Iron Man 3 Official Iron Man 3 rate/review thread.

[J.Howlett]

Love how divided the reaction for the film is.

Is it safe to say that the divided reaction to this film is WORSE than the Dark Knight Rises? It certainly feels like it.

 

[elgaz]

Spoiler

1) The Mandarin reveal. Obviously. I don't agree at all with the people claiming this was essential to avoid dated racial stereotypes. In the trailers he is presented as an ambiguous international terrorist, based in the Middle-East, with a vaguely American accent. Nothing to do with China. His motivation was to deconstruct the American myth of heroism (appropriately after The Avengers saved the world). He did not need to be Chinese, he did not need to have magic rings (although these could easily have been explained in the post-Thor MCU). Some people on these boards have argued that it was changed for realism reasons....so instead of a terrorist we got a super-powered, FIRE-BREATHING scientist. Very realistic. Shane Black played this totally for laughs and shock value and although Kingsley was amusing, we just ended up with another financially motivated villain. The Mandarin's ideals would have been far more interesting.

Spoiler

Very good point made above.

They had a lot of potential in pursuing a storyline with the Mandarin character. And by that, I mean the character as he is initially presented in the film - as the real deal. Someone who despises American ideals and the whole notion of heroism. This would have many contemporary parallels with real life events, given the USA's foray into certain countries on the basis of bringing freedom to people and acting as a 'world policeman'. They could have went to a lot of very meaningful places with a storyline like that, and made the Mandarin a villain with real substance; someone who embodies a lot of the anti-USA hate which seems to be prevalent in many Far-Eastern and Middle-Eastern countries. Countries who don't like the USA's involvement in the affairs of many other countries. Whether you agree with the political notion or not, it would have made for a very rmodern and compelling storyline. And just as the Mandarin would embody that notion of an anti-hero, Tony Stark embodies the notion of a hero - the man who (with help, admittedly!) saved New York moments from destruction by flying into a wormhole and almost sacrificing his own life in the process.

When I saw Kingsley on screen portraying the Mandarin, he looked and sounded threatening. Subtle, but threatening nonetheless. He's one of those actors who really commands the screen and I was looking forward to seeing him a battle of wits with Stark.

Instead, we get something we've seen a million times before; the evil scientist-come-supervillain who's out to make himself rich, and a typical fist-fight at the end.

 

[Sharkboy]

In reply to Norek;

Spoiler

Speaking of Killian, what was the point of having him proclaim himself as the Mandarin at the end of his fight with Iron Man? Was that supposed to be a shocking reveal? Uhm, no, we knew that already. Was this supposed to be a wink to the comic book fans? Like if they can't tell the difference between Aldrich Killian and the Mandarin, two completely different characters, so they need to force it down their throats that they're now merged into one character. It was completely pointless.

Not really, Killian WAS the mandarin, that was IM3's version of the mandarin, not the typical theatrical eastern villain but someone more domestic and natural in his powers and megalomania. The other guy was just Trevor the actor...nothing to do with the Mandarin at all other than a smokescreen devised by the real Mandarin so he could work in Anonymity. Him screaming out he was the Mandarin in the end wasn't so much a reveal as it was a character moment, He stopped wanting to be anonymous and fully got involved in his alter ego, you could say that it was the moment where he finally accepted who he was...he's not the anonymous scientist up on the roof anymore, he's the freaking mandarin the indestructable man who can beat Stark and take over the world. That moment of realisation and acceptance of ones alter-ego mirrors perfectly with Starks own in the film. Which is why i consider Killian's role essential in highlighting Starks own character arc.

Which brings it to the next thing - seems like there's a lot of pointless stuff that Marvel Studios doesn't care to take action about and face consequences afterwards. Which would be okay if they didn't make such a big deal out of it. Why have this emotional moment with Pepper supposedly dying, even when we saw her becoming infected with Extremis a few minutes ago?

Yeah, it was a pretty shameless fake out in order to create some last minute tension in the final scene, it's one of the few things i don't like about this film.

Why should I care if Tony Stark removes the arc reactor and seemingly quits being Iron Man, when no doubt he's going to return to being Iron Man once again? And why did he wait until just now to make this life-saving operation, if he clearly didn't need the arc reactor to power all his armors anymore? And why does he ever need to go inside the suit if he can control it remotely? If he can construct a few dozens of armors in a matter of months, why wouldn't he bring even more of them when the next alien invasion comes? In fact, why wouldn't he just throw them in the fight without having to even control them if Jarvis can do this for him?

