Iron Man 3

''Iron Man 3'' (titled onscreen as ''Iron Man Three'') is a 2013 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Iron Man'' (2008) and ''Iron Man 2'' (2010), and the seventh film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Shane Black from a screenplay he co-wrote with Drew Pearce, and stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stéphanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, William Sadler, Miguel Ferrer, Jon Favreau, and Ben Kingsley. In ''Iron Man 3'', Tony Stark wrestles with the ramifications of the events of ''The Avengers'' during a national terrorism campaign on the United States led by the mysterious Mandarin.

After the release of ''Iron Man 2'' in May 2010, director Favreau chose not to return for a third film. Black was hired to write and direct the sequel in February 2011, working with Pearce to make the script more character-centric, focus on thriller elements, and use concepts from Warren Ellis's " Extremis" comic book story arc. The film's supporting cast, including Kingsley, Pearce, and Hall, were brought on throughout April and May 2012. Filming took place from May 23 to December 17, 2012, primarily at EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina. Additional filming took place around North Carolina as well as in Florida, Los Angeles, and China; an extended version of the film specifically for Chinese audiences was created. Seventeen companies provided the film's visual effects.

''Iron Man 3'' premiered at the Grand Rex in Paris on April 14, 2013, and released in the United States on May 3, as the first film in Phase Two of the MCU. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its action sequences, Black's direction, and Downey's performance, though there was criticism for its portrayal of the Mandarin. The film was a box office success, grossing over $1.2 billion worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 2013 and the sixteenth film to gross over $1 billion. It finished its theatrical run as the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time, while its opening weekend was the sixth-highest of all time. The film received Best Visual Effects nominations at the Academy Awards and the BAFTA Awards.

Plot

At a New Year's Eve party in 1999, Tony Stark meets scientist Maya Hansen, the inventor of an experimental regenerative treatment named Extremis that allows recovery from crippling injuries. Disabled scientist Aldrich Killian offers them a place in his company Advanced Idea Mechanics, but Stark rejects him. Thirteen years later, Stark is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and is having frequent panic and anxiety attacks due to his experiences during the alien invasion and subsequent battle in New York. Restless, he has built dozens of new Iron Man suits to cope with his insomnia, creating friction with his girlfriend Pepper Potts.

A string of bombings claimed by a terrorist known as the Mandarin has left intelligence agencies bewildered by a lack of forensic evidence. Stark's security chief Happy Hogan is badly injured in one such attack at the TCL Chinese Theatre and is put into a coma, prompting Stark to boldly issue a televised threat to the Mandarin, revealing his home address in the process. The Mandarin sends gunship helicopters to destroy Stark's home. Hansen, who came to warn Stark, survives the attack with Potts. Stark escapes in an experimental new Iron Man suit, which his artificial intelligence J.A.R.V.I.S. pilots to rural Tennessee, following a flight plan from Stark's investigation into the Mandarin. Stark's new armor is not fully functional and lacks sufficient power to return to Malibu, leaving the world to believe that he is dead.

With the help of a local boy named Harley Keener, Stark investigates the remains of a local explosion bearing the hallmarks of a Mandarin attack, although it occurred years before any known attack by the terrorist. He discovers the "bombings" were triggered by soldiers subjected to Extremis whose bodies explosively rejected the treatment. These explosions were falsely attributed to a terrorist plot to cover up Extremis' flaws. Stark witnesses Extremis firsthand when Mandarin agents Savin and Brandt attack him: Stark kills Brandt and incapacitates Savin. Meanwhile, Killian resurfaces and kidnaps Potts with assistance from Hansen. American intelligence agencies continue to search for the Mandarin's location, with James Rhodes—the former War Machine, now re-branded as the Iron Patriot—lured into a trap to steal his armor.

Stark traces the Mandarin to Miami and infiltrates his headquarters using improvised weapons. Inside, he discovers the Mandarin is an English actor named Trevor Slattery, who is oblivious to the actions carried out in his image. After capturing Stark, Killian reveals he has subjected Potts to Extremis in the hope Stark will help fix Extremis's flaws while trying to save her. When Hansen betrays Killian by threatening to jeopardize his operations, Killian fatally shoots her.

Stark escapes and reunites with Rhodes, discovering that Killian intends to attack President Ellis aboard Air Force One, using the Iron Patriot armor, controlled by Savin. Stark kills Savin, saving the passengers and crew, but cannot stop Killian from abducting Ellis and destroying Air Force One. They trace Killian to an impounded damaged oil tanker where Killian intends to kill Ellis on live television. The Vice President would then become a puppet leader, following Killian's orders, in exchange for Extremis to cure his young daughter's disability. On the platform, Stark works to save Potts, as Rhodes goes after the President. Stark summons his remaining Iron Man suits, controlled remotely by J.A.R.V.I.S., to provide air support. Rhodes secures the President and takes him to safety, while Stark discovers Potts has survived the Extremis procedure. Before he can save her, a rig collapses around them, and she falls to the platform below, causing Stark to believe her dead. Stark fights Killian but finds himself cornered. Killian, who appropriated Hansen's Extremis research as a cure for his own disability and expanded the program to include injured war veterans, reveals he is the real Mandarin behind Slattery's cover. Potts, whose Extremis powers allowed her to survive her fall, intervenes and kills Killian to save Stark.

