Amph "I Am Iron Man" - Iron Man 3 Discussion Thread

Also, at least in the comics, Stark is driven to make sure his suit is always several generations more advanced than anything anyone else is capable of building or acquiring.

I believe that was one of "The Five Nightmares" that kicked off the spectacular run of Invincible Iron Man (though it wasn't until a couple arcs afterwards that it really hit excellence with the whole Stark Dissembled arc during Dark Reign).

The films mostly portray that too- it's the concept that Ivan being able to build an AR upsets and puts Stark on the defensive against the "sharks" in IM2. I'm also kinda hoping the comment about nightmares in the IM3 trailer eventually ties into the same concept as well, as both a nod to the comics and an evolving theme in the films.

 

We also have the soundtrack listing (not the score):

1. "Ready Aim Fire" – Imagine Dragons
2. "Some Kind of Joke" – AWOLNATION
3. "Some Kind of Monster" – Neon Trees
4. "American Blood" – Passion Pit
5. "No Time" – Rogue Wave
6. "One Minute More" – Capital Cities
7. "Back To The Start"– Mr Little Jeans
8. "Keep Moving" – Andrew Stockdale (of Wolfmother)
9. "Redemption" – Redlight King
10. "Big Bad Wolves" – WALK THE MOON
11. "BAD GUY" – 3OH!3
12. "Let's Go All The Way" – The Wondergirls featuring Ashley Hamilton and Robbie Williams

Seems like a big step down from Iron Man 2 and Avengers Assembled- Redlight King is the only band on there I've even heard of (and, then, only one song, which I haven't been able to figure out if it's actually good or not, heh).

Plus, it'd just be flat-out wrong to not have at least one AC/DC song in the film, even if it's not on the soundtrack...

 

Going to do this as a separate post to make it easier to find, but here's the current Hall of Armor aka "The Wine Cellar":

-Mark 1/I:
-Mark 2/II: "War Machine"
-Mark 3/III:
-Mark 4/IV:
-Mark 5/V:
-Mark 6/VI:
-Mark 7/VII:
...
-War Machine Mark 002: "Iron Patriot"
...
-Mark 17/: "Heartbreaker", Artillery Level RT Suit
...
-Mark 33/XXXIII: "Silver Centurion", Enhanced Energy Suit
...
-Mark 35/XXXV: "Red Snapper", Disaster Rescue Suit
...
-Mark 38/XXXVIII: "Igor", Heavy Lifting Suit
-Mark 39/XXXIX: "Gemini", Sub Orbital Suit
-Mark 40/XL: "Shotgun", Hyper Velocity Suit
...
-Mark 47/XLVII: "?"

(I'll revise the list as we get new ones- this'll make it easier to keep track of.

The Heartbreaker has been my favorite so far, I must say- at least of the variants. 3/4/6 are probably still my favorites overall.

EDIT- It's possible I've heard a song of theirs and just have never heard the band name attached to it, but, still, while that is a matter of taste, at the very least it reflects a shift in tone as far as the music genre goes- they're not mainstream hard rock/alternative bands like they've been doing til now. Looks more like indie rock.

 

It actually seems to be part of the character's arc in the film: he's cranked out 40 suits in the time since Avengers because he feels he needs to be in the suit all the time and be prepared for all possible situations (inter dimensional alien war encounters will do that to ya, it seems, ha).

 

He has ten rings, but it doesn't seem like they have any powers in this version (maybe they'll save that for the character in a sequel if he survives?).

Funny you mention that- the newest run of the comic has Tony turning to a swappable component suit as his latest thing (though, IMO, it feels like a huge step backward from the Bleeding Edge armor).

I think the film reality is you couldn't hot-swap only a few components to get the effects of some of those suits (you can't turn a regular suit into a hulk buster nor can you turn a heavy artillery suit into a lightweight/streamlined speed demon, or another speciality into orbital armor, etc).

Both films underline that Tony is the only one capable of making an RT power source and a functional suit.

Stane and his Stark co engineers couldn't do it- they had to retroengineer the remains if the Mark I and, even then, had to steal the RT from Tony's chest to make the Iron Monger work (despite having access to the large Arc Reactor). ("Tony Stark build this in a cave! With a box of scraps!" "I'm sorry sir, I'm not Tony Stark").

In IM2, they show Iran and North Korea failing at building a suit (though Tony expects them to build one technologically behind his by 5-10 years), while China's demo of Hammertech cripples its pilot and his subsequent efforts were no better ("Software is ****"). Hammer only made a working suit by modding the stolen Mark II.

Only Ivan was able to replicate RT tech between his intelligence and access to his father's plans. And that's what IM2 revolves around.

 

The catch is that it's not just the suits but also the power source. Only Stark and Ivan have made those (Rhodey doesn't let Hammer or the military at the RT itself).

Even the suits people have been able to make are several generations behind Stark's (which is how it is in the comics). And we see Stark take advantage of that in both films to defeat his opponents.

Heck, the only suit that was even able to actually fly was the Iron Monger before Ivan upgraded Hammer's suits into drones. And the Monger seemed to be using more traditional propellants rather than Repulsors (makes sense, given that it was based on the Mark I and Tony didn't implement Repulsors until Mark II).

So all everyone else really has at this point are grounded mech suits running off of traditional power sources.

Just because you can build a gun based on the plans someone else made doesn't mean you can invent gunpowder.

Or, as another example, build a portable electronics device that runs on batteries yet have to invent AA's or a rechargeable lithium ion battery (particularly if you don't even know you should be using lithium and have no test battery to determine such basic data).

 

You're right- at this point it comes down to what Ivan left behind at Hammer.

So, as of IM2's finale, it is possible someone could replicate Stark-like tech.

Ivan seemed to be working pretty secretly though- even Hammer didn't know the drones were combat and flight ready. And he obviously had incentive to not leave any gifts behind for Hammer.

However there's probably something left for others to scrounge up- the genie is out if the bottle, as they said, which would fit the theme of the film.

But, still, prior to that, no one could do it.

Now, Stark just needs to stay ahead of the competition. Having his own new element to power his suits without burning power cores and poisoning pilots is a good start. His advanced deployment options further that end.

 

I still think the second film is underrated even though it does have a notable flaw or two to keep it from being completely satisfying (mostly the lack of a Stark/Ivan scene outside the suits at the end instead of the unneeded suited fight after the drones). Still, I think it'll become more appreciated over time as it becomes more obviously standalone in retrospect.


It's hard to say what direction IM3 will take the proliferation theme exactly. The prequel comic has the Mandarin trying to acquire Starktech via an assault in War Machine, but I think that has more to do with him directly targeting Stark than use of the tech for himself.

However, I think its likely that the proliferation theme will expand away from RTs to Extremis.