MCU Rank & Review: Part Seven: Iron Man 3 (2013)

Runtime: 02:10:32

Total Runtime: 14:35:35

And so begins Phase 2. "Iron Man 3" sees the completion of the first trilogy of MCU films, It's also the best film in the trilogy. I said it. Fight me.

This is one of the most highly contested movies in the Marvel Studios franchise. The most notable reason is the film's apparent lack of a convincing villain, which, while that isn't entirely true, I do agree to some extent - but not likely in the way you think I will. 

We open with a brief narration from Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) over the images of his suits being destroyed one by one. "We create our own demons," he states and we transition to New Year's Eve 1999, where Tony is a douche to a decrepit Aldrich Killian (Guy Peirce) who pitches Tony his company, AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics). Tony lies to him, agreeing to meet him on the roof, and leaves Killian up there hanging - choosing instead to remain with his date, Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), whom he leaves after sleeping with her.

We now move on to the "present," it's Christmas time - it's a Shane Black film after all - and Tony is testing his Mk.42 armor. In the previous film in the MCU, "The Avengers," he was only on Mk.7. The suit up sequence here is cool, complete with superhero landing, and also serves to set up a lot of the film's future gags.

We then get our first look at the Mandarin (Ben Kingsly). Historically an arch-nemesis to Iron Man, the Mandarin was an inevitability in the MCU, unfortunately, we have yet to receive the real Mandarin, despite what this movie wishes to tell you. The real Mandarin is slated to appear in 2021's "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" on July 9, played by Tony Chiu-Wai Leung (source). Kingsly's portrayal of this Mandarin was fantastic and rather chilling - he would have made a great Mandarin, but what Marvel chose to do with this movie serves better. More on that later.

We then see that the US Government has taken the War Machine armor and rebranded it as "Iron Patriot," James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) still serving as pilot. This portrayal of the suit is very much in line with the Iron Patriot suit that Rhodes used in the Comics. The original Iron Patriot, however, was Norman Osborne, the suit he used was much more akin to Iron Man's - it didn't have the shoulder cannons. I like the suit, despite the hokey name, which the movie thankfully makes fun of consistently.

Rhodes and Tony meet up and make fun of the name. Some kids ask Tony to sign a drawing they made of him. The boy asks him about the New York attack and Tony has PTSD flashbacks, has an anxiety attack, and flees. 

Tony has been building suits since the New York attack to protect the world incessantly. He has developed thirty-five new suits in the year since the events of "The Avengers." Tony's ego has always gotten the best of him, and that is what's going on here. He always has felt like it's his sole mission to save the world, even when he was in the weapon selling business. But that weight he feels, under the threat of a greater foe, is becoming too much for him to handle.

Pepper (Gwenyth Paltrow) meets with Aldrich Killian, now fit and attractive - at least more than he used to be - thanks to AIM, and their project he calls Extremis. Killian states that Extremis is a "DNA re-coder," and can save lives, Pepper responds with its weaponizability and turns the pitch down. Happy (Jon Favreau) follows a shady guy (James Badge Dale) who was with Killian.

After Pepper catches him tinkering for the millionth time, Tony reveals his PTSD to Pepper, stating he's a mess and that "Nothing's been the same since New York."

Happy is caught in an explosion when the shady guy gives another person an injector and he's hospitalized. Kingsly's Mandarin takes credit for it and Tony calls him out, giving his home address.

Maya shows up and warns them that they may be in danger. No shit, he called out a terrorist on the news. His mansion is blown up, he saves both of them utilizing the Mk.42's “autonomous prehensile propulsion" capabilities and falls into the ocean beneath his house. The suit turns on and flies him off into the distance.

Tony crash lands in Tennessee waking up from his unconsciousness when the suit reaches below 5% power.

Tony drags the suit - now out of power - and calls Pepper on a payphone to tell her he's alive. He brings the suit to an abandoned garage, where he starts to charge it back up. He is confronted by a kid with a Potato Gun named Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins). The kid reveals that his father left him and his mother a while back and that he is bullied. Tony gives him a non-lethal stunning weapon to help deal with the bully problem. The kid tells him about the attack in Tennessee

 

Killian reveals that he is working for the Mandarin. Tony and Harley visit the site of the attack. Tony has a PTSD episode when the kid brings up New York.

Tony meets with the woman of a soldier that blew himself up in Tennessee similar to the attack that injured Happy. He tells her he didn't voluntarily blow himself up and that her son was used as a weapon. Tony is attacked by an Extremis user, he blows her up. He's attacked by the shady guy, another Extremis user, who Tony is able to defeat with the help of Harley and the stun weapon. Tony continues his search for the Mandarin and leaves Harley behind.

The third Mandarin broadcast occurs - a direct message to the President. He chooses to negotiate with a terrorist, the terrorist goes back on his word. 

Tony infiltrates a van, owned by Gary (Adam Pally) who is a Tony Stark fanboy complete with a cheap Tony Stark tattoo on his forearm. Gary lets Tony use his van so he can learn more about the Mandarin. Tony finds the Extremis trials and links Maya and Killian to the Mandarin.

