Primarily set about 7 months after The Avengers film and the battle New York, Iron Man 3 explores the effect that the events had on Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man. The film opens with Tony narrating a memory of the 1999 New Year’s Eve party he attended. At the party, Stark meets physically-disabled scientist Aldrich Killian, who wants Stark to partner with his company Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM). However, Stark is more interested in pursuing an evening with another scientist, the beautiful Maya Hansen. In a classic Stark move, he lies and feigns interest in Killian’s ideas and sends him to wait on the roof, never intending to show up to meet him. Back in the room with Hansen, Stark inadvertently witnesses her experiment, Extremis, firsthand when it causes the mini explosion of a plant in her hotel room. Stark laughs it off and continues on with their evening as planned. However, the audience sees that after the explosion, the plant regenerates as a result of Extremis. Meanwhile, Killian is alone on the roof as the clock strikes midnight to signal the start of 2000.
Our actions like Tony Stark’s can impact the future positively or negatively.
While the Tony we’ve come to know and love is quite egotistical, as we now see this pales in comparison to his former behavior. Although Killian is the “villain”, one might sympathize and understand his behavior after Stark embarrassed him on NYE. As Stark shows, our actions (good or bad) can have long-term ramifications upon our life.
Back in the present, Stark is suffering from PTSD as a result of the attack in New York. Consequently, he can’t sleep and is having trouble communicating with his girlfriend, Pepper Potts. He finds himself constantly “tinkering” with his various Iron Man suits. Rhodey also voices concern after an interaction with a couple of children while he and Stark are out to lunch. When one of the children asks how he escaped the wormhole during the attack in New York, Stark has a severe panic attack and flies off in his Iron Man suit.
We all have issues that can elicit strong reactions, but we need a healthy way to deal and overcome them.
This film humanizes Iron Man in a way not often displayed by a superhero. When we think of a hero, we probably think of someone who is always strong and confident. However, this movie shows the ramifications of taking on the risks and responsibilities that come along with this job. Stark’s PTSD results in intense physical and emotional reactions triggered by any mention or thought of the incident in New York.
Meanwhile, a new threat is emerging in the form of the Mandarin, a terrorist responsible for a number of bombings. Stark becomes personally invested in tracking down the Mandarin after his close friend and bodyguard, Happy, is badly injured during one of the bombings. He goes on the news and invites the Mandarn to come and get him. “My name is Tony Stark and I’m not afraid of you. I know you’re a coward, so I decided… that you just died, pal.” This backfires, and men working for the Mandarin attack and destroy his house. During the attack, Stark is injured and presumed dead by the attackers, but he manages to get into one of his prototype suits and flies off.
We cannot be shield from everything that happens in our life.
One could say that Stark is again responsible for this outcome. In his arrogance, he invited the terrorist to his home, and the result should have been somewhat expected. He thought his Iron Man suits were a shield that would make him invincible, but he is only human. The attack knocks him down a peg, forcing him to regroup and figure out how to move forward.
The suit flies him to a location he had been investigating in regards to an explosion possibly related to the Mandarin. He takes refuge in a nearby town to recuperate with the help of local boy Harley Keener. While in hiding, he concludes that each of the Mandarin explosions was caused not by a bomb. Instead, they were caused by an injured or disabled soldier treated with an injection of Extremis, the experiment he was shown on New Years Eve all those years ago. His investigation draws the attention of agents working for the Mandarin and he is attacked. Tony witnesses the side-effect of Extremis firsthand in a subsequent fight. When one of the agents loses control, they explode.
Once Stark begins to open up and confront his feelings, he realizes he can’t do everything alone.
Meanwhile, Rhodey has taken on the persona of “Iron Patriot”. He carries out a mission to find the Mandarin using an IP address search completed by the US government. When he arrives, he is met by a trap and knocked out, with the armor being stolen by the Mandarin’s men. With Harley’s help, Stark tracks the real IP address to a location in Miami. There he discovers that the Mandarin is a fake. The man in front of the camera is a paid actor who puts on a show to distract everyone from the real person in charge, Aldrich Killian.
Killian’s men capture Stark and Killian reveals that he has kidnapped Pepper and subjected her to Extremis in order to force Stark to help them fix the fatal side-effect of Extremis. However, Maya Hansen is also present and intervenes when she changes her mind about following through with Killian’s plan. As a result, he kills Hansen. Stark escapes and reunites with Rhodey, discovering that Killian intends to attack President Ellis aboard Air Force One using the Iron Patriot armor, controlled by one of Killian’s men. Although Stark manages to remotely guide an Iron Man suit and save some passengers and crew members during the attack, the President is abducted.
Stark and Rhodey head off to face Killian and save the President. Starck enacts the “House Party Protocol” which calls forth an army of remotely-controlled Iron Man suits. Together, they save the President but aren’t able to overpower Killian. The fight comes to an end when Pepper arrives and takes down Killian with her new Extremis powers.
Sometimes, like Stark, we have to give up everything to start over to progress in life.
After their victory, Stark orders J.A.R.V.I.S. to implement the “Clean Slate Protocol” and remotely destroy all the Iron Man suits, symbolizing the end of his obsession with “tinkering”. He goes a step further and undergoes a surgical procedure that eliminates the need for the Arc Reactor in his chest. Potts also recovers and with time Stark is able to undo the effects of Extremis. The good feelings continue when Happy wakes up from his coma in the hospital.
However, Stark is more confident in his role of Iron Man than ever before. While his experiences did not eradicate his PTSD, he gained healthy coping mechanisms that allow him to move forward. Reflecting on the events of the film and with a new sense of self, Stark finishes the film with his typical commentary. “And now, I’m a changed man. You can take away my house, all my tricks and toys, but there’s one thing you can’t take away. I am Iron Man.”
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Photo Credit: © 2013 – Marvel
