Avengers: Infinity War - How ALL 18 MCU Movies So Far Tie In

12. Iron Man 3

Mentions Of Infinity Stones?

None, other than retrospective implications of the Tesseract's involvement in the Battle Of New York. This was a conscious effort to turn the story back to a personal concern for Tony Stark, so the links to the wider narrative were mostly limited.

Relevant Story Details

This was where Tony's PTSD REALLY flared up and we got to see the real seeds of his burning need to make sure no other threats like the Chitauri could put humanity in peril. He stopped sleeping, he developed the Iron Legion as a hobby and he started to make irrational decisions that he thought were useful (like provoking the Mandarin).

Most importantly, this movie proved that he'd never back down and would never be able to retire from being Iron Man (even though he did at the end): as soon as he thinks he's out, he's dragged back in. And that matters for Infinity War because it means he has to die if Robert Downey Jr is going to leave the MCU. There's just no way he can retire with this in his past.