Say what you will about the 'Marvel Formula' - the pejorative term fans have come to label the MCU's blend of action and comedy - but Iron Man 3 is genuinely hilarious.
Whether it be JARVIS slowly rebooting and fumbling his lines ("I seem to do quite well for a stretch and then at the end of the sentence I say the wrong cranberry"), Tony and Rhodey bickering towards the finale or Stark's back and forth with Ty Simpkins' Harley Keener, the film is just consistently funny. It's not irreverent by any means, but it does maintain a great sense of humour from beginning to end, both in its dialogue and in its moments of slapstick.
Yes, there are some Marvel films that struggle with comedy. Thor: The Dark World is a fine lesson in how not to insert humour into your superhero film, but Iron Man gets the blend just right.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
