IRON MAN
The story opens with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) riding with soldiers on duty in Afghanistan. He is joking with some members of a convoy who seem to be genuinely amused by his persona and his flamboyant public image. Suddenly, the convoy is attacked. The soldiers fight to defend themselves but are quickly killed. Stark flees the Humvee, taking refuge behind a large rock. A missile lands nearby, remaining intact long enough for Tony to see the Stark Industries logo on it. It explodes sending shrapnel into Tony's chest despite the body armor he wears. Tony is captured and recorded on video by a group of masked terrorists.36 hours earlier
A flashback sequence reveals Tony's history as a child prodigy before taking over his father's company, Stark Industries, at age 21. Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Terrence Howard) attends a ceremony to present Tony Stark with an award for his work, but Tony is not in attendance. Tony's right-hand man (and his father's former partner) Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) accepts the award in Tony's stead. Rhodey later finds Tony partying in a casino. On his way out, a reporter named Christine (Leslie Bibb) approaches Stark with some questions regarding the ethics of his weapons business. Stark deflects her questions with some swift quips and the two end up spending the night together at Tony's oceanfront house in Malibu.
The next morning, Christine is awakened by a voice on a computer monitor. It's JARVIS, the artificially intelligent program responsible for running Tony's house and his research lab. Christine is greeted by Tony's assistant, "Pepper" Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) as she leaves the house. Pepper helps Tony catch up on some business before Tony heads out to the airport where his plane awaits. In flight, Tony talks with Rhodey. Rhodey is unhappy about Tony's lax attitude, and Tony tries to get his old friend to relax. Before long they are drunk and leering at the stewardesses.
Tony arrives at a military outpost in Afghanistan to demonstrate his company's latest project: the Jericho, a super-missile system. After the demonstration, Tony gets a phone call from Obadiah and they are both pleased that the demonstration went well. Tony goes off with the convoy, which is soon attacked by terrorists.
Much later, Tony regains consciousness in a cave. His chest is hooked up to a strange device. Another captive, Yinsen (Shaun Toub), explains that he operated on Stark but was unable to remove all the fragments from the bomb blast. Yinsen created a device -- essentially an electromagnet powered by a car battery -- that will keep the remaining fragments from shifting and causing further damage to his heart. The terrorists who captured Tony and Yinsen enter the room. Yinsen translates; they want Tony to build them a Jericho missile. Tony refuses and they torture him, shoving his face in a tub of water.
Hours later, the terrorists, a group called the the Ten Rings shows off a huge stockpile of weapons -- all made by Stark Industries. Tony appears to relent and start building the missile, but has other plans. With Yinsen's help, and using palladium collected from his weapons, Tony constructs a tiny version of an arc reactor, streamlined from a much bigger design used at his company's headquarters. The power output is enough to run Stark's heart for "fifty lifetimes... or something much bigger for about 15 minutes." It will also be enough to keep the shrapnel in Tony's heart from shifting any further and killing him.
Tony designs a way out for himself and Yinsen: an armored suit powered by the arc reactor that he will wear and use to defeat the terrorists. Midway through construction, the head of the Ten Rings, a man named Raza (Faran Tahir) arrives and threatens to torture Yinsen, angry because he thinks Stark is not working on the Jericho as they wanted. Tony bargains for Yinsen's life, saying he makes a good assistant. Raza gives them one more day to finish.
Working furiously overnight, Tony completes his project. Yinsen straps Tony into the completed armored suit, telling him the way out of the cave. They set off a bomb inside the cell door as a distraction for the guards as Tony powers up his suit. Yinsen realizes that they will not have enough time. He grabs a gun and runs off to distract the surviving guards.
Tony, fully powered, muscles his way through the cave. The guards try to stop him but his suit easily deflects their weapon fire and he beats them off or kills them. He also fires one of the suit's missiles at Raza himself, who is flung out of sight by the blast. Halfway out of the cavern, Stark finds Yinsen, mortally wounded. Yinsen reveals that this was his plan, sacrificing himself so Tony could escape -- Yinsen's family is already dead and he will now see them again in the afterlife. Tony tearfully thanks Yinsen for saving him. Yinsen's last words to Stark are not to waste his second chance at life.
