Poster © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction & Adventure
RatedPG-13
Runtime2 hr 10 mins
ReleasedMay 3, 2013
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorShane Black
StarringRobert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle
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Iron Man 3 (2013)
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| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Iron Man 3's Details | |
| Genre | Action & Adventure |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 04/14/2013 (Grand Rex); 05/03/2013 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 10 mins |
| Budget | $200M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Iron Man by Stan Lee and Don Heck and Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Iron Man 3's Interests | |
| General | Christmas in Malibu, Tennessee snow, a giant stuffed bunny, remote-control armor, workshop all-nighters. |
| Music | Brian Tyler. A big, brassy theme that finally gives Iron Man an anthem. |
| Movies | Lethal Weapon (1987). Shane Black wrote that one too, also at Christmas. |
| Television | Live news. Never, ever read your home address on it. |
| Heroes | Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins). Tennessee kid, tiny mechanic, big help. |
| Iron Man 3's Crew | |
| Director | Shane Black |
| Writers | Drew Pearce, Shane Black |
| Producers | Kevin Feige |
| Cinematography | John Toll |
| Music | Brian Tyler |
| Edited By | Jeffrey Ford, Peter S. Elliot |
| Production | Marvel Studios |
| Distributed By | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
For long stretches of Iron Man 3, Tony Stark isn’t even in the suit, a bold call for a movie with a reported $200 million budget, and it’s the best idea in the whole thing. Shane Black drops Tony in a snowy small town with a busted suit, panic attacks and a smart-mouthed kid as his only backup, and suddenly it’s a buddy comedy. Downey is at his loosest and most human. Guy Pearce’s Killian is all teeth and ambition. The problem is the finale, which throws so many empty suits at the screen you stop caring which one has a person inside, and the villain’s plan gets muddier the more anyone explains it. The Air Force One rescue is a stunner, the best skydiving in the series. Black also set the whole thing at Christmas, because of course he did. It made $1.22 billion worldwide. A 7.0 because the Tony parts are great and the superhero parts are noise. $33 says you fix something with duct tape this week and start calling yourself the mechanic.
What works: Downey’s most human take on Tony, the small-town buddy comedy with the kid, and the Air Force One rescue.
What doesn’t: The finale is a blur of interchangeable empty suits, and the villain’s plan gets messier every time someone explains it.
Who it’s for: Fans who like Tony best when he’s improvising with junk from a hardware store instead of a suit.
Spoilers
The Mandarin is a fake, an actor named Trevor hired by Killian to front for the Extremis attacks. Tony and Rhodey save the President, Pepper survives Extremis and takes Killian down herself, and Tony has the shrapnel removed from his chest and tosses the reactor into the sea.
Ever since the battle in New York, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) can't sleep. He is having panic attacks and building suit after suit in his workshop, and his girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is worried. Then a terrorist calling himself the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) starts setting off bombs and hijacking TV broadcasts, and one attack puts Tony's friend Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) in the hospital. Tony answers by calling out the Mandarin on live TV, home address included. His friend Rhodey (Don Cheadle) has notes. Shane Black directs. One hundred thirty minutes, and it is Christmas, naturally.
Anyone who stress-builds things at three in the morning. Tony is up to Mark 42.
| Robert Downey Jr. | Tony Stark / Iron Man |
| Gwyneth Paltrow | Pepper Potts |
| Don Cheadle | James "Rhodey" Rhodes / Iron Patriot |
| Guy Pearce | Aldrich Killian |
| Rebecca Hall | Maya Hansen |
| Stéphanie Szostak | Ellen Brandt |
| James Badge Dale | Eric Savin |
| William Sadler | Matthew Ellis |
| Miguel Ferrer | Rodriguez |
| Jon Favreau | Happy Hogan |
| Ben Kingsley | Trevor Slattery |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $1.22B; Domestic box office $409M; Opening weekend $174.1M; Profit / loss (est.) +$307.8M; Rotten Tomatoes 79%; CinemaScore A; box office chart updated; RT 79% (327 reviews); Metacritic 62 / 100; CinemaScore A; IMDb users 7.1 / 10 (987,750 votes); movie.guru score 7.1.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.