As a gesture of his devotion to Potts, Stark orders J.A.R.V.I.S. to destroy all the Iron Man suits. The Vice President and Slattery are arrested, and Happy awakens from his coma. With Stark's help, Potts's Extremis effects are stabilized; and Stark promises to scale back his life as Iron Man, undergoing surgery to remove the shrapnel near his heart and throwing his obsolete chest arc reactor into the sea. He muses that, even without the technology, he will always be Iron Man.

Cast

* Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man:
An Avenger and a self-described genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist with mechanical suits of armor of his own invention. Stark now struggles to come to terms with his near-death experience in ''The Avengers'', suffering from anxiety attacks. On making a third ''Iron Man'' film, Downey said, "My sense of it is that we need to leave it all on the field—whatever that means in the end. You can pick several different points of departure for that." On following up ''The Avengers'', Downey said they "tried to be practical, in a post-''Avengers'' world. What are his challenges now? What are some limitations that might be placed on him? And what sort of threat would have him, as usual, ignore those limitations?" Screenwriter Drew Pearce compared Tony to an American James Bond for both being "heroes with a sense of danger to them, and unpredictab e even if Stark was a "free agent" instead of an authority figure like Bond. He also likened Tony to the protagonists of 1970s films such as '' The French Connection'' (1971), where "the idiosyncrasies of the heroes is what made them exciting."
* Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts:
Stark's girlfriend, longtime associate, and the current CEO of Stark Industries. Paltrow says of her character's relationship to Tony, "he stilladores Tony, but she absolutely gets fed up with him. He gets caught in a feedback loop." Kevin Feige commented on Pepper's role in the film: "The love triangle in this movie is really between Tony, Pepper and the suits. Tony, Pepper and his obsession with those suits, and the obsession with technology." Feige also stated the film uses the character to play with the damsel in distress trope, and posits the question, "Is Pepper in danger or is Pepper the savior?"
* Don Cheadle as James "Rhodey" Rhodes / Iron Patriot:
Stark's best friend and the liaison between Stark Industries and the U.S. Air Force in the department of acquisitions. Rhodes operates the redesigned/upgraded War Machine armor, taking on an American flag-inspired color scheme similar to the Iron Patriot armor from the comics. Feige said of Rhodes and the armor, "The notion in the movie is that a red, white and blue suit is a bold statement, and it's meant to be. With Rhodey, he's very much the foil to Tony's eccentricities, and in this one you get to see this and be reminded of the trust and friendship between them in that great Shane Black buddy-cop fashion." In the film, the president asks Rhodey to take up the moniker "Iron Patriot," and don the red, white, and blue suit, in order to be the government's "American hero" in response to the events in ''The Avengers''.
* Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian:
The creator of the Extremis virus and the founder and owner of the science and development organization Advanced Idea Mechanics who adopts the mantle of the Mandarin as his own. Killian develops Extremis to cure his own debilitating disability; in addition to his regenerative healing qualities, he has superhuman strength and the ability to generate extreme heat. Prolonged exposure to Extremis also grants him the ability to breathe fire. Pearce felt he was "a little more experimental" in the roles he was taking in his career, and was not keen on appearing in a superhero film, but felt his role in this film was "cameo stuff" which was a more enjoyable experience because he was "working in concentrated spurts". Pearce described Killian as a man with physical disabilities who has "never been able to accept those limitations" and works to overcome them, continuing, "His tenacity and blind determination in fighting for a better life are seen by some as irritating, as he often comes across as obnoxious." Black felt that Pearce ultimately is the Mandarin in the film, and that Marvel worked with him "to come up with these crazy things, these far out ideas" that divert from established expectations from the comics.
* Rebecca Hall as Maya Hansen:
A geneticist whose work helped Killian create Extremis. Hall said Hansen would be a "strong female character," and described her decision to take the role, saying, "I decided to do ''Iron Man 3'' because I've never done the 'hurry up and wait' movie before. Even the studio movies I've done have been small studio movies, or indie films that we made on a wing and a prayer. I love those, but ''Iron Man'' is refreshing in a way because it's something out of my realm of experiences." Hall confirmed her character's role was greatly reduced in the final film, saying, "I signed on to do something that was a substantial role. She wasn't entirely the villain—there have been several phases of this—but I signed on to do something very different to what I ended up doing."
* Stéphanie Szostak as Ellen Brandt:
A war veteran who becomes an assassin after her exposure to Extremis. Describing Brandt, Szostak says, "... xtremiswas a second chance at life. We talked about what you feel like and I think it almost makes you a fuller version of who you are, all your weakness and your qualities—just everything gets enhanced. I saw it as very freeing, almost you become your true-self and your fantasy-self all at once." The writers originally envisioned Brandt as Killian's main henchman, who would return throughout the film to fight Tony, but eventually, that role was reassigned to Eric Savin.
* James Badge Dale as Eric Savin:
Killian's Extremis-powered henchman. Dale stated that his character in the film was "loosely based on" the comic version of the character. According to Dale, "Ben Kingsley is the mouthpiece. Guy Pearce is the brain. I'm the muscle."
* William Sadler as Matthew Ellis: The President of the United States, named after Warren Ellis, who wrote the "Extremis" comics arc that primarily influenced the film's story.
* Miguel Ferrer as Rodriguez: The Vice President of the United States.
* Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan:
Tony Stark's former bodyguard and chauffeur who now serves as Stark Industries' head of security department. Favreau, who served as both actor and director on the previous two ''Iron Man'' films, said participating in the new film was "like einga proud grandfather who doesn't have to change the diapers but gets to play with the baby."
* Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery:
A British actor whom Killian hired to portray the Mandarin, a terrorist persona in jammed television broadcasts in which he is depicted as the leader of the international terrorist organization the Ten Rings. Kingsley was filming ''Ender's Game'' when he was cast, and said that, "Quite soon I'll be with everybody and we'll be discussing the look and the feel and the direction of the character. It's very early days yet, but I'm so thrilled to be on board." On his performance, Kingsley stated: "I wanted a voice that would disconcert a Western audience. I wanted a voice that would sound far more homegrown and familiar—a familiarity like a teacher's voice or a preacher's voice. The rhythms and tones of an earnest, almost benign, teacher—trying to educate people for their own good." The Mandarin was initially set to appear in the first ''Iron Man'' film, but he was put off for a sequel as the filmmakers felt that he was "too ambitious for a first ilm" On the character, Feige stated, "The Mandarin is ron Man'smost famous foe in the comics mainly because he's been around the longest. If you look, there's not necessarily a definitive Mandarin storyline in the comics. So it was really about having an idea." Shane Black explains Ben Kingsley's Mandarin is not Chinese in the film as he is in the comics in order to avoid the Fu Manchu stereotype: "We're not saying he's Chinese, we're saying he, in fact, draws a cloak around him of Chinese symbols and dragons because it represents his obsessions with Sun Tzu in various ancient arts of warfare that he studied." The filmmakers also cited Colonel Kurtz from ''Apocalypse Now'' as an influence for the character. The videos where the Mandarin gives historical background to the attacks expressed how it emerged as the product of "a think tank of people trying to create a modern terrorist." Thus the Mandarin "represents every terrorist in a way", from South American insurgency tactics to the videos of Osama bin Laden.

