Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
  • News
    • Campus
    • Local
    • World
  • Arts and Entertainment
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Music
    • Film
    • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
    • Campus Happenings
    • Community Happenings
    • Food
    • Business
    • Travel
    • Calendar
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Video
    • Globe News
    • What’s Bruin
    • Bruin Lens
    • Film
    • Music
    • Globe Shorts
  • Radio
Search
91.6 F
Salt Lake City
Saturday, July 12, 2025
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Contests
  • About The Globe
    • Staff
    • Jobs
    • Issue PDFs
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
The Globe The Globe
The Globe The Globe
  • News
    • Campus
    • Local
    • World
  • Arts and Entertainment
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Music
    • Film
    • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
    • Campus Happenings
    • Community Happenings
    • Food
    • Business
    • Travel
    • Calendar
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Video
    • Globe News
    • What’s Bruin
    • Bruin Lens
    • Film
    • Music
    • Globe Shorts
  • Radio
Home Arts and Entertainment Movie review: ‘Iron Man 3’ the best Marvel movie yet
  • Arts and Entertainment
  • Don't Miss
  • Film

Movie review: ‘Iron Man 3’ the best Marvel movie yet

By
Stephen Romney
-
May 3, 2013
0

Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark in "Iron Man 3"
Robert Downey, Jr. reprises his role as Tony Stark for Iron Man 3. (Courtesy of Marvel Studios)

Here we are at the beginning of Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, once again starting where Phase One began, with none other than Tony Stark, aka the Invincible Iron Man.

Click here for the video review

There’s been a multitude of speculation, ranging from which potential Avenger will make an appearance, who the villains are and the ultimate fate of the franchise, with the recent news that Robert Downey Jr.’s contract with Marvel Studios is about to expire with negotiations currently on-going.

After the capstone that was The Avengers, how will Phase Two build upon and expand the cinematic universe while raising the stakes for the heroes? Only time will tell as we begin with Iron Man 3, followed by Thor: The Dark World, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier throughout the end of this year and culminating next summer with The Avengers 2.

Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle and Gwyneth Paltrow reprise their roles as the story picks one year after the events of The Avengers, those same events having left Tony Stark a nervous wreck plagued by anxiety attacks.

On top of that, a rival company known as Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM, has begun to make its presence with Extremis Project, a project specializing in the re-growth of lost limbs and the “reprogramming” of the human brain. To add to the list of Stark’s stressors, a string of mysterious bombings and strikes perpetrated by a terrorist calling himself The Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley, has the country on edge.

This is a huge step up from the previous Iron Man film in terms of story and execution

While the second Iron Man was more or less used to expand the universe, this film feels more like a sequel and actually moves things forward in terms of story and character development.

This is shown particularly well with what Tony Stark goes through during the film, as he deals with the anxiety caused by the massive attack in New York as well as the weight of the responsibility being Iron Man entails. While we still have the usual quips and retorts, we also get to see Stark be resourceful and genuinely clever when it comes to dealing with The Mandarin.

The film does an incredible job of taking a villain, that is far from politically correct, and actually finding a way for the character to work in the grand scheme of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s actually really surprising what the filmmakers were able to come up with.

One thing that had me worried was how dark it initially looked in the early trailers. I was worried that Marvel was going to try to copy Christopher Nolan. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded. While it does get pretty dark at times, it doesn’t lose the heart of the character of Iron Man.

Iron Man 3 is a blast to watch, a major step up from the previous installment. It keeps to the heart of the characters and the universe while moving forward in terms of story and character development. It takes some of the riskier concepts of the Marvel Universe and creates a believable interpretation that, while grounded in reality, still embraces its comic book root.

The news of Downey’s expiring contract definitely had an impact as it ends on a very conclusive note while still leaving room for films in the future. Overall, any fan of superhero movies will get a kick out of it. On my personal scale, I give Iron Man 3 a 5/5.

  • TAGS
  • Comics
  • Iron Man 3
  • Marvel
  • Movie Review
  • Robert Downey Jr.
  • superhero movies
  • The Avengers
Stephen Romney

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Butterflies flying around Roz the robot

Film review: ‘The Wild Robot’

Panel 1: Student 1 grabs "USA Flakes" cereal box from selection of "Asia Puffs" and "Coco Islands" and says, "This is one of my favorite brands. I can't wait to share it with you!" Panel 2: Student 2, wearing tank top, says "That good huh?" Student 1, wearing t-shirt, pours "USA Flakes" cereal into bowls and says, "Oh yeah!" Student 2 replies, "Can't wait to try it, thanks for sharing man." Panel 3: Student 1 says, "Any time! Now let's dig in!" as both students begin to eat cereal. Panel 4: Student 2 makes a strained face, saying "URK!" Panel 5: Student 1, smiling, says "Best in the world right?" as Student 2 makes a "Bleh!" sound while spitting cereal back into bowl. Panel 6: Student 2 looks quizzically at Student 1, who is enjoying the cereal.

Comic: Different ethnicities, different tastes

Panel 1: Student 1 and Student 2 say "Hey" to each other. Panel 2: Student 2 says, "It's been a while. How've you been?" Panel 3: Student 1 smiles in a daze, processing, while Student 2 says, "Hello?" Panel 4: Student 1 continues to smile, processing "How've you been?" Panel 5: Inside Student 1's brain, a light clicks on as miniature humanoids look up Panel 6: As the words "How've you been?" enter Student 1's brain, miniature humanoids cower inside Panel 7: The message "Brain.exe has stopped working" appears as Student 1's eyes glaze over. Student 2 says, "You good?"

Comic: Brain lag

A person, wearing a backwards baseball cap with the words "Spring term" and a shirt with the words "daylight savings" written on the right sleeve, walking while dragging a blanket with a tired person laying on the blanket. Text reads: "Welcome Back Guys! Don't Worry, We're Halfway There"

Comic: Welcome back

Panel 1: Person cowers, screaming "NO NO NO"; Panel 2: Person reaches off frame, shouting "Stay"; Panel 3: Person holds a piano over their head, shouting "BACK" at a second figure; Panel 4: Front view of the second figure, with "Midterms" written on face and "Coming soon" written on t-shirt, saying "Hey, where'd you get that piano from?"; Panel 5: Person throws the piano, smashing the "Midterms" figure.

Comic: It’s coming, again

The Globe
ABOUT US
About The Globe
Staff
Jobs
Issue PDFs
FOLLOW US
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
  • About The Globe
  • Staff
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
© 2025 The Globe