There’s a scene in the new Iron Man 3 where a bombing kills a group of innocent spectators at an event. It has the unfortunate timing to be released only a few weeks after the Boston Marathon bombing — the surface similarities are jarring — but it does drive home the feeling that this, indeed, is the world in which we live.

The movie was completed well before the explosions in Boston occurred, of course, but explosions that kill innocents are, sadly, nothing new.

It could be argued that Iron Man is the Marvel hero most in touch with the world we live in. Captain America was born of optimism, Thor has roots in history and mythology and Spider-Man has a certain familiar angst, but it feels like we’re living in Iron Man’s reality. Optimism has been replaced by resolve, with the hope that technology can save us from what other technology has created.

In the third outing for the character (or the fourth, if you count last summer’s The Avengers as Iron Man 2.5), and the seventh time we’ve visited this particular cinematic universe, the on-screen world feels more lived in this time. While the excitement of the first flight in the armor in Iron Man (for my money, the best scene of that movie) might not be there, it’s replaced by a comfort of knowing these characters and how things work. This movie comes close to bridging the gap between a blockbuster movie and a great television series, where we come to really get to know the characters. Iron Man 3 really takes advantage of this. It’s refreshing to be able to move beyond the origin story, where the creators can rightly expect us to be familiar with the characters and the concepts and just start telling a story.

Read more »