50 Fun Facts About Iron Man 3

Who directed Iron Man 3?

Shane Black recalls getting the call from Robert Downey Jr. himself: the star rang in 2010 to ask the man who had directed him in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang to write and direct an Iron Man film.

Who co-wrote the Iron Man 3 screenplay with its director?

Drew Pearce won the job with his script for Runaways, a Marvel film about supervillains' children; the studio put that project on hold and moved him to Tony Stark instead.

Which comic storyline primarily influenced the plot of Iron Man 3?

Extremis gave the film its treatment that heals crippling injuries; when a soldier's body rejects it he explodes, and the villains pass the blasts off as terrorist bombings.

Who plays Aldrich Killian in Iron Man 3?

Guy Pearce was no fan of superhero films but called this part "cameo stuff", more fun because he could work in concentrated spurts.

Which actor appears as the Mandarin in Iron Man 3's threatening broadcasts?

Ben Kingsley gave the Mandarin the steady tones of an earnest teacher or preacher, reasoning that a familiar, fatherly voice would unsettle Western audiences more than a screaming villain.

In Iron Man 3, who is the Mandarin revealed to be?

An actor named Trevor Slattery fronts the broadcasts: a washed-up British performer hired by Killian, he is oblivious to the bombings carried out in his name.

The US President in Iron Man 3 takes his surname from which comics writer?

Warren Ellis wrote the comic arc the film borrows its super-soldier treatment from, so the script names its President, played by William Sadler, Matthew Ellis.

What is James Rhodes's armor rebranded as in Iron Man 3?

Iron Patriot is a villain's armor in the comics, worn by Norman Osborn; in the film the President has Rhodes repaint War Machine red, white and blue to be the government's own American hero.

In Iron Man 3, Stark's AI flies his damaged suit from Malibu to which state?

Tennessee's Rose Hill borrows its name from a real place: the small-town scenes were filmed in Rose Hill, North Carolina, and the script kept the name.

In Iron Man 3, what is the name of the boy who helps Stark fix his suit?

Harley Keener is left by the roadside when Stark moves on, but the film ends with his garage refitted with a hoard of new engineering equipment as thanks.

Iron Man 3 was based at EUE/Screen Gems Studios in which North Carolina city?

Wilmington gave the film more than soundstages: its working port stood in for the dock where the final battle rages around an oil tanker.

What working title was Iron Man 3 filmed under?

Caged Heat was the code name on calls for extras in North Carolina, though the local paper reporting them had already worked out which film it was hiding.

Iron Man 3 held its world premiere outside the US, at the Grand Rex cinema in which city?

Paris saw it first, with Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow on the carpet, and much of the world then got the film a week before American cinemas did.

Iron Man 3 was the first film of which MCU phase?

Two opens with Stark on his own by design: producer Kevin Feige wanted him stripped of everything, saying he can't call Thor, he can't call Cap.

Iron Man 3 finished as 2013's second-highest-grossing film worldwide, behind which animated hit?

Frozen took the year's crown, but $1.2 billion was some return on a gamble: Marvel had handed its $200 million sequel to a director with one film behind him.

When Iron Man 3 opened in the US, which film had the only bigger opening weekend?

The Avengers had opened to $207.4 million a year earlier, and analysts put Iron Man 3's $174.1 million down to audiences treating it as that film's follow-up, not Iron Man 2's.

Who composed the score for Iron Man 3?

Brian Tyler dropped the rock edge of the first two films, AC/DC and all, and gave Stark an old-fashioned orchestral hero's march instead.

Iron Man 3's score was recorded with the London Philharmonic at which studio?

Abbey Road hosted a deliberate throwback: Marvel wanted a theme you could hum, and the composer took Raiders of the Lost Ark as his model.

Who cameos uncredited in the post-credits scene of Iron Man 3?

Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner turns out to be the listener for Stark's whole narration, and he dozed off near the start, protesting that he is not that kind of doctor.

What role does Stan Lee play in his Iron Man 3 cameo?

A beauty pageant judge: Stan Lee pops up on a television monitor, beaming as he holds up a 10 for one of the contestants.

Which future star appears uncredited as the vice president's daughter in Iron Man 3?

Jenna Ortega, later the star of Wednesday, called it one of her first jobs and said Marvel "took all my lines out", leaving a brief shot of the girl whose cure buys her father's betrayal.

Which Hong Kong star turned down the role of Dr. Wu in Iron Man 3?

Andy Lau was in talks to play the surgeon but pulled out to spend time with his newborn daughter, and mainland actor Wang Xueqi took the part.

Which actress plays Dr. Wu's assistant in the China-only cut of Iron Man 3?

Fan Bingbing helps Dr. Wu operate on Stark in scenes made for Chinese audiences, yet bloggers there complained that the extra footage was packed with product placement.

Which late-1990s dance hit plays as Iron Man 3 opens at a New Year's Eve party in 1999?

Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Eiffel 65 scores the party in Bern where Stark turns away a scientist with a pitch, a rejection that comes back to haunt him years later.

Around which holiday is Iron Man 3 set?

Christmas lets the film borrow from Dickens: its director spoke of a ghost of Christmas past visiting Stark, and the final battle is over as Christmas morning begins.

Which character led the villains' operation in the first draft of Iron Man 3?