You are missing the point and taking the film WAY too much at face value, the whole exploding armours, and controlling them from afar was an attempt to play down the idea that the armour was Iron Man (as shown when Harley asked Tony if the armour was Iron Man) no TONY is iron man, he's not the bruce wayne persona, or the bruce banner half of the Hulk, or the Clark kent, he is 100% iron man, these armours and suits are mere weapons for him like the pellets on Batman's utility belt, that was the idea behind the film to kinda strip it all down and show you how even without the armour and the tech and the money, Tony Stark is still an Avenger. We start the film off with him making up to 42 different suits and not sleeping or spending time with pepper, because he's afraid...the Avengers made him feel powerless and inconsequential, When you have gods and aliens in the world he realises he's just a man, so he goes to the lengths of doing more than his share he wants to feel safe and secure...so he makes suit after suit. Him destroying that is symbolic that he's not afraid anymore that he doesn't need that tech, that he can be the man who loves pepper and be an Avenger because the real hero is the mechanic...not the suit. He takes out the arc reactor as a more literal example that he doesn't need to be afraid of death anymore he can easily make a suit without it, and he can be iron man without it. It's part of his character arc...hence the final line "I am iron man" this time he really means it...suit or no suit, arc reactor or not, he IS Iron Man.

Anyway, who cares? Seemingly Marvel doesn't, because they have the tendency to make these huge, dramatic moments and endings completely irrelevant, with no consequences following after. The whole ending of Iron Man 2 with Tony being rejected from the Avengers Initiative, and Thor's dramatic choice to destroy the bridge at the end of his movie, are being completely disregarded to having absolutely no importance for anything, being explained with a simple line in a dialogue that isn't even about these things. Coulson's death is also going to have the same kind of treatment in the forthcoming TV show, and I bet my ass the ending of IM3 is going to be completely ignored the next time Tony Stark shows up.

Yeah I agree with the endings of Thor and Iron Man 2 being completely forgotten and terrible followed up.

I need to wrap this up, because it's getting out of hand. I'm clearly very upset, and this has been bothering me the whole weekend, so I had to throw it out. I apologize to anyone who feels they spent too much time reading this, and I don't want to offend anyone with my opinion on this movie. I rarely go into such rants about stuff that pissed me off like that, but that was just too much.

No need to apologize for what you feel dude, it's always awesome to read other peoples thoughts about these things, that's what this place is for right? not blind fanlove.

 

[marty mcfly]

I love how all of these long, drawn out posts about how bad the Mandarin is in the film are nothing short of "WAAAAAH I GOTTED TRICKED!!!!"

I don't think people got "tricked" I think they just feel like it was a waste. Personally I knew what was going to happen but I thought it was done poorly.

 

[Sharkboy]

Is it safe to say that the divided reaction to this film is WORSE than the Dark Knight Rises? It certainly feels like it.

Nah...I don't know actually. Maybe it's because i'm such a huge fan of TDKR, it certainly feels like a lot of people really hated that film, but after Norek's rant about this i really don't know.

 

[marty mcfly]

Spoiler

Very good point made above.

They had a lot of potential in pursuing a storyline with the Mandarin character. And by that, I mean the character as he is initially presented in the film - as the real deal. Someone who despises American ideals and the whole notion of heroism. This would have many contemporary parallels with real life events, given the USA's foray into certain countries on the basis of bringing freedom to people and acting as a 'world policeman'. They could have went to a lot of very meaningful places with a storyline like that, and made the Mandarin a villain with real substance; someone who embodies a lot of the anti-USA hate which seems to be prevalent in many Far-Eastern and Middle-Eastern countries. Countries who don't like the USA's involvement in the affairs of many other countries. Whether you agree with the political notion or not, it would have made for a very rmodern and compelling storyline. And just as the Mandarin would embody that notion of an anti-hero, Tony Stark embodies the notion of a hero - the man who (with help, admittedly!) saved New York moments from destruction by flying into a wormhole and almost sacrificing his own life in the process.

When I saw Kingsley on screen portraying the Mandarin, he looked and sounded threatening. Subtle, but threatening nonetheless. He's one of those actors who really commands the screen and I was looking forward to seeing him a battle of wits with Stark.

Instead, we get something we've seen a million times before; the evil scientist-come-supervillain who's out to make himself rich, and a typical fist-fight at the end.