Maya is revealed to be on Killian's side the whole time and lured Pepper away to kidnap her. They tell Pepper of their plan to give her Extremis and to steal the Iron Patriot armor. Tony on a call with Harley talks to Jarvis who gives the best line in the movie. Tony says he can't confront the Mandarin without the suit and stresses out cause he isn't able to protect anyone without it. Harley tells him to just build something. So he goes to a hardware store and builds stuff to go after the Mandarin.

Tony breaks into the hideout taking out a lot of guards with a suped-up nail gun. He finds the Mandarin who in the twist of all MCU twists is actually an actor named Trevor Slattery.

I get why people take umbrage with this, but I love it. It's one of the only twists in the MCU that is impossible to see coming. The main complaint about this moment is that Iron Man's main antagonist, his actual arch-nemesis is now a punchline. The movie goes on to - sort of- retroactively fix this by naming Killian as the Mandarin, but that doesn't go well because Killian is a terrible villain copy of the two previous Iron Man solo film villains. Just a smart guy scientist. The real Mandarin has magic powers in his alien-tech ten rings, and people wanted to see that fight. 

The bottom line, people felt betrayed. I didn't. I'm also very appreciative that they didn't white-wash the Mandarin, even though Killian states himself to be the Mandarin, he isn't. Marvel released a "one-shot" called "All Hail the King" it's in the special feature of "Thor: The Dark World" if you haven't seen in. In which Slattery goes to prison, is confronted by a member of the ten rings and tells him he's pissed off the real Mandarin. Who we'll see on screen in about a year. Unfortunately, though, he won't fight Iron Man.

Fast-forwarding a bit through the Plot now. Tony is captured after the reveal along with Rhodes. Killian reveals he gave Extremis to Pepper and shoots Maya. Killian can breathe fire and they steal the Iron Patriot armor. They kidnap the President. Tony and Rhodes escape, they go to save the President, and then the climax happens following the "House Party Protocol" bringing out all of Tony's suits.

The climax sees Tony fighting other Extremis users including Killian by jumping between his many suits while Rhodes frees the President. Tony tries to save Pepper but fails - the one thing he has been stressing over the entire movie happens, and he loses the fight to Killian because of it. Only the Extremis saves Pepper, and she kills Killian. Tony completes his character arc and initiates the "Clean Slate Protocol" and blows up all his suits as a Christmas gift to Pepper, finally realizing that he can't shoulder the burden he's put on himself alone.

He is able to cure Pepper of the Extremis somehow, he's smart and has done/will do crazier shit so I buy it. He built an arc reactor in a cave with a box of scraps after all; and will discover how to travel through time. He then officially has the surgery to remove the reactor and scraps of metal from his chest. Then the movie ends with him throwing away the old reactor into the waste of his old house.

Post credits reveal that the movie all happened at least a little in the past, as we are now in the present as we now see Tony finishing the narration of the story. He's having a Therapy session with Bruce who fell asleep, as he's "not that kind of doctor."

"Iron Man 3" is in my opinion the best-told story in the MCU, so far - that we've gotten to. The twist is only offensive if you let it offend you. If you don't you can rest assured that the real Mandarin is yet to come, so this was never the real Mandarin, despite all the promotion claiming as such. But hey, that's how twists work you dingleberry. They aren't going to tell you in the first five minutes that Bruce Willis was dead the whole time.

Official MCU 23 film ranking:

1. Iron Man 3 (2013)
2. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
3. The Avengers (2012)
4. Iron Man (2008)
5. Thor (2011)
6. Iron Man 2 (2010)
7. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Next, the actual worst film in the MCU (Spoilers for the ranking): Thor: The Dark World (2013)

MCU Rank & Review: Part One: Iron Man (2008)

Run Time: 02:05:59

Total Run Time: 02:05:59

This is something I've been talking about doing since what feels like the dawn of time. This will also be the first review where I've taken notes on the movie. Not extensive notes, but still, I took notes!

"Iron Man" kicked off what has become, for better or worse, the biggest franchise in the history of film. The MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), to this point has collected twenty-three movies. Currently, ten more are set to come in the following phase(s). The series has managed to traverse various sub-genres within its main genre of "super-hero." Though for the most part, at least with the original first phase of films, they stick to the action genre. The series has also launched and re-launched, the careers of many of its stars. This film not excluded, re-launching the career of Robert Downey Jr. at a point when hiring him was still seen as problematic.

"Back in Black" by AC/DC blasts and we are thrown right into the opening of the film. A US Military convoy carries Tony Stark (Downey Jr.). Downey plays Stark with the bravado and confidence needed to properly portray the character from the comics. His wit and charm lifted straight from the page.

Before long the convoy is attacked and Stark, taken captive by the "Ten Rings" terrorist organization. This is the first of many hints to come at the future of the MCU, though at this point could have just been a nod to comic readers. "Ten Rings," of course, being a hint at the Mandarin - One of Iron Man's many antagonists.

