Robert Downey Jr. clutches lady love in new ‘Iron Man 3’ poster

Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. in new “Iron Man 3″ poster. (Marvel)

Robert Downey Jr. — er, make that Tony Stark — appears battle-worn and beleaguered as he clutches his lady love close in the new “Iron Man 3″ poster.

Downey and Gwyneth Paltrow, who plays Pepper in Marvel’s blockbuster franchise, strike that classic superhero pose as black metal iron men rise around them into skies marked by smoke and missiles.

The poster — here’s the full image — is the latest in a Tony Stark drumbeat that shows no signs of slowing between now and the film’s May 3 release.

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And it appears that’s just the way fans like it.

Just this week alone, we’ve learned choice details from the third installment in the franchise, including this chilling line: “I’m going to offer you a choice. Do you want an empty life or a meaningful death?”

The question is posed by Oscar-winner Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin, the antagonist to Tony Stark’s inventor-without-a-budget in the newly released trailer. As Hero Complex reported, the clip revolves around theflat-out destruction of Stark’s cliff-side home.

Also revealed this week: Disney, Marvel, and Audi announced that Stark will drive an all-electric  Audi R8 E-Tron in the film. And Paltrow’s Pepper Potts earned her own movie poster, in which she cradles Iron Man’s badly damaged head gear with a haunted look on her face, seemingly intended to make fans wonder: Is he dead? Did he just leave it behind? What is going on?

What do you think about this relentless publicity campaign for “Iron Man 3″? Do you enjoy the tantalizing tease of it all? Or do you fear it will just make the real thing feel like a rerun?

– Rene Lynch
@ReneLynch

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