Weapons, bad guys, metal suits, and Robert Downey Jr. … Who would want anything more?
“Iron Man 3” opened in theatres on May 3 and grossed over one billion dollars worldwide, leaving it in the ninth place for highest-grossing films. Critics have mostly taken to the movie well, but of the negative comments, some say it is just a film filled with super-hero clichés and the only thing holding it together is Robert Downey Jr. Most critics agree, Iron Man 3 strays from the streak of all violence to a more developed and dramatic storyline.
The “Iron Man” franchise began its movie debut in 2008, directed by Jon Favreau who also went on to direct the second installment of the series too. Shane Black, on the other hand, directed “Iron Man 3.” Jon Favreau still had a hand in the movie, though, as Happy Hogan, and stood in as executive producer as well.
Tony Stark, Iron Man’s “true identity,” has had a very distinctive character throughout all of the movies he has starred in, but something changed within him after his run-in with an army of otherworldly creatures and his fellow Avengers. Suffering from extreme anxiety attacks with even a mention of New York or what happened there, Stark simply cannot forget about his near-death experience after saving New York from a nuclear bomb.
Iron Man 3 began in a flashback from earlier in his career when he was still making and selling weapons for a living. In the flashback, Tony was gallivanting around with an aspiring neurological/ brain grad who was about to have a break-through in her work, which was finding a way to alter the brain system, making it possible for humans to repair itself in record time, even the regrowth of lost limbs. Tony only had the intentions of making her a one night fling, like every other girl he was with, but little did he know, leaving her alone in the hotel room turned out to be one of the worst decisions of his life, “creating a demon,” as the narration stated. She was the mastermind behind what was almost Iron man’s, and the world’s, demise.
In present day, bombings have been occurring throughout the nation, but they can’t find the cause of the explosions. Finally, the truth comes out in the form of an internationally aired broadcast of a “terrorist” who has been arranging these bombings. In an action-packed investigation that the government could not complete, Tony Stark must find a way to get over his posttraumatic stress and completely reconstruct both his home and his suit that were simultaneously destroyed by the madman behind the bombings.
The stakes are later raised when the President and Pepper are kidnapped. Barely prevailing, everyone is saved and the madman is gone, but what comes next? His suits are destroyed and home is nonexistent, so where does he move on from here?
It is official that Robert Downey Jr. will not continue his role as Tony Stark in Iron Man 4, but he will reappear in the next two installments in Avengers, so who will step in and attempt to fill those shoes? Is it even possible?
