7. Panic Attacks
Tell me I didn't pay eight dollars to see a superhero have panic attacks. Are we really at a point in our society where the only way we can identify with our heroes is if we give them panic attacks? Jeez. What happened to a hero representing the best of what we can be as individuals. That was the joy of going to go see superheros on the big screen. This isn't the case anymore. Now we have a nihilistic, borderline psychotic Batman, a morose, plaintive depressing looking Superman on the horizon, and a insecure, blubbering Iron Man. Now I understand that seeing our heroes go through trials and tribulations can be beneficial as it helps us relate to them. We watch as what they go through and think "Hey, they deal with the same stuff I do, but they still muster courage when they have to and come out on top in the end. Maybe I can too." That's why Spider-Man 2 was so successful. In fact, Spider-Man 2 succeeds in the one area where Iron Man 3 falls flat: showing the human ways in which a superhero can doubt himself, but still overcome them. I think don't think it's unfathomable that Tony Stark would doubt himself. What other reaction would you expect a mortal man to have, after having gone toe to toe with intergalactic beings from other worlds? He simply found it absurd that he, a mere man, could ever contend with such powerful forces. Nonetheless, there is a difference between having an existential crisis about your fragile humanity and having a full on psychotic breakdown. The difference is one reaction seems true to the character and the other seems contrived. Seeing him breakdown like that didn't endear me to him or make me relate. It felt like a betrayal of the Tony Stark character that had been built over the past two films. Out of all the things I would expect Tony to do, having a mental break down is not one of them. By the way, didn't we deal with this emotional baggage in the last two films? Iron Man was about him coming to terms with the life he'd lived and seeking to help the people he'd hurt. Iron Man 2, as awful as it was, still had Stark having to make peace with himself after making peace with the world. He does so by getting back to his roots, connecting with his dad, and using his natural skill as a builder/mechanic to help cleanse himself of his poisoning both outwardly and inwardly. With his fear of death (and subsequent immaturity) gone, he could get on with the business of being the hero the world needed him to be. Then along came Iron Man 3 which had its own form of "unique" character development for Tony to go through. He got scared by aliens and now he cries... and that's about it. Brilliant.