Tony turns his suit on the remaining terrorists, igniting flame-throwers and firing missiles. He destroys their stockpile of weapons, but some of their larger-caliber weaponry begins to damage his suit. He uses a rudimentary jet-pack to launch himself out of the valley. Not long after firing, his jet-pack fails and he survives a crash in the desert. Stark leaves the suit behind and hikes through the desert until a couple of US helicopters fly overhead. A group of soldiers, led by Rhodey, come across Tony. Rhodey is overjoyed to find that his friend is alive.
Tony returns to the United States after three months in captivity. Pepper wants Tony to receive medical treatment, but Tony says that there are only two things he wants: an American cheeseburger and a company press conference. Shortly after, Tony appears before a group of reporters and, clearly humbled and no longer the arrogant CEO he was before his capture, announces that he intends to shut down Stark Industries' weapons manufacturing division immediately. At the same time, Pepper is approached by Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement & Logistic Division. They want to talk to Tony Stark about his capture. Pepper schedules an appointment for them.
That evening, Obadiah confronts Tony about his actions, furious. Obadiah knows that the stock value for their company (and, by extension, their financial status) is going to take a serious drop because of this announcement. Tony wants Stark Industries to move forward with arc reactor technology, but Obadiah thinks that the arc reactor is nothing but a publicity stunt. Through the conversation, Tony ends up revealing his prosthetic power-heart to Obadiah but refuses to allow the device to be studied for production. Stane convinces Tony to lie low for a while so the company can sort things out.
Pepper watches a news report on the declining value of Stark Industries when Tony asks for her help. He's created an upgraded and much more powerful mini arc reactor, the Mark II chest piece, but can't install it into his chest without someone to help. Pepper accidentally yanks out the cords for the old reactor too soon, putting Tony on the verge of cardiac arrest. They manage to complete the process in time. Tony tells Pepper to destroy the old model since he's not a sentimental person.
Tony visits Rhodes and asks for help with a new private project. Rhodey does not agree with Tony's approach; he thinks Stark is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of his capture and needs time to recover.
Tony turns to his other best friend -- JARVIS -- for help. Tony's plan is revealed to be an upgrade to his armored suit (referred to as Mark II; the suit from the terrorist cave was Mark I). Tony, studying a 3D CGI-mapped image of the Mark I, discards many of the components, streamlining the design.
Meanwhile, Raza, having survived his battle with Stark and the Mark I, searches the desert, gathering all fragments of the Mark I suit that Tony left behind.
Tony decides that the first thing he has to do is to perfect the armor's flight system. Since the leg-mounted jets proved too unstable, he creates repulsors for the feet and arm-mounted stabilizers for balance. Pepper comes in when he is testing the stabilizers and they find that it also creates a powerful repulsion beam that could also be used as a weapon. Pepper leaves a paper-wrapped box on Tony's desk as a gift.
Obadiah visits Tony and reveals that the board of directors has filed an injunction to gain control of Stark Industries. Tony isn't worried; he still maintains controlling interest in Stark Industries.
After several failed and painful attempts, Tony finally manages to perfect his flight system, and is delighted at the prospect of flying.
The Mark II armored suit is soon finished. It looks like a heavily-streamlined version of Tony's Mark I armor. Tony connects with Jarvis to monitor the progress in the suit. Against JARVIS' advice, Tony takes it out for a test flight, and he is thrilled by the suit's functionality. Tony pushes the limit for high-atmosphere flying, but at such great heights the freezing air causes the suit to become coated with ice and his power supply shuts down. Tony is barely able to reactivate his thrusters in time to avoid crashing into the ground. Stark returns home, but the armor is so heavy that it smashes through three floors of the house. As Tony recovers from his crash landing, he opens the box that Pepper left behind earlier; inside is the Mark I arc reactor, encased as a trophy with the message, "Proof That Tony Stark Has a Heart."
