Only Shane Black could strip away everything about Iron Man and somehow make the best Iron Man film out of Christmas, a box of scraps, and plucky know-how.
It will always be subversive when you get Shane Black to do anything. The third instalment of the Iron Man trilogy has an uneasy relationship with fans, largely due to the fake-out Mandarin reveal and the fact that it is much less Iron Man and much more Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). The festive winter setting dovetails closely with the thematic complexities Black explores in Iron Man 3, as Tony has reached the winter of his inner discontent. It’s an ironic commentary that the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist is stripped of almost everything at the happiest and most celebratory time of the year.
What many misunderstand about the greatness of Iron Man 3 is that it’s an interrogation of why it has to be Tony Stark in the Iron Man suit; it can’t just be anyone. Similar parallels can be noticed in Tony’s speech to Peter in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which is undoubtedly a valuable lesson he learned from his challenging debacle in this more sombre approach. The Marvel Cinematic Universe often pushes Iron Man to the forefront of what makes him superpowered, when it’s truthfully always been Tony’s dogmatic intelligence and, ultimately, his heroic nature. Just as Obadiah Stane remarks in the original, “Tony Stark built this in a cave, with a box of scraps!” It’s a surprisingly intimate interrogation of Tony Stark —not just as a human, but also of what makes him uniquely powerful compared to his superpowered counterparts.
In an interview for The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black explained his reasoning for setting his rendition at Christmas is because “it creates its own little encapsulated event in time … Christmas bands together and cements a story. You feel like there’s a common unity among all the people in it.”
It brings Tony Stark back down to earth, forcing him to walk among everyone and think on his feet. It also conveys powerful emotional resonance in the mental and emotional strength Tony must continue to display in the face of absolute adversity. His intelligence is like a shining beacon in the dark malaise of the snowy night, with his trusty helper/agitator, Harley, at his side. There’s an undeniable magic to their scenes together, and it was long speculated whether that was a more magical manifestation of Tony’s own subconsciousness (debunked following Harley’s appearance in Endgame at Tony’s funeral).
It’s one of the few Marvel properties to fully incorporate the sentimentality and natural magic of the world, encapsulated within a holiday like Christmas. Only Shane Black could strip away everything about Iron Man and somehow make the best Iron Man film out of Christmas, a box of scraps, and plucky know-how.
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