That 'Iron Man 3' thread!

[Captain Comics]

It's here!

Iron Man 3 is premiering across the U.S. May 2 and May 3, and has already made bunches of money overseas. Below you'll find some of the PR sent to Captain Comics, especially a ton of videos. After plowing through all that, I hope Legionnaires will post their responses to the movie. Onward!

 

Press Release

MARVEL’S IRON MAN 3 Red Carpet Premiere to Stream LIVE from Hollywood on Wednesday, April 24, 2013 Beginning at 6:00 PM PT/9:00 PM ET

 

Marvel proudly invites one and all to experience the World Premiere of the Marvel Studios’ film MARVEL’S IRON MAN 3, LIVE from Hollywood! On April 24, 2013 at 6:00 PM PT/9:00 PM ET, click over to  verizon.com/ironman3redcarpet and watch as the stars arrive at the legendary El Capitan Theatre!

 

Sponsored by Verizon FiOS, this LIVE event will get you up close and personal with IRON MAN 3 like nothing else can!

 

Experience this landmark motion picture event powered by the innovative Livestream platform which combines live video with real-time photos, text and video clip updates.

 

Hear directly from the biggest names in the biz. Scheduled to appear are: Robert Downey Jr (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Don Cheadle (James Rhodes/Iron Patriot), Ben Kingsley (The Mandarin), Guy Pearce (Aldrich Killian), Rebecca Hall (Maya Hansen), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan), Shane Black (Director/Co-Screenwriter), Stan Lee, Anthony Hopkins, Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders and more!

 

Don’t miss a minute of the action on verizon.com/ironman3 red carpet.

 

IRON MAN 3 opens in U.S. theaters, May 3!

 

Actor Robert Downey, Jr. and Marvel Entertainment Celebrate

Release of Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” with NYSE Opening Bell® on April 30

 

Who/What:      

Actor Robert Downey, Jr., along with executives from Marvel Entertainment, LLC, will visit the New York Stock Exchange on April 30 and ring The Opening Bell® to highlight the U.S. release of Marvel’s highly anticipated film, “Iron Man 3,” on May 3. 

 

When/Where:

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

NYSE Security Checkpoint/Tent at Corner of Exchange Place and Broad Street

9:00 a.m.            Media escorted into the building

9:30 a.m.              The Opening Bell rings/photo opps

 

 

For Immediate Release:

IRON MAN 3
comiX indeX

May, 1, 2013 - New York, NY — ComiXology, the revolutionary digital comics platform, polled over 5,700 of their customer for the comiXology comiX index — an inside scoop on what die hard comic fans are saying, thinking and predicting. Iron Man 3 premieres this Friday, May 3rd — see below for what the die hards think. Do you agree? Disagree? Don’t know? Spend some time reading the comics that inspired the film and find out for yourself!

1. What is the best Iron Man movie so far: the original Iron Man or Iron Man 2?

73% say the first Iron Man is the best yet!

2. Beside Tony Stark and Col. Rhodes, what character is most likely to sport an Iron Man suit in Iron Man 3?

72% say Pepper Potts
7-8% believe Happy Hogan and The Mandarin are possibilities.

3. Will Iron Man 3 be the summer’s biggest-grossing comics-related film?

58% say YES – bigger than Man of Steel, Kick-Ass 2, The Wolverine, and Star Trek Into Darkness

4. What is the best Iron Man suit?

66% say Extremis
11% say Hulkbuster
6.8% say Iron Patriot
5.9% say Modern Space Suit
5.2% say Original Mark 1

5. Who would comiXology fans rather see piloting an Iron Man suit?

40% say Pepper Potts
30% say Black Widow
11% say Edwin Jarvis
8% say Happy Hogan

 

Iron Man 3 Trailer #1

 

Iron Man 3 Trailer #2

Iron Man 3 "Malibu Attack"

Iron Man 3 "Tony Stark Calls Out The Mandarin"

Don Cheadle interview

Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall interview

Gwyneth Paltrow interview

Shane Black and Kevin Feige interview

Robert Downey Jr. interview

[Kirk G]

Just got back from watching the new Iron Man 3 movie in the theater with the Mrs. and son, and my daughter had gone to the Thursday night midnight release.

I enjoyed it, and found it a curious mix of Iron Man, 007, Transformers, GI Joes, and Mission Impossible.

I won't give away anything critical here, at the risk of ruining some reveals and spoilers, but it was an interesting take on the Mandarin, with a healthy mix of SHIELD, a reference or two to the Avengers movie, the Thor movie, and the Hulk, but you have no need to have seen any of those movies to understand or enjoy this one.

Chronologically, this movie must follow the Avengers movie, due to some references to "the events in New York"  but it's enough to know that Tony went through a climatic battle there.

Of course, there were several red herrings thrown in, and I was a little surprised when I thought I recognized Madam Macabre, Michael, and AIM alluded to or paraded by, but when none of them materialized, I realized my comic fan sense was working too hard to spot connections and interpretations.

