Iron Man

So it turns out that rescuing a bunch of people sucked out of a hole in Air Force One at 30,000 feet is actually harder than Robert Downey Jr. makes it look in “Iron Man 3.”  Who knew? The audacious action sequence that occurs midway through director Shane Black’s superhero sequel, known by those on the film crew as the “barrel of monkeys” scene, required a mix of real-world guts and digital ingenuity to pull off. The guts were supplied by the Red Bull skydiving team, who stand in for the crew of the president’s plane in the scene — the effects that placed them believably within the story came from Digital Domain, the VFX shop that created about 250 of the shots in the movie, including 35 different Iron Man suits, a wholly digital Air Force One and a […]

Looks like “Iron Man 3″ director Shane Black is sticking with the world of superheroes for now. Sony announced today that Black will co-write and direct “Doc Savage,” a new film based on the popular pulp hero from the 1930s and ’40s. First introduced in 1933, Clark Savage Jr. was a physician, scientist, inventor and adventurer who had great strength, a photographic memory and was skilled in martial arts.  The character has appeared in comics and on radio and other media — he’s had a movie as well, 1975′s “Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze,” starring Ron Ely. Black, who co-wrote the “Doc Savage” screenplay with Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry, told Hero Complex last month that he would be interested in following “Iron Man 3″ with “an adventure picture,” and “Doc Savage” certainly fits the bill. PHOTOS: Shane Black: […]

“Iron Man 3″ pits genius billionaire Tony Stark, played with panache by Robert Downey Jr., against a terrorist plot that threatens to bring the most powerful people in the world to their knees. But that threat is not quite what it seems. Reader beware: Spoilers lie ahead. Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin may be the face on the posters and the focus of the movie trailers, but lurking in the background is Aldrich Killian, another visionary genius like Stark, but one whose circumstances led him down darker paths. Killian, played by Emmy-winning actor Guy Pearce, is the founder of the private brain trust AIM, which helped develop the Extremis virus. Extremis imparts superhuman strength and regenerative powers to its subjects, and Killian takes full advantage of the effects. In many ways, Killian is a foil for Stark, using his mind (and the […]

Iron Man is back in the multiplex in a big way this weekend with “Iron Man 3,” but the character also features prominently in “Marvel’s Avengers Assemble,” a new animated series set to premiere July 7 on the Marvel Universe block on Disney XD, with a special one-hour sneak preview on May 26. Hero Complex is bringing you a new look at the team. The heroic lineup, which also includes Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye and Black Widow, is the same as the Avengers who assembled for Joss Whedon’s 2012 blockbuster, with the notable inclusion of one of Captain America’s oldest friends and partners, the Falcon. A previous series, “The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” offered glimpses of numerous Marvel characters, but “Avengers Assemble” marks the first time this lineup has appeared on a television show. The series stars Adrian Pasdar […]

“Iron Man 3″ and “Man of Steel” got some good-natured ribbing from comedian Stephen Colbert on Thursday’s episode of “The Colbert Report.” In the summer movie edition of his “Movies That Are Destroying America” segment, the satirist took issue with “Iron Man 3″ adding scenes for China audiences, and with Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot choosing a British actor, Henry Cavill, as its lead. Colbert began the segment pointing out that he’s always been a fan of Superman, “an incredibly handsome, glasses-wearing reporter who night after night uses his superpowers to save America.” Superman is the quintessential American hero, he said, “but they gave the part of some limey, Henry Cavill.” PHOTOS: Henry Cavill as Superman He segued into a rant about the China edition of Marvel’s new blockbuster, which involves what Marvel Studios president and “Iron Man 3″ producer Kevin […]

Sometimes, even for “Iron Man 3″ star Robert Downey Jr., it’s not always easy to describe where Tony Stark ends and the actor begins. “We fit each other pretty snug, and I feel like when I’m him I know what to do,” Downey told Hero Complex. “At the same time, I don’t know why I know what to do. I just know that I do. There’s still just a sense of wonder to me that there’s something so watchable about this character’s ongoing, trippy saga.” It was late April, and the twice Oscar-nominated actor already had been around the world to promote the latest Marvel blockbuster, the first film from the comic-book-movie powerhouse since the $2-billion success of “The Avengers” last year.  But even during a day-long onslaught of press leading up to the movie’s U.S. premiere in Hollywood, Downey’s […]

By mid-April, “Iron Man 3” was beginning to look like the surest of sure things. Three weeks before the film was to arrive in U.S. theaters, early reviews and box-office tracking suggested that the latest installment in the adventures of Robert Downey Jr.’s charming superhero Tony Stark might rival or even surpass the $2-billion success of last summer’s hit “The Avengers.” But on a Monday afternoon just days before “Iron Man 3” was set to premiere in London, the film’s director and co-writer, Shane Black, wasn’t taking anything for granted. “If the movie’s a huge hit, I’ll pump my fist in anticipation of the fact that I’m still viable,” Black said, sitting on a rolling chair in a dusty, sparsely furnished office at the corner of Hollywood and Vine. “The fact that I have a chance to come in and […]

“Iron Man 3″ brings several Marvel characters to the big screen for the first time, among them Dr. Maya Hansen, a brilliant biologist whose scientific research has yielded Extremis. We won’t spoil the details of Extremis here, but suffice it to say that it’s no small innovation. Playing Dr. Hansen in “Iron Man 3″ — due out May 3 — is Rebecca Hall, an English actress whose work onstage and in independent films won her acclaim before her performance in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” earned her a Golden Globe nod and her role in Ben Affleck’s “The Town” made her a more common name this side of the Atlantic. Hall joins a star-studded cast for “Iron Man 3,” not least of which is leading man Robert Downey Jr. as genius billionaire Tony Stark, in addition to Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau […]

Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes has been a minor, though important, character in the “Iron Man” films, but in “Iron Man 3,” he finally gets to step into the spotlight, thanks to a star-spangled paint job, courtesy of the president. Portrayed by Golden Globe-winning actor Don Cheadle, Rhodey is one of Tony Stark’s few trusted friends and the liaison between Stark Industries and the U.S. Air Force. Cheadle took over the role from Terrence Howard, who introduced Rhodey to the big screen in 2008′s “Iron Man.” In “Iron Man 2,” Rhodey got his own suit, dubbed War Machine, and fought alongside Tony Stark. In “Iron Man 3,” the president orders a red, white and blue redesign for the War Machine armor and recruits Rhodes to take out the villainous Mandarin. In his new Iron Patriot getup, Rhodey fights the terrorist threat […]

It was the moment that brought a $200-million blockbuster to a screeching halt. Robert Downey Jr. stood frozen in pain after leaping onto a platform of an oil tanker on the Wilmington, N.C., soundstage where “Iron Man 3” was shooting its fiery finale last year. The actor had made ambitious wire jumps for stunt scenes before, but this time was different. The impact of the landing left him with an ankle sprain so severe he was unable to walk for seven weeks. “I was feeling a little bit invincible, I guess,” Downey said last week while making the promotional rounds for “Iron Man 3,” which rockets into theaters on May 3. “I checked it out, and I was like, ‘Oh, we got this.’ And we didn’t have it.” When it comes to playing Tony Stark, the genius-billionaire-playboy-inventor whom Downey first […]