Iron Man 3 is the seventh film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series and a direct followup to 2012's The Avengers, whose effects on the titular character here are so profound that this one might as well be called Iron Man 4. Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Last Action Hero) takes over from Iron Man and Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau, though Favreau serves as executive producer and reprises his role as Tony Stark's (Robery Downey Jr.) bodyguard/bro Happy Hogan. In his latest adventure, Tony Stark is dealing with anxiety attacks brought on by his encounter with aliens and gods in Avengers and the existential crisis of realizing just how small he is on a cosmic scale. It's nice to see the events of The Avengers actually matter to someone, since in that movie nothing the villains do has any weight or threat to it. Iron Man 3 is a flawed but ambitious attempt to do something new with these movies while still maintaining the endearingly hammy camp that makes the Iron Man series work.
