As such, Stark is transported to a remote place, far from his lab and girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). It\u2019s taken him full circle, from being being trapped in the deserts of Afghanistan and battling the Ten Rings terrorist group, to crash-landing in Tennessee and pitted against Marvel\u2019s leader of the Ten Rings, the Mandarin, played with all the acting range that warrants Ben Kingsley\u2019s knighthood. Like all villains in the Iron Man movie universe, however, he\u2019s been stripped of his alien connections and made relevant by turning him into \u201cthe ultimate modern-day terrorist\u201d. He punctuates the movie with threatening Bin Laden-like messages and, after Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is badly injured in an attack, Stark decides to leave his own public message, inviting the Mandarin to his Malibu mansion.<\/p>\n
Aside from the obvious ties to Warren Ellis\u2019 Extremis<\/em> mini-series (2005), Iron Man 3 also puts its own spin on Daniel and Charles Knauf\u2019s Haunted<\/em> arc, where Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) believes she\u2019s working for the good of the world, but the Extremis virus is actually being used to take down Tony Stark. In the movie, Extremis co-creator and founder of AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics), Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) uses the treatment to undergo a makeover. It turns out he\u2019s been suffering from a severe bout of the uglies, so his drive to develop this virus doesn\u2019t seem as well-intentioned as Rhys Ifans\u2019 Dr Curt Connors in The Amazing Spider-Man<\/em>. Instead, he treads the well-worn path of rejected victim to supervillain, but at least he has more of a plan than Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer and Mickey Rourke’s Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2<\/em>. Perhaps they were looking for a way to shoehorn the striking visual of Stark carving a path through the snow with his battered Iron Man suit behind him, looking like a Marvel-branded sleigh. The cold climes and blue tones will give Film Studies students plenty of textual analysis ammunition but the rest of are left feeling like we\u2019ve wandered into one of those year-round Christmas shops. We\u2019re sure a re-watch in 7-8 months time will have us feeling festive, though, particularly the ET<\/em> moment where young boy Harley (Ty Simpkins) discovers the broken-down superhero in his shed. Steven Spielberg would never have signed off on Stark\u2019s retort to Harley\u2019s dad disappearing six years ago, though: \u201cWell, that happens. There\u2019s no need to be a pussy about it.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Iron-Man-3_01\"](\"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Iron-Man-3_011.jpg\")
<\/a>Fighting on the side of Uncle Sam is War Machine (Don Cheadle), rebranded as the Iron Patriot. He\u2019s given plenty more to do in this film, aside from defending his new name from a sardonic Tony Stark, and even Pepper has her own arc (plus a nod to Rescue from the comic-books). But perhaps the most talked about supporting cast member \u2013 whose appearance in the trailer kick-started its own Twitter feed \u2013 is the Giant Bunny. It turns out to be a Christmas present for Pepper, and we can\u2019t decide what\u2019s weirder: the realisation that Stark has no idea what women want in their stocking, or that this is a spring-timed movie set in December. Isn\u2019t terrorism awful no matter what the time of year?<\/p>\n