Ben Grimm, this thread is for you

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Moon 17 wrote:

I have to say, I didn't care at all for Iron Man 3, but the Mandarin was my favorite part of the film.

The suggestion that one of Marvel's most iconic villains was just a puppet scare tactic, and the accompanying thematic suggestion that the threat of international terrorism is in some sense a chimera or bogey--those were cool ideas. If the Mandarin had been propped up by a real villain and not just a very poorly developed jealous scientist guy, the twist might have worked.

What they really wasted in that movie was AIM (which didn't include a single HAZMAT suit scientist), most of Iron Man's suits (which could be smashed apart by bloody trucks), and Tony Stark's performance issues and PTSD problems (which could have been interesting if fleshed out and/or paired with his alcoholism).

I loved the part where Stark keeps calling for the armor and nothing happens. The goons had some great lines.