If the Iron Man movies were conceived as a trilogy, then this movie wraps it up quite nicely, but we are left wondering if the next Avengers movie is going to include Iron Man.... or if Nick Fury or Captain America will be convening a NEW set of avengers.

I was very pleased to see acknowledgement of Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby.  There was no mention of Steve Ditko, if he was in fact responsible for the redesign to the "modern" armor.  Also a shout out to Josh Weddon...

What are your thoughts, without giving away any spoilers?

[Mickey McLaurin]

Thoroughly enjoyable film.  I did get a huge kick out of the Mandarin characterization. 

I was surprised to see less SHIELD reference, considering how big a role the organization played in Captain America and The Avengers.

And I do think this is the loudest movie I have seen in quite a while.

[Captain Comics]

A headline I saw somewhere online (for a review I didn't read) kinda summed it up for me: "Iron Man 3 is a romantic comedy hidden inside a superhero movie."

Since I didn't read the review, I don't know if the reviewer thought that was a good thing or a bad thing, but it brought a smile to my lips. Because I've always maintained that Stan Lee's true genius was that he had the brilliant idea -- whether he realized it or not -- to use superheroes not as a genre, but as a delivery device to tell every kind of story there is. Primarily, and most famously, he used superheroes to tell soap operas. But he also did horror stories, situation comedies, coming-of-age tales, big monster stories and so forth. And if the movies carry that idea forward, they should be just as successful in this medium as Lee & Co. were in comics in the 1960s.

I thoroughly enjoyed Iron Man 3. I don't recall any point that I actually laughed out loud -- it moved too fast for that -- but I was pretty much smiling (or gritting my teeth and squeezing the armrest) throughout.

Some quick non-spoilery thoughts:

Good to see Rhodey get more to do -- and show why he's there.

Good to see AIM introduced to the Marvel movie universe. They're a pretty useful plot device.

Good to see Killian, Maya and Extremis -- all recognizable from the "Extremis" storyline.

And especially good to see a take on The Mandarin that make him something other than a Fu Manchu knock-off.

[ClarkKent_DC]

I saw Iron Man 3 on Friday night. Some thoughts:

• I didn't read very many reviews beforehand, so I was unaware of the specific story and plot, and found myself surprised at some of the twists and turns in the story. Pleasantly so in some cases, not so in others.
• Somehow, I did have the notion that they would be doing the "Demon in a Bottle" story. I was surprised that, instead, they gave Stark a different problem -- anxiety attacks. Plausible, though, considering all the physical damage he goes through in this and the other movies.
• The Mandarin -- wow!
• Apart from the original origin story, I hadn't read many actual Iron Man comics until the David Michelinie/Bob Layton run, which is a favorite. Said run did not include Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts. I don't know why they were written out of the series, but because they weren't around when I started reading the title on a regular basis, I have no abiding love for them. But I did understand that Happy was in love with Pepper, who was in love with Tony -- who kept pushing her away because of his disability (just like, over in Daredevil, Foggy was in love with Karen, who was in love with Matt  -- who kept pushing her away because of his disability). Here in the movies, there's no triangle; Tony and Pepper are a couple, period. Different, and okay, I guess.
• I've been back and forth about reading the Iron Man title. I was in during that stretch when Tony Stark was the Secretary of Defense, but I was out during the entirety of the "Extremis" saga (and they lost me for good when they made Stark a villain in "Civil War," but that's another subject). I don't know much about Extremis, but what little I know sounds so creepy that I really haven't wanted to find out. 
• The Mandarin -- what?
• Now, THAT'S the way to do a kid sidekick! Bravo!
• Don Cheadle IS a big improvement over Terrence Howard.
• Yeah, it's good to have AIM in place.
• The world tends to hate Gwyneth Paltrow and I don't know why; I can only muster mild annoyance. Even her being named People magazine's "World's Most Beautiful Woman" doesn't bring me to a boil. (Her? She wouldn't make my top 100, and maybe not even my top 500! Are they serious?) But she was just fine here.
• Could someone else be Tony Stark after Robert Downey's take? He's made role his in the way that Sean Connery made James Bond, Clayton Moore made The Lone Ranger, and Jack Webb made Joe Friday.
• It's a very comic book thing to have the kid sidekick tell Stark to solve his problem by making things, so Stark goes to a Home Depot or Wal-Mart or Loews or whatever it was and buys up a bunch of stuff to make tranquilizer darts and stun grenades ... instead of just going to a gun shop and buying a couple of pistols and a few boxes of ammunition.
• I did expect, and kept wondering, why Tony never called in S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Air Force One -- WOW!
• The Mandarin -- really? Really?
• Finally, Tony did something I had been wondering ever since the first movie why he hadn't done it -- gone to a proper hospital and had the shrapnel taken out.
• Oh, and make sure to stay around until the end of the credits!