Tony analyzes more data and decides to rebuild the suit using gold titanium from an old project to solve the icing problem. He instructs Jarvis to add some hot-rod red trim to the next suit, codenamed Mark III, then leaves to attend his annual benefit dinner while the new suit is being assembled and painted.
At the charity event, Tony meets with Agent Coulson, who still wants to learn about Tony's incident. Tony leaves to dance with Pepper and they share a moment together in the moonlight.
Christine, the reporter Tony slept with prior to leaving for Afghanistan, shows him photographs of his weapons being used by a terrorist group the previous day in the remote Afghan town of Gulmira, Yinsen's home village. Tony confronts Obadiah on the matter, and Obadiah reveals that he is the one who filed the injunction against Tony. Obadiah calls himself an "iron monger," and has no qualms about selling Stark Industries weapons to both sides of the conflict. Tony returns home, furious. While there he watches news reports of the worsening situation in the Gulmira region. He tests modifications to his hand repulsors, turning them into a weapon. When the new suit is completed it is fitted to his body by an automated robotic system. Stark flies off to Gulmira at hypersonic speed, determined to right his company's wrongs.
In Gulmira, terrorists are rounding up civilians for capture and execution when they are confronted by Stark, whose Mark III armor is more than a match for them. Within seconds, he defeats the first group of terrorists, using his advanced weapons to take out several without any innocent casualties. He destroys the terrorists' missiles. He leaves the group's leader, Raza's chief lieutenant, alive and defenseless for the villagers to take their revenge on.
While flying to find his weapons, Iron Man is shot down by a tank shell. When he gets up, a second shell barely misses him. He responds by shooting a mini-missile at the tank, destroying it. Using the palm repulsors he designed, he destroys the captured Jericho missiles. After they are demolished, Raza arrives in time to see Tony fly off.
CENTCOM detects Stark in flight. Col. Rhodes is asked about the status of any new developments. He contacts Tony, who claims that he knows nothing about what is happening. In the meantime, Iron Man is confronted by two F-22's. He tries to outrun the jets but they are too much for him. Tony calls Rhodes and reveals that he is responsible for the "unidentified craft." Rhodey is furious about Tony sending in unauthorized equipment, and horrified when Tony explains that the "equipment" is actually himself in his new invention. Iron Man is hit by one fighter jet, sending him flying into the wing of the second jet. The pilot is forced to eject, but the parachute fails to open. Iron Man, still under fire, manages to fly in and successfully deploy the parachute in time to rescue the pilot. Tony convinces Rhodey to pass off what happened with the jets as a "training exercise."
After Tony arrives back at home, Pepper catches him removing the battle-damaged Iron Man armor. The removal is not going as well as the assembly.
Meanwhile, the Ten Rings terrorist group is visited by none other than Obadiah. It is revealed that Stane paid the Ten Rings members to capture and kill Stark, but they realized who Stark was and demanded a much higher price. Using a high-powered sonic device that induces temporary paralysis, Stane immobilizes Raza and takes the remnants of the Mark I armor they have gathered. Stane then has his men execute everyone in the camp.
Tony tries to talk Pepper into helping him, believing that nothing else matters but stopping the people who he put in harm's way. Pepper is moved by Tony's dedication, and agrees. She goes into Obadiah's office with a flash drive programmed to copy files from the computer. As Pepper sifts through stored files, she finds a video from the terrorists proving that Obadiah was responsible for Tony's capture. Obadiah comes into the office and sees her at the computer, but Pepper manages to hide what she is really doing. She leaves the office, but as soon as he powers up the computer, Obadiah realizes what she was up to. On the way out, Pepper sees Agent Coulson and tells him he can have his interview immediately so that he accompanies her safely out of the building.
