BSP 2014 Advent Calendar: Day 24

Welcome to Day 24 of Bam Smack Pow’s 2014 Advent Calendar! Tomorrow is Christmas, and that means we have one more superhero film to mine for trivia tomorrow. For Day 24, we give you …

Iron Man 3 (2013)

I know we already had a Christmas-themed film on our list with Batman Returns (1992), but come on guys, how can you resist director Shane Black, the guy who wrote Lethal Weapon (1987) — a movie recently categorized as a Christmas movie. It’s also fitting that for Christmas Eve, we give you the only other superhero movie that’s set during the holidays.

As a rule-of-thumb, sequels usually get worse and worse as the franchise goes on, but for some reason, Robert Downey, Jr. has that magic touch. Iron Man 3 proved to be the most lucrative installment out of all the Iron Man movies and the second highest earner out of the overall Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the top one being The Avengers (2012). Iron Man 3 ended up with a behemoth worldwide gross of over $1.2 billion, with over $409 million of that being in domestic sales.

Iron Man 3 was directed by Shane Black, written by Drew Pearce and Shane Black, and starred Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man, Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia “Pepper” Potts, Don Cheadle as Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes / Iron Patriot, Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, Rebecca Hall as Dr. Maya Hansen, Stephanie Szostak as Brandt, James Badge Dale as Savin, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, Paul Bettany as J.A.R.V.I.S., Ty Simpkins as Harley Keener, Ashley Hamilton as Taggart, William Sadler as President Ellis, Miguel Ferrer as Vice President Rogriquez, Adam Pally as Gary, Shaun Toub as Yinsen, and Dale Dickey as Mrs. Davis.

Trivia

Robert Downey, Jr. and Shane Black previously worked with each other on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005).
This was the first movie in the Iron Man franchise to have no appearances of S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel, Nick Fury, or Phil Coulson. There is a mention of S.H.I.E.L.D. when Tony Stark searches for information on the Mandarin.
Jude Law was considered for the role of Aldrich Killian.
Gemma Arterton, Isla Fisher, Diane Kruger, and Jessica Chastain were all considered for the part of Maya Hansen. Chastain won the part, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Rebecca Hall was cast as a result.
Via a clip from Downtown Abbey, Jessica Brown Findlay appears in the movie. She was previously considered for the role of Sharon Carter, niece of Peggy Carter, in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).
Stan Lee’s cameo is the first cameo in the Iron Man franchise where Lee is not playing a celebrity or being mistaken for one.
Mark Ruffalo’s appearance as Bruce Banner in the post-credits scene marks the first time an actor reprised the role of Bruce Banner / Hulk. Eric Bana and Mark Ruffalo only played him once in The Hulk (2003) and The Incredible Hulk (2008), respectively.
When Tony Stark is seen hitting and sparring with a mook jong (Wing Chun wood dummy), it’s Robert Downey, Jr. showing a bit of his real life skills. He’s been training for several years and will be testing for his black belt soon.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s action scene were encouraged by Robert Downey, Jr. He was able to convince producer Kevin Feige because the damsel-in-distress trope has been used too many time in movies.
At the end of the movie, Tony Stark was to say, “I am Tony Stark”, to juxtapose with the ending scene in Iron Man (2008). But the filmmakers changed it to “I am Iron Man”, so as to up the mythical qualities.
The post-credit scene with Tony Stark getting therapy from Bruce Banner, played by Mark Ruffalo, was Robert Downey, Jr’s idea.
Filmmakers had to scrapped the idea of having a post-credits scene involving Iron Man going into space and meeting the Guardians of the Galaxy. This would’ve led to Iron Man making a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) as a reference to his joining of that team in the comics. But these plans were off the table when Robert Downey, Jr. announced that he may not reprise his role as Tony Stark in the future. In place of this post-credits scene, the Downey-proposed Stark/Banner therapy session was used.
Kevin Feige stated that this version of the Mandarin was inspired by Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now (1979).
When Happy Hogan mentions that his favorite show is Downtown Abbey, it’s Jon Favreau putting a bit of himself in the role because it’s also the actor’s favorite show.
As an in-joke, Tony Stark tells a kid wearing glasses that he loved him in A Christmas Story (1983). This was a reference to Peter Billingsley, who played the bespectacled Ralphie in the classic movie. Billingsley was an executive producer for the original Iron Man (2008) and made a small appearance.
During the attack on the Chinese Theater, Firepower, portrayed by Ashley Hamilton, is seen sitting next to Robert Downey, Jr.’s hand prints and signature.
The Mandarin, portrayed by Ben Kingsley, has a tattoo on the back of his neck of Captain America’s shield with an anarchist “A” in the center of it.
The ring seen on the pinky finger of the Mandarin, portrayed by Ben Kingsley, is the same ring worn by Raza from Iron Man (2008). This is because Raza is part of the Ten Rings, which is an organization created by the Mandarin.
The tattoos seen on Aldrich Killian’s chest are from another villain in the comics — Fin Fang Foom.
Even though the film takes place during Christmas time, Trevor Slattery / Mandarin is seen cheering on a soccer game that took place on May 8, 2012.
The character of President Ellis is named after comic book writer Warren Ellis, who wrote the Extremis storyline in the Iron Man comics.
When Pepper Potts wears the Iron Man armor, it’s a reference to a storyline in the Invincible Iron Man, where the character had a career as a superhero.
Happy Hogan addresses an unseen secretary by the name of “Bambi.” In the comics, Bambi is the first name of Mrs. Arbogast, Tony Stark’s longest-serving secretary.
Originally only budgeted for $140 million, Disney upped it to $200 million after the success of The Avengers. Disney wanted director Shane Black to make the best movie he could.
Although Jon Favreau stepped out of the directing role for this film, he was still consulted upon by director Shane Black.
This is the only movie in the Iron Man franchise not to feature songs by AC/DC.
The first assembly cut of the film was 3 hours and 15 minutes long. The final cut of the film was 1 hour and 59 minutes long.
The first day Robert Downey, Jr. and Ben Kingsley met on the set, they took a picture and sent it to a mutual director friend — Richard Attenborough.

Make sure to come back tomorrow, Christmas Day, because we still have one last day of superhero film trivia for you!

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A special thanks to Eric Dufresne for his amazing geometric superhero art that’s being used as the background for the advent calendar.

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