Paul Bettany reprises his role from previous films as J.A.R.V.I.S., Stark's AI system. Ty Simpkins portrays Harley Keener, a child who lives in Rose Hill, Tennessee who assists Stark when the latter breaks into his garage in order to repair his suit. He later helps Stark investigate various incidents associated with the Extremis project, and afterwards he is rewarded by Stark with a garage-full of modern engineering tools and equipment. Simpkins reprises his role as Harley in a cameo in '' Avengers: Endgame'' (2019). Simpkins has stated that he has a three-picture deal with Marvel Studios. Ashley Hamilton portrays Taggart, one of the Extremis soldiers. Adam Pally plays Gary, a cameraman who helps Stark. Shaun Toub reprises his role as Yinsen from the first ''Iron Man'' film in a brief cameo, and Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance as a beauty pageant judge. Dale Dickey plays Mrs. Davis, mother of an Extremis subject that is framed as a terrorist. Wang Xueqi briefly plays Dr. Wu in the general release version of the film. A cut of the film produced for release exclusively in China includes additional scenes featuring Wang and an appearance by Fan Bingbing as one of his assistants. Jenna Ortega plays the vice president's daughter. Mark Ruffalo makes an uncredited cameo appearance, reprising his role as Bruce Banner from ''The Avengers'', in a post-credits scene. Comedians Bill Maher and Joan Rivers, and '' Fashion Police'' co-host George Kotsiopoulos have cameo appearances as themselves on their respective real-world television programs, as do newscasters Josh Elliott, Megan Henderson, Pat Kiernan, and Thomas Roberts.

Production

Development

Following the release of ''Iron Man 2'', a conflict between Paramount Pictures, which had distribution rights to certain Marvel properties, and The Walt Disney Company, Marvel Entertainment's then new corporate parent, clouded the timing and the distribution arrangement of a possible third film. On October 18, 2010, Walt Disney Studios agreed to pay Paramount at least $115 million for the worldwide distribution rights to ''Iron Man 3'', with Disney, Marvel, and Paramount announcing a May 3, 2013 release date for the film.

''Iron Man'' and ''Iron Man 2'' director Jon Favreau said in December 2010 that he would not direct ''Iron Man 3'', opting to direct ''Magic Kingdom'' instead. He remained an executive producer of director Joss Whedon's crossover film ''The Avengers'' and also served as an executive producer of ''Iron Man 3''. Also in 2010, Downey reached out to Shane Black, who directed him in 2005's '' Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'', to write and direct the film. In February 2011, Black entered final negotiations to join the project, and in March it was announced that Drew Pearce, who Marvel had originally hired for a ''Runaways