We learned earlier today that Iron Man 3 would have little in common with its Avengers predecessor, and now Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige sits down with Empire magazine to discuss Iron Man 3 and give us some new information that explains quite a few details that we saw in the trailer.
When Robert Downey Jr. was injured on set, fans were curious how badly he had been hurt and what happened to cause the ankle injury. Feige goes on to explain:
Robert is very gung-ho about doing his own stunts, but he’s also very safety conscious and aware of his limitations. He wasn’t even attempting to do anything above or beyond what would be considered safe – it was just a wire-assisted leap from one platform to another, and he came down in the wrong position on that ankle.
He then goes on to say that it was somewhat of a blessing in disguise because director Shane Black was able to work on the cut and refine the script a bit while waiting for Robert Downey Jr. to recover.
During the Iron Man 3 trailer we were all were shocked by the demise of the cliffside mansion that we’ve been jealous of since the first Iron Man film and Kevin says, “It’s an amazing sequence. The first time we looked at an animatic of that sequence was well over a year ago. It was one of the first signs that Shane (director) was going to bring a level of spectacle you hadn’t necessarily seen before, as well as all the Shane Blacksims that this movie is chock-full of.”
He then goes on to talk about how they wanted to increase the risk factor in Iron Man 3 and how The Avengers boosted their confidence:
Avengers was a risk. Casting Robert Downey was a risk. We like taking those kinds of risks, and Iron Man 3 is full of risks. I wouldn’t say those risks were ratcheted up or down because of the success of The Avengers. It basically boosted our confidence that the risky way to go is often the best way to go.
Many fans have been curious how Marvel has planned on moving forward with the single hero films, since everyone is familiar with The Avengers now. Feige explains that Stark has realized he doesn’t know everything and he has his own story to focus on:
This (Iron Man 3) is all about how he was affected by the events of The Avengers, and how his world and mindset can be affected by that. By the end of Avengers, when a portal is opened up in Manhattan and he’s met Thor and The Hulk and the Chitauri are coming down on him, he realizes that he doesn’t know everything; we think that has an effect on his psyche, and then his world is blown out from underneath him.
Feige also discusses the reasons behind including The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 and why he was included as the main villain.
Early – and very late – drafts of Iron Man 1 featured The Mandarin as a villain. The Mandarin is his most famous foe in the comics mainly because he’s been around the longest. If you look, there’s not necessarily a definitive Mandarin storyline in the comics. So it was really about having an idea. In terms of the Fu Manchu stereotyping that was involved, we never had any interest in that. He’s relentless. Assuming that he’s the one responsible for what happens to Tony’s house, no other villain has been able to strike that fast and that hard at one of our heroes. He’s very much about believing that the world needs to learn, and he wants to bend the world to his vision.
Feige does say that we will see a lot of “Tony as Tony” in the film and says, “There’s more suit action in Iron Man 3 than there is in any of the other movies.” So it looks like we’ll be back to the basics, with more action taking place with the suit, which we imagine most fans are fond of.
Robert Downey Jr. will continue to be a massive presence on screen in the midst of this massive comic book film, which are normally lacking in acting and suffering under massive explosions. We imagine there will be a healthy dose of both and it’s nice to see that they’ve realized fans are still interested in seeing Tony Stark outside of his suit, just as much as they are with him inside of it.
Iron Man 3 hits theaters May 3, 2013.