Obadiah meets with his team of developers who are working on his own armored suit based on the Mark I. They have rebuilt the components, but they cannot miniaturize Stark's arc reactor. Stane is furious, then realizes that he has one other option.
Stane arrives at Tony's house and paralyzes him with the sonic weapon. Obadiah yanks out the the Mark II chestpiece from Tony's chest, taunting him about how it will be the flagship invention in a new era of weaponry. After he leaves, Tony realizes that he has only one hope for survival -- the preserved arc reactor that Pepper gave him as a gift. He gets the power source installed just as Rhodey arrives. Rhodey informs him that five agents have gone to arrest Obadiah, but Tony knows that is not nearly enough manpower.
Rhodey watches Tony suit up, awestruck at the Iron Man armor. Rhodey asks if there's anything Tony needs, Tony asks him to "keep the skies clear." As Tony flies away, Rhodey spots the silver-colored prototype suit, the Mark II... then shakes his head and mumbles "Next time."
Pepper, Coulson and several other agents arrive at Obadiah's research facility. They spot the Mark I armor and a storage location where something else was kept. Just then, a gigantic robotic suit comes to life and attacks them -- it's Obadiah's counterpart suit, code-named the Iron Monger, powered by the chest piece he'd stolen from Tony.
While Tony flies towards the research facility, Jarvis warns him that he has only about half power in the suit because the older chest piece wasn't designed power the Mark III during sustained flight.
Iron Man arrives just as the Iron Monger is about to execute Pepper. The two ironclad warriors begin a huge, brawling battle that spills into the streets near Stark Industries. Tony flies into the upper atmosphere, drawing Stane along with him. Iron Monger struggles but before long begins to freeze up -- his suit has the same icing problem that Tony's Mark II had. Iron Monger begins to fall back to Earth, leaving Tony hovering above. The older arc reactor begins to lose power rapidly and Tony falls back to Earth, landing on top of his factory, running on auxiliary backup power.
Back on the ground, the Iron Monger attacks Tony again. Tony evades Stane long enough to instruct Pepper to overload the building's arc reactor, which will generate a shock wave strong enough to disable the Iron Monger's suit. Pepper is hesitant, believing that Tony could also be killed. Tony manages to keep fighting while she builds up power to the reactor. The reactor releases its shock wave, knocking out the Iron Monger, which falls into the reactor, killing Stane and destroying the reactor. Stark's original mini arc reactor sparks back to life, allowing Tony to survive.
Days later, Rhodey holds a press conference about the incident with the two "robots." Tony is impressed with the newspapers coming up with the name "Iron Man," and plans to adopt it. Agent Coulson has released cover stories about Obadiah (who will die in a small plane crash) and the "truth" about Iron Man (who will be referred to as Stark's bodyguard). Pepper thanks Coulson but cannot remember the full name of the group he belongs to. Coulson tells them to call it "S.H.I.E.L.D." and states that they will be in touch again.
Tony goes before the reporters once more, and prepares to comply with the cover story. But, as he begins talking, he throws away his notes and declares "I am Iron Man." The press goes into a frenzy.
Much later (after the credits), Tony returns home to find a mysterious man in black telling him that as Iron Man, Tony has become part of a larger universe. Tony asks who the man is. He turns around and introduces himself: Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson). He's come to talk with Tony Stark about an upcoming project known as the Avenger Initiative.
IRON MAN 2
The movie opens several months after the events in the first Iron Man movie. We are introduced to a man named Ivan Vanko. Ivan's father Anton is slowly dying and telling Ivan his final wishes. Ivan thinks he should have the fame that Tony Stark is enjoying but Anton tells him to "ignore that garbage." All Anton can give Ivan is his knowledge. Ivan then sets about recreating the Arc reactor and begins building his own weaponized suit. Tony Stark has become a champion for world peace thanks to the Iron Man suit, and has practically solved world peace, or so he claims.
