and Philosophy. Chapter 1 is about Tony Stark's ethics (and Captain America's and Thor's)