Iron Man 3 Trailer Speculation and Plot

Iron Man 3 is coming out this May, and a new trailer was released today.

The trailer actually confirmed a lot of facts that were as of yet, speculated, but not confirmed. One such fact was the appearance of the Iron Man Armory.

The Iron Man Armory is, essentially, Tony Stark's Iron Man wardrobe. Inside the Armory is every iteration and variation of the Iron Man armor ever developed. It was initially created to house the number of armors that Stark came up due to the variation of his adventures. He had a Space Armor (which, after the Avengers, seems a bit necessary) and a Hulkbuster Armor (also necessary after the Avengers) along with a whole lot more.

The main armor that Stark is supposed to be using in the movie, is an adaptation of the Extremis Armor. What makes this armor special is that it was the first armor that allowed Tony Stark to mentally summon the armor. It has been mentioned by the Director that he was basing it off the Extremis Storyline, however, after watching the new trailer. I have a different opinion.

The trailer shows some scenes that are completely alien to the Extremis story arc. Extremis is a story of how a virus makes a man stronger than Tony Stark's Iron Man suit, this allows him to launch a series of devastating attacks on the USA. Tony realizes he has to upgrade to match this and undergoes the Extremis process and becomes practically seamless with his suit.

Now that sets the stage of a terror attack, however, it doesn't explain the explosion at the start of the trailer and a scene where the Mandarin is standing with a bunch of men attached to some metal frame.

This sort of a process bears a similarity to what was seen in the pages of Iron Man: The Five Nightmares.

In this arc, a villain is able to recreated the arc reactor that Tony developed; recreate and weaponize it. Just like how Ivan Vanko did at the end of Iron Man 2.

The trailer shows scenes where there are peoples shadows burned onto the walls, which is testament enough that there will be some reference to the weaponize of the arc reactor. Which would make it insanely easy for the Mandarin's character to gain such notoriety that the US President would launch a man hunt for him.

As far as the image of Pepper is concerned, the rig that is shown above is near identical to rig that all those guys are connected to in the upper image. So maybe the Mandarin is going to use Pepper as leverage against Tony. (Not seen this in a comic, but it has probably happened before)



The closing images of the trailer echoed the exact closing scenes of 'The Five Nightmares' where Stark Industries' various headquarters are about to be destroyed by bombers. Tony is told that 'you can't do it alone, you need backup' (or something like that) With that, Tony calls in the Armory and saves the day by EMPing the entire area.

So, it seems like that Iron Man 3 might just be a combination of Extremis and The Five Nightmares. However, I hope that the director has taken some attempt to add his own original flair to two otherwise amazing story arcs.

Another possible story that might be incorporated, which I now sort of doubt, is the concept of the Sentient Armor.

Here's to an exciting two months of waiting and speculating as to how Tony Stark will finally come face to face with the Mandarin! Is he going to have a host of Iron Men supporting him or is it going to be just him and the Mandarin slugging it out? I can't wait! Can you?