Six months after the end of the first movie, Tony Stark has used his Iron Man armor to bring about a negotiated peace treaty between the major super powers of the world, and his immense popularity with the general public is only furthered when he fulfills his father's dream by reopening the "Stark Expo" in Queens, NY, to showcase all the latest inventions that will benefit the world. Tony Stark fulfills this dream by flying into the expo and making a flamboyant entrance to become the new symbol of world peace. After the event, Stark is contacted by Senator Stern to appear before the Senate Armed Forces Committee. Tony and Happy decide to take a road trip to Washington DC in Tony''s new Audi R8.
There, the hearing is being broadcast on CSPAN, and there Tony's usual brand of humor becomes the center of attention while completely ignoring the fact that the Senate has classified Iron Man as a weapon and that he is under investigation. While there, he's greeted by best friend James Rhodes, who led the investigation into the events surrounding Iron Man's creation. Rhodes' investigation is taken way out of context by Senator Stern. Justin Hammer, a rival weapons contractor, gives a presentation about how other countries are making copies of the Iron Man suit, or weapon as they refer to it. Tony gives a rebuttal showing that he is Iron Man and will not part with his armor, and that the "attempts" at copying Iron Man are from Iran, North Korea, and even Hammer Industries itself, and are extremely poor quality. Tony still refuses to turn over the Iron Man armor to the government and walks out of the hearing.
Back at home, Tony is on JARVIS analyzing the latest prototypes and developments for the Iron Man suit, and Pepper enters and the two start having arguments about the future of Stark Industries. Tony is telling Pepper that he's making more money off the company's common stock than he ever did as CEO. He decides he's had enough of being the CEO and wants to focus solely on developing Iron Man. He decides to appoint Pepper as the new CEO and she is stunned. The next day a stunningly beautiful notary public enters to have Tony officially sign the company over to Pepper. Tony is undergoing fighting training with Happy and performs an illegal move on him, getting it confused with MMA. The notary's name is Natalie Rushman, and he has Happy give her a boxing lesson, and while looking up her bio, Natalie performs a TKO on Happy.
Tony heads to Monaco for some much needed R & R. At a pre-reception before the Monaco 500, where Stark Industries is sponsoring a driver, Tony's greeted by his favorite "Vanity Fair" reporter Christine Everheart, who wants Pepper for the cover of the next issue introducing her as the new Stark Industries C.E.O. Justin Hammer also happens to be there. They also greet Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk who wants a panel at the Stark Expo to showcase his latest invention. In the bathroom, it's learned that the palladium in Tony's chest is slowly spreading, and his arc reactor can barely take the punishment. Tony decides that he's going to be driving the Stark Industries car instead of the driver that was already pre-selected. While racing his Formula 1 car in Monaco, Stark is attacked by Ivan Vanko, who has constructed a miniaturized arc reactor of his own. It is contained in a chest harness with two attached whips, powered by the reactor's energy.
Vanko uses the whips to create a massive car crash in the race and goes after Stark. As Vanko is wrecking havoc on the track, Happy and Pepper rush to deliver the briefcase Happy is put in charge of to Tony. Vanko uses his electric whips to completely destroy the Rolls Royce Phantom that Happy and Pepper are in, and after repeated ramming attempts, Pepper finally manages to give Tony the briefcase. What's inside the briefcase is another Iron Man suit. After a furious battle, Tony is able to defeat Vanko by manually pulling out the Arc Reactor battery that powers his whips. The entire crowd is stunned at what they've just witnessed, but not Justin Hammer, who believes that Vanko can be put to better use.
Stark confronts Vanko in prison and Vanko asks Tony what it feels like to be a dead man and that palladium in the chest is a very painful way to die. Stark tells Vanko that makes two of them. In prison Vanko is given a meal consisting of chicken and mashed potatoes along with a note telling him to "enjoy the potatoes." Vanko and another prisoner are wearing uniforms with the same identification. Vanko immediately kills the prisoner as well as a guard on his way out the door, and sets the explosive device contained in the potatoes and as he makes his escape, he's bagged by two guards and taken away. It's then revealed that Justin Hammer purposefully broke Vanko out of prison as they both share the same common hatred for Tony. Hammer knows Vanko needs his resources to do this, and Vanko obliges. Hammer then hires Vanko to build armored suits based on existing designs. Vanko tells Hammer they are doing everything wrong.
