With principle photography in full swing for superhero threequel Iron Man 3, star Robert Downey Jr. chatted briefly with Entertainment Weekly about his desires to see a shift in the Tony Stark persona and regarding the extremis storyline which will drive the film’s events.
From director Shane Black, Iron Man 3 will find the suited Stark battling against Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin and Guy Pearce’s nanotech scientist Aldrich Killian, who directly ties into the Iron Man: Extremis elements.
Downey Jr. first had this to say about the recently unveiled concept art above, which strongly hints towards those comic components:
“What’s happening here? The context isn’t immediately clear (and Marvel isn’t talking), but the image matches the way Stark’s armor attaches to him in the 2005-06 comic book series Iron Man: Extremis. The title refers to a nanotech serum that allows humans to bond with metal, becoming biological combat machines.”
In addition, everyone’s favourite snarky actor revealed his hopes to see a divergence from the previous two films in both Stark’s identity and the approach taken to the story’s structure:
“[I] radically want to challenge Stark’s identity, rather than just have him battle another bad guy. These things tend to, in Act 3, really become about the same old things. So let’s really flip that. I feel like I don’t know where you go after Iron Man 3. Leave it all on the field, you know?”
After seeing Iron Man clash with his foes in three outings, experiencing something unique this time around would be welcome. Of course, we can always count on Downey Jr. to turn in a great performance as Mr. Stark. Coupled with the change in director, I think we’ll be in for quite a treat when Marvel releases the next piece of their movie universe.
Iron Man 3 will kick off next summer’s blockbuster movie season on May 3, 2013.