Quoted for truth.

 

[J.Howlett]

Nah...I don't know actually. Maybe it's because i'm such a huge fan of TDKR, it certainly feels like a lot of people really hated that film, but after Norek's rant about this i really don't know.

They don't hate it like this. There weren't rants like that one. Never saw a rant about Rises than the one on the last page. That was passionate.

 

[cherokeesam]

Let me quote Jon Favreau talking to SHH exclusively about IM1:



..............

^wall of text, jesus. Is that you, LokiD?

A few points:

1) your "rebuttals" to my statement that Marvel Studios wasn't setting up Mandarin to be the big bad from the very beginning actually *reinforce* my argument. Those quotes indicate that early scripts simply couldn't find a way to portray him compellingly, and were ditched. Fav describes a possible Mandarin emerging later on who is *nothing* like the one (*koff koff*) that showed up in IM3 --- no warlord out seeking military conquests, no religious zealot, none of that. You yourself say that this never happened the way they intended; so you can't feel like you were "let down" by a behind-the-scenes build-up that was never advertised to the public at large in the first place.

2) Some of you guys, as a poster above eloquently stated, set up unrealistic expectations about the trailer(s. S. SSSSSssssssss....all five hundred fifty-eleven of 'em). YOU created this interpretation that Kingsley-Mandarin was going to be the focus of the story, but that's a subjective reading and not an *objective* one. The trailers all open with Tony, and focus quite clearly on him, because he's, you know, the HERO, and the guy in the TITLE of the film. HE'S the one the story is about, *not* the villain(s). Same as IM1, and IM2. People come to this movie to see THE HERO, not THE VILLAIN. Same as IM1, and IM2.

And later trailers/clips hit you over the head with the twist anyway: "You'll never see me coming." Meaning: none of this is what you *think* it is. They're telling you up front to leave your expectations at the door. If all that went over your head and you went into the movie thinking you were going to get what *you* expected to see, that's *your* fault for not paying attention in the first place.

3) "Joker Joker Joker yadda yadda yadda." Mandarin is NOT The Joker. Not all heroes have a great villain. Mandarin has NEVER been a great villain. You can't "rape" a third-rate villain from a third-rate rogues' gallery. In fact, imho, the version we got in the *movie* far exceeds any of the dime-store aliens or ghosts or Fu Manchus or sorcerers we got in any of the books, comic books,cartoons or video games.

 

[Ultra Nolanite]

the twist is divisive, yes, for both fans and non-fans. But to say that it only exists for the sake of a joke is just ignorant.

Why does it exist then ? Why use the Mandarin for it.

You know what the people want when you're gonna do the Mandarin. And the people that don't know the Mandarin won't care either way. Then why do it like this ?

Could have been ANY terrorist really.Give me a reason they absolutely HAD to use the Mandarin for this twist.

I think it was to get a few laughs from the fans. "Oh look hahah, they made us think the Mandarin was gonna be a total bad ass but he's just this joke of a man, hahahaa"

 

[Sharkboy]

They don't hate it like this. There weren't rants like that one. Never saw a rant about Rises than the one on the last page. That was passionate.

I'm pretty sure some people flat out hate rises, heck I'm even certain some people wanted to hate it before it was released thanks to some of the guys on the batboards

But people seem to be on such a huge MCU high after Avengers, I can't see many people truly predetermined to hate this film, so all the hate must be really legit. haha.

 

[Sharkboy]

Why does it exist then ? Why use the Mandarin for it.

You know what the people want when you're gonna do the Mandarin. And the people that don't know the Mandarin won't care either way. Then why do it like this ?

Could have been ANY terrorist really.Give me a reason they absolutely HAD to use the Mandarin for this twist.

I think it was to get a few laughs from the fans. "Oh look hahah, they made us think the Mandarin was gonna be a total bad ass but he's just this joke of a man, hahahaa"

I honestly didn't think the Mandarin was that popular with fans, it's funny when people bring the Joker as a comparison because surely the Joker is far far more popular and untouchable than the mandarin. Heck you could even say he's more popular and untouchable than everyone in marvel that's not called spider-man.

Either way I think it had to be the mandarin, and it had to be played by someone like kingsley and it had to be marketed in a way for the twist to be has jarring as possible, because it certainly switched up the tone for the film dramatically and added a level of unpredictability and surrealness to the film. i think had any of those elements been different it would have been a lesser moment in the film.