On the plane back home, Tony and Pepper are watching the aftermath of the events that took place and are watching a rather angry Senator Stern unload his frustrations with Tony on The O'Reilly Factor. Stern is saying that Tony Stark lied to the Senate Armed Forces Committee, and that he's in danger of being arrested on felony perjury charges. The reason being is that he told the Senate that other countries, as well as Hammer Industries, were 20 years away from having anything that remotely resembled Iron Man, however Vanko surprised everyone by making an exact copy of the Arc Reactor. Tony presents Pepper with a gourmet meal and is going to tell her the truth, but they have an awkward moment as Pepper knows that something is up and that Tony isn't telling her the whole truth.
Back home, Tony is using JARVIS to conduct investigations into Ivan Vanko. It's revealed that Vanko's father Anton Vanko was Howard Stark's partner and one of the co founders of Stark Industries. Howard Stark found out that Vanko was conspiring to sell weapons to the Soviet Empire and had him arrested for treason and deported to Russia. Ivan has been seeking revenge against the Stark empire ever since. While sitting in one of his hot rods in his basement, Tony nearly collapses and is discovered by Rhodes who tells him that this isn't a good look for him. Rhodes also tells him that he's been battling with the Pentagon by stopping them from coming to his Malibu house and taking his suits to be used for weaponized purposes.
Tony is then preparing for what he believes will be his last birthday party. He asks Natalie what she would do if this were her last birthday party. Natalie responds that she'd do whatever she wanted with whoever she wanted to do it with. While at the party, Tony is extremely drunk and wearing the Iron Man suit. In the background, Pepper and Rhodes are discussing that he's gone way off the deep end. Rhodes tells Pepper that he's tired of dealing with the Pentagon and the Senate Armed Forces Committee. Rhodes, finally having enough of Tony's antics, goes and dons one of the in-development Iron Man suits. He then challenges Tony to a fight, where Tony has the in-house DJ play some good background tunes. The battle ends in a stalemate and Rhodey flies off in the Mark II armor, delivering it to military authorities at Edwards Air Force Base. Justin Hammer is later invited to study the suit himself and provides them with advanced weapons to arm it with.
The next day, he's at the famous Los Angeles landmark doughnut shop Randy's Doughnuts, sitting in the Iron Man suit atop the famous giant plastered doughnut. Disgraced and hungover, Stark is approached by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D who tells Stark that the problems he's having with the government and his drunken Iron Man antics? That is the least of his worries, he's got bigger problems to deal with in the Southwest region. Tony wonders if Fury and the "Avengers Initiative" is real, and Fury reassures Tony that it's real, and that he knew Howard Stark very well, in fact Howard Stark was one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, And Logistics Division), the agency he works for. They are joined by agent Phil Coulson and Natalie Rushman, whom Fury reveals is, Natasha Romanoff, an undercover operative of SHIELD, planted to monitor Tony himself. A hungover Tony is stunned at this revelation and fires Natalie/Natasha, but she then tells Tony that it's none of his business and that he's under investigation from S.H.I.E.L.D. , and she and agent Coulson are there to make sure Tony follows orders and doesn't screw up. Fury and Natasha both mention Tony's palladium poisoning; Tony replies that he's investigated and tested every know element and every permutation of them with no success. Natasha injects Tony with a serum that slows the symptoms of his palladium poisoning significantly, giving him the time to find an alternate element to keep him alive.
