Iron Man 3 synopsis revealed

Iron Man 3 is set to unveil a trailer in a matter of days, and to kick-start things, an official synopsis has been released.

It’s pretty vague stuff, even by the most lenient of standards, with Tony Stark the only character mentioned - despite the fact that casting news has revealed the arrival of a number of old favourites.

Here’s the full synopsis:

Marvel Studios Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle.

With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley, Iron Man 3 is directed by Shane Black from a screenplay by Drew Pearce and Shane Black and is based on Marvel’s iconic superhero Iron Man, who first appeared on the pages of Tales of Suspense (#39) in 1963 and had his solo comic book debut with The Invincible Iron Man (#1) in May of 1968.

“Iron Man 3 is presented by Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures and DMG Entertainment. Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige is producing and Jon Favreau, Louis D’Esposito, Stephen Broussard, Victoria Alonso, Alan Fine, Charles Newirth, Stan Lee and Dan Mintz are executive producers. The film releases May 3, 2013, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

We’ll have to wait until the trailer to get more of a specific flavour of the plot then, but we’ll be interested to see how Stark fares post- Avengers . And to be honest, we’re hoping they’ll provide a good reason as to why he doesn’t just get on the phone to Nick Fury to reunite the superteam.

And is it just us, or is there an echo of Nolan’s Batman trilogy in the ‘Does the suit make the man?’ line? Let’s hope Robert Downey Jr.’s not looking for a successor to wear the suit for him just yet. And does that 'personal world destroyed' bit have you thinking Pepper Potts might go the way of Rachel Dawes?

Iron Man 3 kicks off Marvel’s Phase Two , and will open in the UK on 26 April 2013, ahead of its US release.

Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.