 

[Tony Stark]

C Lee has said it, Hunter Rider has said it and I have said it. USE SPOILER TAGS!!!!!!!

 

[cherokeesam]

Why does it exist then ? Why use the Mandarin for it.

You know what the people want when you're gonna do the Mandarin. And the people that don't know the Mandarin won't care either way. Then why do it like this ?

Could have been ANY terrorist really.Give me a reason they absolutely HAD to use the Mandarin for this twist.

I think it was to get a few laughs from the fans. "Oh look hahah, they made us think the Mandarin was gonna be a total bad ass but he's just this joke of a man, hahahaa"

The Mandarin WAS a total badass.
[BLACKOUT]
You're looking at the wrong actor.[/BLACKOUT]

The road to understanding "The Twist" begins with THAT basic fact.

Spoiler

Repeat after me:

Ben Kingsley is not The Mandarin.
Guy Pearce IS The Mandarin.

So now, drop back and reassess.
Was The Mandarin --- i.e., Aldrich Killian (if that is, in fact, his real name) --- a joke of a man, or a total bad ass?

 

[Ultra Nolanite]

Spoiler

Hmm... But I don't think the twist is jarring for the general crowd. I don't think they care that this OBL look-a-like is called Mandarin. He could've been called John Smith for all they care.

It's only jarring to the people who wanted to see a proper Mandarin. And it was bound to be jarring in a negative way.

I think more people know the Mandarin than Winter Soldier. Now imagine this.



This is Hodge, in CA: The First Avenger Col. Philips wanted him for the Super Soldier program. Erskine didn't agree. If in CA: The Winter Soldier Hodge came back jealous for not being the Super Soldier and claims to have been the fly in Caps ointment all a long as the Winter Soldier the general audience will simply shrug and say OK, cool. But don't you think the people that know and love the comics deserve their Winter Soldier, their Bucky.

If the general audience doesn't care either way, you might as well make the fanboys happy.

And by the way, that image, that is exactly what we're being asked to accept in IM3. Just with different comic book characters.

 

[Sharkboy]

Spoiler

Hmm... But I don't think the twist is jarring for the general crowd. I don't think they care that this OBL look-a-like is called Mandarin. He could've been called John Smith for all they care.

It's only jarring to the people who wanted to see a proper Mandarin. And it was bound to be jarring in a negative way.

I think more people know the Mandarin than Winter Soldier. Now imagine this.



This is Hodge, in CA: The First Avenger Col. Philips wanted him for the Super Soldier program. Erskine didn't agree. If in CA: The Winter Soldier Hodge came back jealous for not being the Super Soldier and claims to have been the fly in Caps ointment all a long as the Winter Soldier the general audience will simply shrug and say OK, cool. But don't you think the people that know and love the comics deserve their Winter Soldier, their Bucky.

If the general audience doesn't care either way, you might as well make the fanboys happy.

And by the way, that image, that is exactly what we're being asked to accept in IM3. Just with different comic book characters.

Honestly i just don't think that many people care.

 

[Quasimod0]

Because the winter soldier is a better character than the mandarin. lol

 

[Ultra Nolanite]

The Mandarin WAS a total badass.
[BLACKOUT]
You're looking at the wrong actor.[/BLACKOUT]

The road to understanding "The Twist" begins with THAT basic fact.

Spoiler

Repeat after me:

Ben Kingsley is not The Mandarin.
Guy Pearce IS The Mandarin.

So now, drop back and reassess.
Was The Mandarin --- i.e., Aldrich Killian (if that is, in fact, his real name) --- a joke of a man, or a total bad ass?

Spoiler

Well this is the problem as well because Although not a joke of a man, Killian was far from a bad ass. I don't think he was a cool villain, Mandarin or not. he was a darker Justin Hammer

Honestly i just don't think that many people care.

You're absolutely right, not many people care I agree. So I see no harm in doing something for the few people that DO care. if no one cares either way.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Everyone is entitled to their opinions but I feel like people who say this is weaker than Iron Man 2 is kinda trolling. From what I have read the action has step up considerablely from Iron Man 2. Iron man 2 was to busy trying to set up the Captain America, Thor and the Avengers that it lost sight that it was a Iron Man movie. Plus the action was SUPER weak I mean the final battle lasted maybe 3 mins or less.