Fury provides Tony with a chest of his father's old artifacts that can hopefully be used to find a cure for his condition. Tony resists further attempts from S.H.I.E.L.D. interference, but Agent Coulson reassures Tony that he's not going anywhere until Tony finds the answers that he's seeking about his heart. Reviewing the film reels in the chest, Stark discovers a message from his father that leads him to the original 1974 diorama of the Stark Expo. He retrieves the diorama from his old office, now occupied by Pepper and tries to reconcile with her. In reality, the diorama is a disguised diagram for the atomic structure of a new element that Howard couldn't produce in his time but Tony may be able to with his advanced knowledge.
Stark performs a radical alteration of his home and hand-builds a particle accelerator with the aid of his computer system, J.A.R.V.I.S. Stark synthesizes this new element, creating a new triangular chest arc reactor that cures his poisoning and is much more powerful than Stark's earlier versions. Just before Tony completes the particle acceleration, Coulson tells him that he's free to go and that S.H.I.E.L.D. has reassigned him to another case.
At Hammer Industries, Vanko has radically changed the design of Hammer's suits: they are now automated drones. Despite what Vanko considers improvements, Hammer is displeased and imprisons Vanko in a small room with two guards while he takes the drones to the Stark Expo.
Hammer unveils his new military drones, captained by Rhodes in a heavily-weaponized version of the confiscated Mark II armor. Unfortunately, it is soon discovered that Vanko has programmed the drones, giving himself complete control. He also has control of Rhodes' new armor, and Stark arrives just as they go on the attack. As Stark battles these remote-controlled enemies and tries to evade Rhodes, Happy Hogan and Romanoff race to Hammer's Queens facility to stop Vanko. By the time they arrive, Vanko has already departed for the Expo in a new armored suit, an updated version of the harness he used when he attacked Tony in Monaco. Back at the Stark Expo, just as Hammer has finished his presentation, the drones attack the standing room only crowd and they begin to flee. Stark and Rhodes chase after the drones and destroy each and every one of them, while Agent Romanoff has Justin Hammer arrested for harboring the fugitive Vanko.
Natasha is able to give Rhodes control of his armor again so that he and Stark can fight Vanko together. The two armored allies combine their powers and successfully destroy all the drones. When they are attacked by Vanko, they are able to take him down, but Vanko's armor and drones are revealed to have been equipped with self-destruct charges. As they begin to explode, Stark races to save Pepper, rescuing her at the last moment. After landing on a roof she quits her CEO position, and she finally gives Tony a kiss, to which they both find Rhodes sitting a few meters away. Tony finally tells Pepper the truth about his heart, and she completely freaks out. He then claims he was there first so they should get their "own roof" after Stark tries to defend himself.
At a debriefing, Fury informs Stark that while Stark is "unsuitable" for the "Avengers Initiative", SHIELD. wants Stark as a consultant. Stark agrees on the condition that Senator Stern personally present him and Col. Rhodes with their medals for bravery. But Senator Stern is less than amused when he presents Tony with his medal.
In a post-credits scene, SHIELD. agent Coulson is seen driving to a remote impact crater in the New Mexico desert. As he informs Fury over the phone that they've "found it", the crater is shown to contain Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor.
Six months after the end of the first movie, Tony Stark has used his Iron Man armor to bring about a negotiated peace treaty between the major super powers of the world, and his immense popularity with the general public is only furthered when he fulfills his father's dream by reopening the "Stark Expo" in Queens, NY, to showcase all the latest inventions that will benefit the world. Tony Stark fulfills this dream by flying into the expo and making a flamboyant entrance to become the new symbol of world peace. After the event, Stark is contacted by Senator Stern to appear before the Senate Armed Forces Committee. Tony and Happy decide to take a road trip to Washington DC in Tony''s new Audi R8.
