Iron Man 3

Disney and Marvel enter the vaunted second phase of their multi-character comic book franchise with the Armored Avenger (Robert Downey, Jr.) leading the way. The third installment of

May 1, 2013 at 11:49 am

Disney and Marvel enter the vaunted second phase of their multi-character comic book franchise with the Armored Avenger (Robert Downey, Jr.) leading the way. The third installment of the Iron Man saga introduces a new director — former spec screenwriting king Shane Black taking over for Jon Favreau — and finds the slick hero suffering a bit of an existential crisis following the fallout from the thwarted alien invasion of The Avengers. With the arrival of the Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley), a familiar foe from the comics and a new thread involving “Extremis” nanotechnology, ambition seems to be driving Marvel to reach for the stars. And who better to kick things off with than Downey, the newly minted box office golden boy? Now in theaters. (PG-13) Not screened in time for review