 

[cherokeesam]

Spoiler

Well this is the problem as well because Although not a joke of a man, Killian was far from a bad ass. I don't think he was a cool villain, Mandarin or not. he was a darker Justin Hammer

Spoiler

I don't recall Justin Hammer having superpowers and a vast evil empire at his disposal. Hammer was just a rival businessman; Killian is a genuine supervillain.

 

[Norek]

^wall of text, jesus. Is that you, LokiD

No.

1) your "rebuttals" to my statement that Marvel Studios wasn't setting up Mandarin to be the big bad from the very beginning actually *reinforce* my argument. Those quotes indicate that early scripts simply couldn't find a way to portray him compellingly, and were ditched.

If they couldn't find a way to portray him compellingly, why include him at all? They're not obliged to do it, they could've just ignored (like they have multiple times) previous hints and plot points, and just go ahead with Killian.

I don't see how any of that reinforces your arguments. The quotes from Favreau are there, clear as water. They left the Mandarin for later, didn't find a better way to include him other than a drunken actor who pretends to be a terrorist. That's the best they got? Really? You mean[BLACKOUT]Killian as a carbon-copy villain preaching about the 'next stage of human evolution' through a terrible and destructive genetic formula that grants super strength and limb regeneration is more compelling and original?[/BLACKOUT]

2) Some of you guys, as a poster above eloquently stated, set up unrealistic expectations about the trailer(s. S. SSSSSssssssss....all five hundred fifty-eleven of 'em). YOU created this interpretation that Kingsley-Mandarin was going to be the focus of the story, but that's a subjective reading and not an *objective* one.

This sounds incredibly arrogant. Like you somehow predicted the whole thing before you saw the actual film and now everyone else is delusional for thinking the Mandarin is going to be Mandarin[BLACKOUT] instead of a drunken actor who acts like a ******.[/BLACKOUT]

How the hell do you know what my expectations are to judge me like that? I never said I expected Mandarin to be the focus of the story rather than Tony, I just never expected him to be something else than what they showed him as in the trailers. Or even that, he's not even a villain. The entire thing is a joke.

And later trailers/clips hit you over the head with the twist anyway: "You'll never see me coming." Meaning: none of this is what you *think* it is. They're telling you up front to leave your expectations at the door. If all that went over your head and you went into the movie thinking you were going to get what *you* expected to see, that's *your* fault for not paying attention in the first place.

That is just ridiculous... How is this one line the key to figure out what the movie will turn out to be? I suppose the line "I consider myself a teacher, lesson number one, heroes, there's no such thing" actually means "Hey, I will teach you a lesson, this is a movie, we're all just a bunch of guys pretending to be playing villains and heroes, there's no such thing, so don't take it seriously".

Trying to justify the whole thing by saying "You guys are delusional, they never promised that" is insulting and arrogant on your part. Trailers were misleading on purpose, so that they can build expectations they can twist. Don't act like it was obvious. It wasn't.

 

[divan]

Why does it exist then ? Why use the Mandarin for it.

You know what the people want when you're gonna do the Mandarin. And the people that don't know the Mandarin won't care either way. Then why do it like this ?

Could have been ANY terrorist really.Give me a reason they absolutely HAD to use the Mandarin for this twist.

I think it was to get a few laughs from the fans. "Oh look hahah, they made us think the Mandarin was gonna be a total bad ass but he's just this joke of a man, hahahaa"

Except...

Spoiler

No. Aldritch Killian is The Mandarin, like it or not. The movie makes that clear. He invents Extremis like the Killian of the original Extremis storyline, but also has the dragon-tattoos, martial arts skills and social darwinist mindset of modern comic book incarnations of The Mandarin.

There being "two" Mandarins into one also echoes the comics from an historical perspective, in that The Mandarin himself has changed drastically over the years.

The first Mandarin may be fictional, but, as his creation, it's still in essence a part of Killian's character, which from a modern perspective satirizes a being the embodiment of the east in a costume. Killian himself represents the modern Mandarin, a business suit wearing embodiment of social darwinism.

For this reason Killian is not only a thread capable of physical damage towards Tony Stark, but an interesting character in his own right.

