10 Movie Threequels That Redeemed Their Franchise

Whereas Iron Man is rightly regarded as one of the best from the MCU, the same can’t be said for its sequel and, while there was some good in Iron Man 2 – Black Widow, the Monaco Grand Prix dust up and Don Cheadle suiting up as War Machine – the second coming of Stark never really took off, with convoluted plotting, an uninspired finale and Mickey Rourke’s bleeding cockatoo zapping the film of the quality shown in its showboating predecessor.

These issues were ironed out come Iron Man 3, which takes the best of the original by focusing solely on the main man, albeit a post Avengers, fractured Tony Stark. The result is a film that has a never better Downey Jr. playing the role (apologies Endgame fans), intriguing baddies courtesy of the Extremis comic arc and a plot twist that is as inspired as it is contentious. Better still, only a director like Shane Black would have the stones to halt the pace of this threequel partway through, to see Stark go through a Capra esque odyssey in a small town, complete with a brilliant comic sidekick in Ty Simpkins’ lonely youngster.

Thanks to Black’s creative decisions and the drastic change in tone of Iron Man 3, the door was open for other helmers to put their own stamp on future Marvel movies.