Following his capture, we then enter a flashback that will bring us to the events of the opening. We are introduced at this point to two of our supporting characters, James Rhodes (Terrance Howard) and Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). Stane looks like an obvious villain, and will eventually become the central antagonist of the film. However, the opening scene with Starks' capture takes the viewer from this initial reaction to him. Because, in 2008 - and to some minor extent, still are - the world was in a very anti-terrorist - or to be completely honest, Muslim - mode. He isn't as obvious as the central villain when there are terrorists afoot.

As already stated, Downey is a pitch-perfect Tony Stark, perhaps due to his own struggles with alcoholism, something Tony will battle in the sequel and has battled in the comics many times before. Terrance Howard's portrayal of James Rhodes, however, is quite bland in comparison. He's written differently than his successor in all future films, being replaced by Don Cheadle in "Iron Man 2" and on. This Rhodes is more self-depreciative and has more wit to him than the future more confidant and self-assuring portrayal.

Stark presents to the military, and Rhodes, his fancy new weapon stating it only needs to be fired once. "That's how Dad does it, That's how America does it, and it's worked out pretty well so far." Only, it won't work out for him.

The suit stark builds "in a cave! With a box of Scraps!" takes the early 70's design and puts a modern spin on it, improving slightly. The same can be said for Marks 2 and 3 of the suit.

Stark's ability to build the suit, in secret, while in captivity serves to show his genius and ingenuity. He's aided in his efforts by Dr. Ho Yinsen (Shaun Toub). The doctor's purpose is primarily to show the divide between his genius - shown through the car-battery-powered magnet keeping Tony alive - and Tony himself, who creates an arc reactor small enough to fit in the aforementioned magnet's hole. The building of his initial suit and dialogue with Dr. Yinsen also serves to show us the beginning of Tony's character shift, from egotistical ass-hat to egotistical nice-guy. First notably shown by Tony's reaction to Yinsen stating he is "a man who has everything, yet nothing."

Stark escapes capture in his Mark I suit and returns home. He no longer wants to be the war-monger he was before, but don't worry, he's still American and wants a cheeseburger. Tony begins the conference by talking briefly about his father, and how he was wrong. He announces Stark Industries will no longer be a weapons company, much to the ire of Bridges' Stane. 

Following the conference, Stane tells Tony, "We're Iron Monger's." A line I honestly caught for the first time this viewing, likely because of how quiet it is spoken. Iron Monger, of course, being the Moniker of a key Iron Man villain and technically the one Stane takes on despite not actually being called that while in the suit. This is also the point where his inevitable villain turn becomes all too obvious.

It is at this point, with the help of Dum-E and U (his robot arms), Tony builds his Mark II and II suits. The comedic moments here are quite possibly responsible for the tone of most of the future MCU films to follow. 

The chemistry between Pepper Potts (Gwenyth Paltrow) and Tony, cannot be understated. It only works because of their respective actor's performances. Key moments in the movie that make it all work are her gift to him following the removal of his original arc reactor along with her line delivery as he's taking on more responsibility as Iron Man with "You're going to kill yourself, Tony. I'm not going to be a part of it."  

The villain's motive is money, as he is selling guns, and missiles to foreign parties under the table. Only wanting Stark's designs for the Iron Man suit to sell to the highest bidder. Willing to do anything, including murder to get what he wants.

There isn't much to the climactic final battle. It's bland when you look at it in comparison to the later films, but has notable story call-backs that make it work. There is also, the one thing that has become the most cliche thing in all of Super-hero film-dom. The sky-beam. Granted this isn't the thing they fight around or near. it's just a cool action shot of the arc reactor exploding in the form of a beam blasting into the sky.

The movie proper ends with another press conference, meant to explain away the action of the climax. Best guy Agent of SHIELD (Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division) Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) gives Tony the script. He refuses, stating his iconic line, "I am Iron-Man" which cues the credits and Black Sabbath. The movie actually ends post-credits, now a staple of the MCU and seemingly every other blockbuster (thanks Marvel).

A perfect representation of Marvel's Ultimate Universe Nick Fury by Samuel L Jackson - he was the inspiration for the design, after all - appears in Tony's apartment, seen from behind. This scene announces two things, one slightly more subtle than the other. There will be a sequel - cause, obvious sequel bait is obvious - but also there will be an Avengers movie. Ultimately the movie ends with the line from fury referencing the "Avenger Initiative." The collective jaws of nerds everywhere dropped and everyone else said "cool, more movies."

Little did we know the behemoth the MCU would become. I'm not even sure we even know now.

"Iron Man" is one of my favorite movies in the MCU. It's also one of my favorite movies, in general, but that's a wide list. The CGI, while lacking, holds up for the most part despite the obvious flaws. The action leaves much to be desired as the set pieces don't do much more than what you could see anywhere else. The primary reason this movie works as well as it does is the character work across the board. Jeff Bridges manages to make an obvious villain interesting with his line delivery. Paltrow and Downey make you care about a potential relationship between the two of them with some very simple dialogue scenes. The only one lacking on the main cast is Terrance Howard, who may not be at fault due to the shift in the way the character is handled in the later films. 

All in all, it's a blast to watch every time I come around to it. I welcome my next viewing with open arms. And now, the Ranking below: 

Official MCU 23 film ranking:

1. Iron Man (2008)

Next on the docket: "The Incredible Hulk" (2008)