Also, he also works as a foil to Stark or, more accurately, as one of his demons. He's one of those mistakes Stark commited in his old life, and now he has come back to haunt him. He's not 'a darker Justin Hammer' but simply a more prideful Tony Stark (the difference here is that Hammer wanted to be seen as Stark's superior, Killian needs to be Stark). The parallel is very good. Killian is obssesive like Tony (the guy remembers a phrase of Stark's from 13 years ago, the 'You Know Who I Am'), he's childish when it comes to revenge (such as Stark when he 'attacks' the Mandarin on National TV), he sees his creations not as a distraction but as his purpouse, he seeks to exploit war and death for profit, he even wants the women Tony had (he hires Maya Hansen and kills her when she shows feelings for Stark, he wants Pepper Potts as a trophy). He wants to punish Stark by systematically giving him the desperation he felt 13 years ago.

 

[Ultra Nolanite]

And later trailers/clips hit you over the head with the twist anyway: "You'll never see me coming." Meaning: none of this is what you *think* it is. They're telling you up front to leave your expectations at the door. If all that went over your head and you went into the movie thinking you were going to get what *you* expected to see, that's *your* fault for not paying attention in the first place.

To be fair those words were directed at the president of Iron Man world.

 

[cherokeesam]

Spoiler

If they couldn't find a way to portray him compellingly, why include him at all? They're not obliged to do it, they could've just ignored (like they have multiple times) previous hints and plot points, and just go ahead with Killian.

That was the original plan. Kingsley/Trevor/Fake Mandarin was a very late addition to the cast, and most likely a late addition to the script as well.

I don't see how any of that reinforces your arguments. The quotes from Favreau are there, clear as water. They left the Mandarin for later, didn't find a better way to include him other than a drunken actor who pretends to be a terrorist. That's the best they got? Really? You mean Killian as a carbon-copy villain preaching about the 'next stage of human evolution' through a terrible and destructive genetic formula that grants super strength and limb regeneration is more compelling and original?

...than a racist Fu Manchu stereotype with silly pulp sci-fi trappings? Why yes, yes he is.

This sounds incredibly arrogant. Like you somehow predicted the whole thing before you saw the actual film and now everyone else is delusional for thinking the Mandarin is going to be Mandarin instead of a drunken actor who acts like a ******.

Actually....I did. Months ago. Nobody believed me.

How the hell do you know what my expectations are to judge me like that? I never said I expected Mandarin to be the focus of the story rather than Tony, I just never expected him to be something else than what they showed him as in the trailers. Or even that, he's not even a villain. The entire thing is a joke.

You got swindled; fair enough to feel "cheated." Do you level the same complaints at Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises, No Country for Old Men, Pulp Fiction, or The Wizard of Oz? Just curious.

 

[cherokeesam]

Spoiler

To be fair those words were directed at the president of Iron Man world.

In the trailers, they're directed at the audience. Since they have no way of knowing what the context of the quote will be.

 

[Norek]

Spoiler

You are missing the point and taking the film WAY too much at face value, the whole exploding armours, and controlling them from afar was an attempt to play down the idea that the armour was Iron Man (as shown when Harley asked Tony if the armour was Iron Man) no TONY is iron man, he's not the bruce wayne persona, or the bruce banner half of the Hulk, or the Clark kent, he is 100% iron man, these armours and suits are mere weapons for him like the pellets on Batman's utility belt, that was the idea behind the film to kinda strip it all down and show you how even without the armour and the tech and the money, Tony Stark is still an Avenger. We start the film off with him making up to 42 different suits and not sleeping or spending time with pepper, because he's afraid...the Avengers made him feel powerless and inconsequential, When you have gods and aliens in the world he realises he's just a man, so he goes to the lengths of doing more than his share he wants to feel safe and secure...so he makes suit after suit. Him destroying that is symbolic that he's not afraid anymore that he doesn't need that tech, that he can be the man who loves pepper and be an Avenger because the real hero is the mechanic...not the suit. He takes out the arc reactor as a more literal example that he doesn't need to be afraid of death anymore he can easily make a suit without it, and he can be iron man without it. It's part of his character arc...hence the final line "I am iron man" this time he really means it...suit or no suit, arc reactor or not, he IS Iron Man.

Sharky, I always enjoy your posts, and trust me, I got it. I enjoyed Tony's story arc in this, and I have to admit, Robert was better than ever in the role. But after all, this movie isn't all symbolism and deeper meanings. Face value does matter a lot, and there are things I just can't overlook. All those things I said about previous Marvel movies, about disregarding consequences, always bothered me, but I always ignored them because I enjoy these movies. Seems though as they're okay with it, which bothers me even more.