Iron Man 3 was the first of the live action Iron Man movies (not counting The Avengers (2012)) to be directed by someone other than Jon Favreau (though he still served as an executive producer and played the character of Happy). The director instead would be Shane Black. Shane Black had made his directorial debut with another movie starring Robert Downey Jr., Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005). His other directorial effort The Nice Guys (2016), The Predator (2018) and Play Dirty (2025). Before becoming a director, he worked as a writer on such movies as Lethal Weapon (1987), The Monster Squad (1987), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), The Last Boy Scout (1991) and Last Action Hero (1993). About taking over this film series Black stated, "truthfully, the way to go about doing a part 3, if you're ever in that position, as I'm lucky enough to be, is to find a way that the first two weren't done yet. You have to find a way to make sure that the story that's emerging is still ongoing and, by the time you've finished 3, will be something resembling the culmination of a trilogy. It's about, 'How has the story not yet been completely told?,' and I think we're getting there. I think we've really found ways to make this feel organic and new, based on what's come before, and that's what I'm happy about."
In this film, Tony Stark finds himself during with strong PTSD after the events of The Avengers. He is having bad anxiety attacks and is having trouble sleeping. Meanwhile a terrorist known as the Mandarin is supposedly behind a series of bombings. When Tony investigates, he discovers that there might be more going on here than meets the eye.
This is one of the most underrated MCU films. It is rarely listed when people talk about the best Marvel movies, however it is truly excellent.
Like many of the best superhero movies, this functions as a character study first and foremost. Tony Stark feels even more real and human here than in the other MCU films. After two solo movies and one Avengers film, it is amazing that the filmmakers were able to find a new side to Tony to explore here. Exploring the character's anxieties and unhealthy obsession with control is a great route to go here. The way the film deals with these sides to him are incredibly well done. It feels very real, giving a strong weight to this superhero film. This vulnerability is increased by having Tony separated from his Iron Man suit for the majority of the film. The movie feels like a real-world drama at many times with a few comic book style embellishments and this is the secret to why it is so effective.
This movie's story is also quite refreshing. It is rare to find a 21st century action packed Hollywood blockbuster that is not completely predictable. Yet this movie has some very clever twists and turns that initially took me by surprise. The film does a great job of building clear expectations and then completely subverting them in very intelligent ways.
Though the action is not the focus here, the action scenes are excellent, living up to the high standards laid in place by the previous films. This action scenes are quite exciting and often feel larger than life.
The movie does have some flaws though. The pacing is off at times. Certain scenes go on too long, while some plot points and subplots are quite rushed. The humor can also fall quite flat at times (though there are a couple really funny moments here) and is not always in tune with the more serious tone of much of the movie.
These flaws though are very well drowned out by all the elements that are truly great here.
About how this movie ended up taking place around Christmas Shane Black stated, "Well it just sort of evolved oddly enough in Iron Man 3, because I had resisted it. It was [co-screenwriter] Drew [Pearce] who taught me... I think it's a sense of if you're doing something on an interesting scale that involves an entire universe of characters, one way to unite them is to have them all undergo a common experience. There's something at Christmas that unites everybody and it already sets a stage within the stage, that wherever you are, you're experiencing this world together. I think that also there's something just pleasing about it to me. I mean I did LETHAL WEAPON back in '87 and Joe liked it so much he put Die Hard at Christmas and there was some fun to that. So, look, you don't have to do every film that way." He would add "It's a time of reckoning for a lot of people, when you take stock of how you got to where you are now and lonely people are lonelier at Christmas and you tend to notice things more acutely, I think."
This film was a major box office success grossing $1.266 billion worldwide. The movie outgrossed Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010) combined. It would be the second highest grossing movie of 2013 with Disney's Frozen being the top film. Critical reviews were mostly positive, though not as glowing as was the case for the first Iron Man.
Resources Used
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/2013/
https://www.slashfilm.com/525964/why-iron-man-3-is-a-christmas-movie/
https://collider.com/robert-downey-jr-shane-black-iron-man-3-interview/
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