I’m so sorry that everyone on the internet has decided to have the worst opinions when it comes to Marvel movies, but while talking about the worst movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you best keep Iron Man 3 out ya mouth. Easily the best movie in the Iron Man trilogy (yes, I am including regular old Iron Man in that, but it’s just because I like how deep Iron Man 3 goes into Tony’s anxieties and struggles), I think that Iron Man 3 gets a bad rap because it pushed the envelope, which then informed movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier in the emotional impact these situations have on their characters.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s first get into why we all decided to take to Twitter.com to share our terrible movie opinions. It all started with this one tweet. Just a user who uses #BullshitMafia in their name posting their (bad) opinion about Captain Marvel.
We can all agree that Captain Marvel is the worst MCU movie pic.twitter.com/Y5YpigV3dR
— Slumpy Mark #BullshitMafia (@markthaslump) March 22, 2020
So, the rest of Twitter went on to share their actual feelings about the MCU, and while Thor: The Dark World was unsurprisingly one of the most talked-about movies in that conversation, it quickly switched to talking about Iron Man 3. And honestly, I just saw red.
Let me first get into why Iron Man 3 is one of my top five Marvel movies.
First of all, it doesn’t sugarcoat anything happening to these heroes. Tony Stark was thrust into space to try to save the world in The Avengers, and came crashing back down into the arms of Bruce Banner. He wouldn’t just walk away from that and be absolutely fine.
And secondly, I love Iron Man 3 because it then informs Tony’s actions throughout the rest of the MCU.
The thing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s interconnectivity is that all these movies inform each other. So when it is established that Tony Stark struggles with anxiety, it is how I then view his actions from that movie onward. While watching Captain America: Civil War, another one of my favorite movies in the MCU, I see his actions through that lens.
Yes, he’s acting irrationally at points because he’s coping with what happened to him and trying to fight through his own anxiety to do what needs to be done. If it’s confirmed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier that Steve Rogers will, no matter the cost, do whatever it takes to save Bucky Barnes without it constantly being brought up, then I have the right to assume that many of Tony Stark’s actions are informed by his established anxiety issues.
On top of Iron Man 3 informing Tony’s actions throughout the rest of the MCU, it also brings to light his desire to help everyone, even children. He meets Harley Keener, and while I truly DO believe that the earlier “playboy” Tony Stark would have at least helped, he wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble that Tony Stark did in Iron Man 3.
Maybe I love it because it bled into how Tony reacted to Peter Parker, and then his own kid. Maybe Iron Man 3 is the movie I actually started to love-love Tony Stark instead of love-hate him. Whatever my reasoning, Iron Man 3 is an extremely important movie to Tony Stark’s story arc, and the fact that people are saying it’s the worst movie in the MCU? Get your bad opinions out of here!
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
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