When it comes to discussions of the worst movie in the MCU, Thor: The Dark World is bound to come up. But one of the franchise’s most controversial entries — with some fans believing it to be great and others bemoaning it as an affront to the fanbase — is Shane Black’s Iron Man 3.
It’s not that the threequel is bad, per se. For all intents and purposes, it’s a perfectly serviceable blockbuster with enough exciting action sequences and fun character moments to be worth the price of admission. But it’s nowhere near as great as it could’ve been.
Right: Shane Black’s Directorial Voice
Although there’s a lot of prevalent studio meddling in Iron Man 3 that has since been attributed to former Marvel chief Ike Perlmutter, it’s unmistakably the work of its writer-director Shane Black.
From the snappy dialogue to the Christmas setting to the action sequences driving the plot, Iron Man 3 screams Black’s unique filmmaking style.
Wrong: Forced Plot Developments
A lot of the plot in Iron Man 3 seems forced. Tony tells his address to news cameras, tempting the Mandarin to attack him, and then Tony’s entire Malibu mansion is destroyed by helicopters. Since it doesn’t make sense that Tony would invite this, or that his house wouldn’t have any security measures to prevent it, it feels incredibly forced just to get a cool, stakes-raising set piece in the trailers.
This is also where the story goes off the rails. It sets up Maya as the villain before nonsensically switching the prime bad guy role to Killian, all because Ike Perlmutter wouldn’t allow a female villain.
Right: Tony’s PTSD
Shane Black built off of Tony Stark’s heroic sacrifice in The Avengers when he continued his MCU arc in Iron Man 3. Throughout the movie, Tony suffers from PTSD attacks brought on by his near-death experience.
Not only was this an organic and interesting development for the character; it’s also been praised as an accurate portrayal of post-traumatic stress by the psychiatric community.
Wrong: Aldrich Killian
Guy Pearce is a very skilled actor, having given fantastic performances in such movies as Memento, L.A. Confidential, and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
However, he was given a pretty terrible, one-note role in Iron Man 3. Aldrich Killian is yet another wannabe Tony Stark, like Obadiah Stane or Justin Hammer, and despite being the main villain, he doesn’t feel like a real threat for a second of the movie.
Right: Tony’s Father-Son Dynamic With Harley Keener
When Tony’s suit takes him out into a small snowy town, he befriends a kid named Harley Keener who becomes his young ward. A sidekick ripped straight from a ‘90s buddy movie, Harley made a great comic foil for Tony.
Tony’s most memorable young sidekick is Peter Parker, for obvious reasons, but he developed a heartwarming pseudo-paternal dynamic with Harley back in Iron Man 3.
Wrong: Inconsequential Ending
The ending of Iron Man 3 had real impact as the end of Tony Stark’s solo trilogy, as he had the Arc Reactor removed from his chest and tossed it into the ocean, asking J.A.R.V.I.S. to blow up all his suits to give Pepper some peace of mind.
However, this ending feels totally disingenuous, because in Tony’s next MCU appearance, Avengers: Age of Ultron, he’s got another bunch of suits, so Iron Man 3’s ending really had no impact at all.
Right: The Barrel-Of-Monkeys Sequence
When Savin takes control of the Iron Patriot armor and attacks President Ellis on Air Force One, all the plane’s passengers are sent flying out into the sky, thousands of feet above the earth. Tony swoops in to save them all, linking them together like a Barrel of Monkeys.
Problems with the rest of the movie aside, this was one of the most inventive and breathtaking action sequences in the entire MCU.
Wrong: Muddled Final Battle
In the final battle of Iron Man 3, the Iron Legion arrives to take on Killian’s army of orange-glowing Extremis people. The sequence is a complete mess, with Tony jumping from suit to suit and none of the events having any real consequences.
The Extremis virus saves Pepper from certain doom, Rhodey frees President Ellis with ease, and Tony himself has barely any impact on the outcome of the conflict.
Right: Taking Away Tony’s Technology
Tony doesn’t have access to a suit when he infiltrates the Mandarin’s compound. He can’t use his technology as a crutch and instead has to rely on homemade MacGyver-esque gadgets and his quick wits to defeat the bad guys.
Much like when Peter Parker lost his powers in Spider-Man 2, taking away Tony’s tech forced him to prove that heroism is an essential part of the fabric of his being and not just a matter of chance.
Wrong: The Mandarin Twist
This is the moment that ruined Iron Man 3 for a lot of fans. Comic book readers had been waiting for five years to see Tony Stark face his arch nemesis, the fearsome terrorist leader the Mandarin, on the big screen. Unfortunately, when it happened, it was a huge let-down, as the Mandarin turned out to be a cowardly, beer-swilling, soccer-loving actor hired to be the face of the Ten Rings.
Although Black had a good point to make, this was the wrong movie for it. It’s like a Batman movie where the Joker turns out to be a goofy Mets fan who only dresses as a clown to give Gotham’s criminal underbelly a scapegoat.
