The first full trailer for Iron Man 3 premiered in the wee hours of the morning today, and it’s super cool. We get a good look at Ben Kingsley as Mandarin, and at his evil plan (to blow up Tony Stark, apparently), plus Guy Pearce is in there looking all nefarious. I love when Guy Pearce is a bad guy. We also get the usual crew, all sorts of armour, and a Tony Stark that seems to be experiencing some PTSD after what went down in The Avengers. Let’s check it out:
I am so excited!! To me, Iron Man was the first superhero movie that really captured the spirit of comic books and translated it onto the big screen well. X2: X-Men United was really good, but then X-Men 3 came along and just murdered the franchise. I hated the Spider-Man movies (because I hate Spider-Man, but also because they weren’t good), really didn’t dig Batman Begins, and let’s not even talk about Superman Returns.
But Iron Man was something else entirely. It was fresh and new, with a charismatic lead who was a really surprising choice at the time. Remember when we were all “Robert Downey, Jr.? Really?”, because we were… how silly of us. And we all loved Jon Favreau for Elf, but a superhero movie? Admit it, you were dubious, especially since Iron Man was sort of a B-character at best at the time. And it turned out so fun and fantastic and set the tone for all the great Marvel movies that followed.
Anyway, all of that to say that I really dig the Iron Man franchise, and I’m excited to see what Shane Black does with it. From this first trailer, it looks like it’s got some serious potential.
TIM HANLEY 