Iron Man 3 (2013) - The deconstructed hero

A retrospective of the superhero films of the 'Marvel Cinematic Universe'. Based on articles by Matt Goldblatt in Collider Magazine, April 2015.

The second phase of the Marvel cinematic universe begins with a film that is not, strictly speaking, a Marvel film. The film begins with the already established Marvel Studios logo and chronologically follows the events of 'The Avengers'. But 'Iron Man 3', upon closer inspection, is a Shane Black film that stars the character of 'Iron Man' (Robert Downey Jr.). Instead of deepening the, after 'The Avengers', reorganized Marvel movie universe, 'Iron Man 3' performs a huge roll backwards, largely ignoring the events of Joss Whedon's ensemble film and even the previous Iron Man movies.

After a prologue that takes the viewer back to 1999, a time of a careless and reckless Tony Stark, the movie tries to go a bit into the events of 'The Avengers'. Tony Stark suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome after his near-death experience, in the battle for New York in the movie 'The Avengers'. The film doesn't elaborate much on this fact, using it only to declare, "Yes, we admit, there was a battle for New York." In stretches, the film gives few hints about the plot of the 'Avengers', or goes into the social consequences of the alien invasion, which happened only a short time ago.The viewer watches Tony Stark do what Tony Stark always does. The surrounding of the Marvel movie universe (and the other superheroes in it) do not play any role.

When Tony Stark talks to his friend Rhodey (Don Cheadle) about the villain 'Mandarin', he is told by Rhodey, "He's not a case for superheroes. He's a case for America!" This line illustrates the fine line the sequel films of individual heroes in the Marvel cinematic universe now walk. They must deliver a greater spectacle - as in the form of the Mandarin - but the conflicts depicted must not exceed the capabilities of a single superhero. But if this Mandarin is an American affair, might it not be a good idea to bring in 'Captain America' to fight it?

The character of the 'Mandarin' in 'Iron Man 3' is basically a decal of Osama Bin Laden. But the movie doesn't go through the motions of what would happen if superheroes took on the FBI's most wanted list of criminals. Still, the setting of 'Iron Man 3' is not all that unrealistic. It is quite understandable why Tony Stark acts alone in this film. After all, it's within his character to do whatever he wants. The film uses the narrative thread of post-traumatic stress disorder to the effect that Tony Stark does not seek help from the other Avengers and is thus on his own. But Tony Stark only becomes an active hero in the narrative when he - selfish as he is - is personally affected by the actions of the Mandarin.In an interview with Marvel.com, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige explains that he wanted Tony Stark to be set back to square one in 'Iron Man 3,' so that he would have to use the mop of his own genius to extricate himself from the quagmire of conflict in the film. However, this resulted in the Marvel movie universe being reset to the starting position in 'Iron Man 3' and Tony Stark having to forgo any person (with superpowers) or organization (S.H.I.E.L.D.) that could possibly help him.

This default is also why the film is so polarizing. The first 'Iron Man' movie promised us (in the form of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) a larger universe of superheroes. 'The Avengers', after all, already shows the audience the invasion of aliens. 'Iron Man 3' is set in Rose Hill, Tennessee for much of its second act. Black directs a film that in large part either actively bypasses the Marvel cinematic universe, or completely ignores the fact of its existence. Marvel Studios' battle plan - and despite the input of directors and screenwriters, this film is and will remain just one piece of the puzzle of a franchise - for the second phase of the Marvel cinematic universe begins with 'Iron Man 3' by deconstructing, for the most part, everything that was painstakingly established in the six films that preceded it.

And so it is that 'Iron Man 3' seems less like a film of the Marvel film universe and more like a typical film of Shane Black. Before 'Iron Man 3', Black had directed only one film himself, 'Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang' (2005), which was appreciated by critics and audiences alike. Although the film develops its own visual language, Black's personality comes through primarily in his role as screenwriter. The screenplay of 'Iron Man 3' that Black co-wrote with Drew Pearce contains all the characteristics typical of Shane Black: Wit, comedy and subversion. And Black has the film set at Christmas out of personal preference, even though the film was released in May.