Maya Hansen was first written as the mastermind, a reveal the director likened to Remington Steele: you think it's the man, but the woman has been running the whole show.

Why was Iron Man 3's original lead villain replaced by Killian?

Merchandising concerns arrived as a memo: the director said Marvel's corporate side had decided a female villain's toy would not sell as well, so the script was rewritten.

Which actress replaced Jessica Chastain in Iron Man 3 after scheduling clashes?

Rebecca Hall signed on for what she called a substantial role, then saw it cut back during the shoot; the director later confirmed her character had once been bigger.

Iron Man 3's only Oscar nomination, for visual effects, lost to which 2013 space film?

Gravity won; the Iron Man 3 effects teams had even built a digital Robert Downey Jr. to stand in for shots the star could not film after he was hurt on set.

Which skydiving team performed the Air Force One rescue falls in Iron Man 3?

Red Bull's freefall team made the jumps for real, in ordinary clothes with parachutes hidden underneath, after plans to fake the scene against green screen were dropped.

What did Robert Downey Jr. suffer on the Iron Man 3 set that halted production?

An ankle injury during a stunt stopped the shoot in August 2012; Downey shrugged it off, saying the break at least gave the writers time for more script revisions.

Who finally kills Aldrich Killian at the end of Iron Man 3?

Pepper Potts survives a deadly fall because Killian had dosed her with his own treatment, and she uses the strength it gave her to finish him: the hostage rescues the hero.

In Iron Man 3, Stark likens catching 13 falling passengers to which children's game?

Barrel of Monkeys, where players hook toy monkeys into a chain, is his plan: each falling passenger grabs the next until he can carry them all down together.

What recurring problem plagues Tony Stark throughout Iron Man 3?

Anxiety attacks strike whenever the battle of New York comes up, and a psychologist judged the film an accurate picture of post-traumatic stress, down to Stark denying he has it.

What natural references did Iron Man 3's effects artists study for its glowing enhanced soldiers?

Decaying fruit and the aurora borealis kept the glow organic: the effects supervisor wanted to steer clear of a medical look for men who glow orange and explode.

In Iron Man 3, which British drama is the favourite show of Stark's security chief?

Downton Abbey is his show because "he thinks it's elegant", Stark tells a nurse, so a scene with Sybil and Branson plays on the television over his hospital bed.

What does Tony Stark throw into the sea at the end of Iron Man 3?

His arc reactor is obsolete once surgeons remove the shrapnel it kept from his heart, and he reflects that even without it he will always be Iron Man.

What was the title of the concept album released alongside Iron Man 3's score?

Heroes Fall gathered twelve indie and alternative rock acts, from Imagine Dragons to Passion Pit, yet only one of its songs, by Awolnation, is actually heard in the film.

In Iron Man 3, Stark tracks the Mandarin's broadcasts to a waterfront mansion in which city?

Miami's Vizcaya, a villa from the 1910s that is now a museum, played the lair, which Stark storms with nothing but home-made weapons.

A blast at which Hollywood landmark leaves Stark's security chief in a coma in Iron Man 3?

TCL Chinese Theatre had sold its name less than two weeks before the scene was shot: the buyer was a Chinese electronics firm whose televisions also appear in the film.

Which Marvel One-Shot follows on from Iron Man 3's Mandarin storyline?

All Hail the King catches up with the film's Mandarin in prison, where a visiting film-maker reveals that a genuine Ten Rings exists and breaks him out to face its leader.

Which state lost Iron Man 3 to North Carolina in a contest over tax incentives?

Michigan raised its offer to match the $20 million on the table, a state senator said, but Marvel chose the rival whose money was guaranteed rather than waiting on a legislature.

Which Iron Man 3 character is played by Jon Favreau, director of the first two films?

Happy Hogan kept Jon Favreau on screen after he gave up the director's chair: promoted from bodyguard to head of security, he spends much of the film in a coma.

What is the name of Aldrich Killian's company in Iron Man 3?

Advanced Idea Mechanics, the science arm of Hydra in the comics, is here the think tank Stark brushed off at a 1999 party, a snub its founder never forgave.

Which future Falcon actor auditioned for the Mandarin role?

He would go on to play Sam Wilson starting with Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Whose funeral pushed the UK premiere of Iron Man 3 back by a day?

Margaret Thatcher's funeral procession was to cross central London to St Paul's on the planned date, 17 April 2013, so Disney moved its red carpet to the next day.

Which studio took 9% of Iron Man 3's box office without releasing it?

Paramount had released the first two films, and when Disney bought out its distribution rights in 2010 the deal promised it that cut of the worldwide gross.

Which Apocalypse Now character influenced the Mandarin of Iron Man 3?

Colonel Kurtz, Marlon Brando's renegade officer, was the model: the film-makers pictured a former intelligence man gone rogue who cloaks himself in borrowed symbols.

In Iron Man 3, which unusual ability does Killian gain from long exposure to his own treatment?

Breathing fire comes from the comics, where the treatment's first test subject does it too; Killian uses the trick to shock a cornered James Rhodes into surrender.

Ty Simpkins reprised his Iron Man 3 role in a cameo in which later film?

Avengers: Endgame puts him, now a teenager, among the mourners at Stark's funeral, a wordless shot that left many viewers asking who that kid was.