3. Violence
Violence is a major sticking point with Iron Man 3. It is potentially the most violent Marvel film (outside of The Punisher) to date. People are shot, impaled, decapitated, melted, blown-up and practically disembowelled at various points in the film. Stark has gone from an arrogant brawler to a man who thinks nothing of shooting various henchmen and then blowing one up with home-made explosives. This is hardly visceral action, and will probably go unnoticed by most. It is not that Stark has become any more of a killer, but rather that he is now more feral in his approach. This level of hedonistic sadism sits awkwardly with the child-centred focus of Marvels demographic, and struggles to sit itself comfortably amongst the more audacious and cartoonist action scenes that bookend them.