100 Days of Marvel: Road to Infinity War - Day 14: Iron Man 3

Marvel's "Iron Man 3" was all about stripping Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) of his material possessions and an exploration of how "we create our own demons." Stark created his own demons, but not in the way that the film directly suggests. It presents an external enemy in the form of Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) as if Stark created him, as if Killian is a demon presupposed by Stark. However, we are in control of our own actions and choices. Yes, Stark was "mean" to Killian back in the day, but it Killian's actions and choices remain his own, thus he is a demon that he himself has created. The heart of this movie, and the true demons that Stark has cultivated, come from his post New York struggle, as Stark is clearly suffering from a PTSD. His demons come from his anxiety, and overall, the way he acts. We see this more in-depth if we compare Killian to Stark as a FOIL character.

If anything is true in this life, it is that no one deserves anything, and you can be the most talented person in everything, the most hardworking of any job, and still not deserve anything. We are not granted many things in life that we do not earn, and even then we can earn so much and still get nothing. This is why I love Tony Stark as a character and why I despise Killian as a villain.

Killian's main thing is that because Stark didn't listen to his idea from way back when, he has had to fight for it. The world owed him his dues, and Tony "needed to be taught a lesson for his arrogance," metaphorically speaking. His whole thing comes from a place of getting his dues, and what he feels he deserves. Stark, on the other hand, does have a similar outlook at first. He is a showboat who, at first, takes things for granted. But he learns the hard way in this film what true loss is like, and by the end of it he earns a deeper gratefulness for things he is fortunate to have. Killian never learns this lesson.

But that isn't really the main difference in the two characters. The main difference is how the characters carry out their actions. Stark is a showboat who takes actions publicly, whereas Killian acts behind the scenes.

For one, we have "The Mandarin" actor, Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) who serves as a public persona for the true Mandarin - Killian. Stark goes on a press conferences and publicly announces to the world that he IS Iron Man. Stark even foolishly reveals his home address to the public. Why the hell would anyone give a terrorist his address? Even if it was not directly to a terrorist, why put it out there for the world to see? The media that would just show up on his front porch. Also, one of the best scenes in any film is when Tony puts that suit on Pepper. I did NOT see that coming in the film when I first watched it, and it never gets old. But no, he was a straight up fool for the public threat - and the film made it a point to bring him down a few pegs. But if he wasn't a cocky jackass, he wouldn't be Tony Stark.

When the movie first starts, I failed to realize it was a flashback. My first thought was "Who the shit is this other woman?!" But I think this is because I wasn't paying the full attention this go around. I should have known it was a flashback not only because the movie tells us, but because I have seen the movie at least three times in the past.

Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) was really good here. Aside from one scene where she was unnecessarily harsh to Tony when he wakes up from a PTSD nightmare, she is pretty great. It does allow us insight, albeit briefly, into a moment of what it could be like to be with someone who has PTSD. Stark, who is just a "man in a can," struggles to fight his "demons," all while holding onto Pepper, the "one thing that [he] can't live without."

Though Pepper is great, Happy (Jon Favreau) is the true MVP. His intuition was spot on, and it was his actions that propelled the plot of the movie into overdrive.

Iron Patriot, the artist formerly known as War Machine (Don Cheadle) was the loveable side-kick character he has come to be in these films. He did his thing - major role in the climactic solution to the plot twists, and then assists Tony in the final battle of the film, after he spent the entire movie doing his own B plot thing that somehow tied into the Stark A plot.

The dark tone of the first suicide bombing scene gave me real Tim Burton Batman feels. The music beats leading up to this scene felt like the beats from the song "Making Christmas" in "The Nightmare Before Christmas." That, the fact that the scene is set around Christmas time (lights, trees, people shopping) really brought home that feeling. I could hear those creepy "bump" sounds, the ones that are like a really heavy person bouncing against a wall while walking, and I am pretty sure I made up the "lalala"s in my own head.

And okay, NOT ONE PERSON saw that man walk out of the explosion? I call BS on that scene. Don't wipe  your shoulder off like you are some Luke Skywalker hologram standing on red salt, you jackass. Someone had to have seen this man?!

But the film does a great job at up-ing the stakes for Tony. How can a terrorist be taken seriously after Tony survived everything that has happened in New York? It was really just an external enemy in addition to his personal demons, which I found to be better at driving the movie forward. It was a good catalyst to force Tony into Apotheosis as he needed to lose (almost) everything and reach a point of no return. He has lost a lot - Happy was in the ER, his house was hit with a missile, and he didn't event realize his standoffish-ness was pushing Pepper away. He now has a lot he is losing and has to fight for.

I don't think Tony Stark knows how recasting works. He tells Rhodes, "the last time you came looking for me..." and I wanted to stop him right THERE. NO TONY, that was Terrance Howard, not Don Cheadle. I am going to need you to have a firm grasp on Iron Man 1 clearly taking place in an alternate, but parallel reality. Black men just don't go extreme tanning and become that much darker over night (but then again, Robert Downey Jr. did somehow manage to wear blackface satirically in the 21st Century without many folks flagging him for racism. I'm not even mad as a black guy).