It's clear that Black didn't let himself be pulled in front of the Marvel cart. He dictates his terms to the film's plot, and they don't include the S.H.I.E.L.D. agency or the presence of other superheroes in the Marvel cinematic universe. Black is willing to stage some outstanding, and genre appropriate, action sequences. But the real basis of the narrative is bon mots, which have as much bite as the action of the film itself. Marvel Studio films are usually movies set in a world filled with superheroes. Black, however, has much more fun using action cinema tropes, such as that of the nameless sidekick who chooses to quit rather than die in service to the villain.

And then Black goes one step further and surprises the audience with a surprising twist in the film involving the villain Mandarin.For die-hard fans of the 'Iron Man' comics, it was blasphemy that the 'Iron Man's' arch-nemesis should be just a confused, washed-up theater actor.But Black and Marvel Studios just said to that, "So what?" In the Marvel cinematic universe, the character of the Mandarin had not yet been implemented and the director was just suspicious of this form of saint worship. Black wanted to make a commentary on the visual language of modern terrorism with this interpretation (however superficial and inconsistent this commentary may have turned out to be). 'Iron Man 3' is the most irreverent offspring of the Marvel film universe, which means that the film is only more in line with its protagonist.

You have to admire this flippant attitude of the film. It maintains it even in its worst moments. The film doesn't care that the 'bad guys' of the film are war-wounded veterans. The film also asks the viewer to believe that the boy Harley (Ty Simpkins) doesn't instantly recognize Tony Stark. If one includes the apparent non-existence of S.H.I.E.L.D. in this observation, then one might conclude that the action of 'Iron Man 3' takes place after the events of 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'. Black also doesn't care much about the internal logic of the function of the 'Iron Man' armor. Each of the armors is powered by the arc reactor in Tony Stark's chest, so the suit can never lose its energy. But the Mark XVII armor's lack of energy is an important turning point in the film, though thus a gross negligence on the part of its otherwise brilliant protagonist.

Despite these obvious plot holes and disregard for meta-plot, 'Iron Man 3' remains a very entertaining film, especially if you like Shane Black's narrative style.Lines like, "You have one minute (to live). Fill it with words." are typical creations of Black. The film balances dangerously close to 'over 18 clearance' with its depiction of violence, treading the darkest path yet in the Marvel cinematic universe. Black is not afraid to stage deaths in close-ups and put lines in his protagonist's mouth like "We create our own demons."

The second phase of the Marvel cinematic universe thus starts with an outlier (And ends the same way with the no less subversive, but more pleasing 'Ant-Man').One could argue that Marvel Studios didn't know exactly where to go at the start of phase two. But that consideration isn't entirely fair to Marvel. The grand battle plan of the film universe already existed, but each writer and director was given leeway by the studio within that battle plan. Ultimately, studio head Kevin Feige has the final say.

For fans of the Marvel movie universe who wanted to see what this world looked like after the events following the first 'Avengers' movie, 'Iron Man 3' was a disappointment. This expectation of the fans was quite justified. Nevertheless, 'Iron Man 3' and its director should not be blamed for not fulfilling these expectations. However, this criticism from fans makes it clear that the creation of a meta-narrative does not align with all narrative and cinematic stylistic devices of the feature film. When a film strays from the meta-narrative, it makes it difficult to constructively expand the film universe. So if the Marvel film universe is now such a meta-narrative, and Phase One of the film series describes the construction of its foundation, then 'Iron Man 3' as the first film of Phase Two could be described as a film that deconstructs that film universe again. However, this deconstruction follows the rules of any narrative structure. The 2nd act of any narrative paints a darker and more threatening picture. Thus, one must rate 'Iron Man 3' as a successful contribution to the Marvel film universe.