Kevin Feige dishes on the villains, themes, and Shane Black-isms of Iron Man 3

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Speaking to both The West Australian and Empire magazine, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige had plenty to spill on the upcoming sequel to the Iron Man franchise, IRON MAN 3 (with a comment from Robert Downey Jr. as well).  Feige has always been forward with information regarding the Marvel properties, but careful not to give away essential details that could possibly spoil them.  As the torch-bearer for the studio, Feige has seemingly done a tremendous job, so when he wants to spill some info on an upcoming sequel, we listen. 

Feige tackles a broad set of topics, from the reaction to the first trailer’s tone to Robert Downey Jr.s on-set injury to the arrival of the villainous Mandarin.

On the “serious” tone that the first trailer implies:

“It’s not a serious movie, but we seriously dig into exploring more of Tony. The trick is just trying to make great movies. We try to make them all great, all different and all fresh. What you’ll see in Iron Man 3 is some very unique directions that were taken.”

On the size and scope of the sequel:

“We’re not aiming for bigger, necessarily. We’re aiming for different and fresh and new. It’s all about capturing that lightning-in-a-bottle feel, about trying to get as much into this as we can. We’re looking to get a ton of thrills into a short space, to make a nice little stew for you.”

Robert Downey Jr. on the comparison success to THE AVENGERS:

“You can dissect why it was the right movie with the right people and the right director at the time. But we feel the same way about Iron Man 3 now.”

On Robert Downey Jr.’s on-set injury and what it did for the production:

“Robert is very gung-ho about doing his own stunts, but he’s also very safety conscious and aware of his limitations. He wasn’t even attempting to do anything above or beyond what would be considered safe – it was just a wire-assisted leap from one platform to another, and he came down in the wrong position on that ankle. It was a good old fashioned accident. The silver lining was that Shane started to work on the cut and continued to work on the script, and hone and refine the movie itself.”

On The Destruction Of Tony Stark’s Malibu mansion:

“It’s an amazing sequence. The first time we looked at an animatic of that sequence was well over a year ago. It was one of the first signs that Shane was going to bring a level of spectacle you hadn’t necessarily seen before, as well as all the Shane Blackisms that this movie is chock-full of.”

On the “risk” factor of IRON MAN 3:

“Avengers was a risk. Casting Robert Downey was a risk. We like taking those kinds of risks, and Iron Man 3 is full of risks. I wouldn’t say those risks were ratcheted up or down because of the success of The Avengers. It basically boosted our confidence that the risky way to go is often the best way to go.”

On how the events of THE AVENGERS has affected Tony Stark for the sequel:

“This is all about how he was affected by the events of The Avengers, and how his world and mindset can be affected by that. By the end of Avengers, when a portal is opened up in Manhattan and he’s met Thor and The Hulk and the Chitauri are coming down on him, he realises that he doesn’t know everything; we think that has had an effect on his psyche, and then his world is blown out from underneath him.”

On seeing The Mandarin finally realized onscreen:

“Early – and very late – drafts of Iron Man 1 featured The Mandarin as a villain. The Mandarin is his most famous foe in the comics mainly because he’s been around the longest. If you look, there’s not necessarily a definitive Mandarin storyline in the comics. So it was really about having an idea. In terms of the Fu Manchu stereotyping that was involved, we never had any interest in that. He’s relentless. Assuming that he’s the one responsible for what happens to Tony’s house, no other villain has been able to strike that fast and that hard at one of our heroes. He’s very much about believing that the world needs to learn, and he wants to bend the world to his vision.”

On War Machine becoming Iron Patriot:

“The notion in the movie is that a red, white and blue suit is a bold statement, and it’s meant to be. With Rhodey, he’s very much the foil to Tony’s eccentricities, and in this one you get to see this and be reminded of the trust and friendship between them in that great Shane Black buddy-cop fashion.”

On cameos vs. standalone characters:

“Iron Man 3 doesn’t feature any of the other Avengers, or Nick Fury showing up, or any of those world-blending conceits that the Phase One films had. You have to keep in mind that Iron Man 3 had been in the works for almost a year, year and a half before The Avengers was released. We’re sticking to the vision for these films, and showing once again that these characters are just as interesting alone as they are together.”

On the action quotient for the film:

“There’s more suit action in Iron Man 3 than there is in any of the other movies. But there’s also more Tony Stark action – just Tony as Tony when he’s not in the suit – in Iron Man 3.”

I love that everyone seems so in tune with Shane Black doing what Shane Black does.  The commeraderie, the “buddy cop” interactions, and the pithy, snarky dialogue.  I couldn’t be more excited about his involvement in the film, so for me, IRON MAN 3 has become the most anticpated of the franchise. 

Directed by Shane Black and starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall, Guy Pearce, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau, William Sadler, and Paul Bettany, IRON MAN 3 starts rebuilding on May 3, 2013.