I have to say, overall, I liked this a bit less than the first two. Compared to them, it seemed a bit grim and glum -- oddly enough, it seemed so as it was trying to top those two in can-you-believe-what-you-just-saw spectacle (Air Force One -- WOW!). But overall, it's a good movie, and well worth it in its own right, unlike Iron Man 2, which seemed too much like a setup for The Avengers movie.

[Kirk G]

My family spotted that Rhodey wasn't as well-built in this movie, and I was a bit surprised not to have caught that it was a different actor.  Ditto, my daughter says that Pepper Potts has been recast as well.   I didn't catch that one.

Yes, i agree that Robert Downey Jr. has made his mark and indelibly, Tony Stark will be him just as Sean Conrey originated the role of James Bond and will always be identified as him.

Tell me, what was the point of Harley Kinney (the kid) being introduced and made so thoroughly likeable. My daughter thinks he's going to take the role of Rick Jones when they come to make another Avengers movie.  I was thinking may he was more of a Jim (second name?) in the Incredible Hulk issues, until he died. 

[ClarkKent_DC]

Kirk G said:

My family spotted that Rhodey wasn't as well-built in this movie, and I was a bit surprised not to have caught that it was a different actor.  Ditto, my daughter says that Pepper Potts has been recast as well.   I didn't catch that one.

Your daughter's mistaken; there's only been one Pepper Potts, and that's Gwyneth Paltrow in all three Iron Man movies and The Avengers movie.

Terrence Howard was Jim Rhodes in the first Iron Man movie. Oddly enough, he was the first actor signed, and the highest paid; at the time, he was hot because of his Oscar nomination for Hustle and Flow. But director Jon Favreau wasn't that thrilled with his performance, and, well, Robert Downey is the star of the franchise. Once Iron Man became a hit and they readied a sequel, they offered Howard a pay cut -- 40 percent, take it or leave it. Then they didn't give him time to accept or decline.

Kirk G said:

Tell me, what was the point of Harley Kinney (the kid) being introduced and made so thoroughly likeable. My daughter thinks he's going to take the role of Rick Jones when they come to make another Avengers movie.  I was thinking may he was more of a Jim (second name?) in the Incredible Hulk issues, until he died.

The name you're looking for is "Jim Wilson."

[Jason Marconnet (Pint sized mod)]

I saw the movie Friday night and loved it. I'm not sure I liked it better than the first. I did like it a lot more than the second one. Iron Man 2 to me made Tony and Pepper more unlikable. Iron Man 3 rebounded and made them slightly more down to earth. Also it was good that Don Cheadle had more to do. True, he was in the beginning and then at the end but it was good to see him kick butt without using the uniform.

 

I liked the twists this one had. I'm a huge Guy Pierce fan was happy to see him put Tony through the ringer.

 

This one had a new director, Shane Black. Black has a background in action buddy comedies such as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (check this one if you haven't seen it) . He also wrote the screenplay for the first Lethal Weapon and the Last Boy Scout. This movie at times felt like one of those which I liked.

 

I have read a lot of the modern Iron Man comics. I read Extremis which is a good story but extremis in the book is different than in the movie but that's ok. I did read some of the Cival War stuff and about his time as director of SHIELD. The majority of my Iron Man experience was Matt Fraction's run that recently wrapped up. This had the feel of all of those. SPOILER- it was cool seeing all the different Iron Man armors in action. I Think I even saw his newest yellow and black armor.

[Richard Willis]

I just (finally) saw Iron Man 3. My wife and I and the couple we were with all really enjoyed it.

Don Cheadle played Rhodey in Iron Man 2, also. I agree he was a big improvement over Terrence Howard.

I'm not familiar with the Extremis storyline. I thought it was really strong, and loved the take on the Mandarin. Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall were great, as were the more prominent Extremis minions. Ben Kingsley can do no wrong. He has tremendous range as an actor, as do Downey, Cheadle, and Pearce. 

As for Gwyneth Paltrow, she's always been pretty but I think they did her a disservice when they named her Most Beautiful Woman. She's never been that, and at 40 is noticably less pretty (as are the rest of us as we age). If you get a chance to see the movie Hook, she plays the version of Wendy Darling who makes Peter decide that growing up might not be so bad. She was 18/19 at the time, playing a younger girl, and was something to see. 

[Captain Comics]

The movie was 'loosely based' on the Extremis storyline. The two share some surface similarities, but are really two different stories. And the comic-book one was good, too -- you should check it out if you're needing a Shellhead fix.

[Jason Marconnet (Pint sized mod)]

I agree. The original Extemis storyline was very good and my official introduction to shell head.

Captain Comics said:

The movie was 'loosely based' on the Extremis storyline. The two share some surface similarities, but are really two different stories. And the comic-book one was good, too -- you should check it out if you're needing a Shellhead fix.