There, the hearing is being broadcast on CSPAN, and there Tony's usual brand of humor becomes the center of attention while completely ignoring the fact that the Senate has classified Iron Man as a weapon and that he is under investigation. While there, he's greeted by best friend James Rhodes, who led the investigation into the events surrounding Iron Man's creation. Rhodes' investigation is taken way out of context by Senator Stern. Justin Hammer, a rival weapons contractor, gives a presentation about how other countries are making copies of the Iron Man suit, or weapon as they refer to it. Tony gives a rebuttal showing that he is Iron Man and will not part with his armor, and that the "attempts" at copying Iron Man are from Iran, North Korea, and even Hammer Industries itself, and are extremely poor quality. Tony still refuses to turn over the Iron Man armor to the government and walks out of the hearing.
Back at home, Tony is on JARVIS analyzing the latest prototypes and developments for the Iron Man suit, and Pepper enters and the two start having arguments about the future of Stark Industries. Tony is telling Pepper that he's making more money off the company's common stock than he ever did as CEO. He decides he's had enough of being the CEO and wants to focus solely on developing Iron Man. He decides to appoint Pepper as the new CEO and she is stunned. The next day a stunningly beautiful notary public enters to have Tony officially sign the company over to Pepper. Tony is undergoing fighting training with Happy and performs an illegal move on him, getting it confused with MMA. The notary's name is Natalie Rushman, and he has Happy give her a boxing lesson, and while looking up her bio, Natalie performs a TKO on Happy.
Tony heads to Monaco for some much needed R & R. At a pre-reception before the Monaco 500, where Stark Industries is sponsoring a driver, Tony's greeted by his favorite "Vanity Fair" reporter Christine Everheart, who wants Pepper for the cover of the next issue introducing her as the new Stark Industries C.E.O. Justin Hammer also happens to be there. They also greet Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk who wants a panel at the Stark Expo to showcase his latest invention. In the bathroom, it's learned that the palladium in Tony's chest is slowly spreading, and his arc reactor can barely take the punishment. Tony decides that he's going to be driving the Stark Industries car instead of the driver that was already pre-selected. While racing his Formula 1 car in Monaco, Stark is attacked by Ivan Vanko, who has constructed a miniaturized arc reactor of his own. It is contained in a chest harness with two attached whips, powered by the reactor's energy.
Vanko uses the whips to create a massive car crash in the race and goes after Stark. As Vanko is wrecking havoc on the track, Happy and Pepper rush to deliver the briefcase Happy is put in charge of to Tony. Vanko uses his electric whips to completely destroy the Rolls Royce Phantom that Happy and Pepper are in, and after repeated ramming attempts, Pepper finally manages to give Tony the briefcase. What's inside the briefcase is another Iron Man suit. After a furious battle, Tony is able to defeat Vanko by manually pulling out the Arc Reactor battery that powers his whips. The entire crowd is stunned at what they've just witnessed, but not Justin Hammer, who believes that Vanko can be put to better use.
Stark confronts Vanko in prison and Vanko asks Tony what it feels like to be a dead man and that palladium in the chest is a very painful way to die. Stark tells Vanko that makes two of them. In prison Vanko is given a meal consisting of chicken and mashed potatoes along with a note telling him to "enjoy the potatoes." Vanko and another prisoner are wearing uniforms with the same identification. Vanko immediately kills the prisoner as well as a guard on his way out the door, and sets the explosive device contained in the potatoes and as he makes his escape, he's bagged by two guards and taken away. It's then revealed that Justin Hammer purposefully broke Vanko out of prison as they both share the same common hatred for Tony. Hammer knows Vanko needs his resources to do this, and Vanko obliges. Hammer then hires Vanko to build armored suits based on existing designs. Vanko tells Hammer they are doing everything wrong.
On the plane back home, Tony and Pepper are watching the aftermath of the events that took place and are watching a rather angry Senator Stern unload his frustrations with Tony on The O'Reilly Factor. Stern is saying that Tony Stark lied to the Senate Armed Forces Committee, and that he's in danger of being arrested on felony perjury charges. The reason being is that he told the Senate that other countries, as well as Hammer Industries, were 20 years away from having anything that remotely resembled Iron Man, however Vanko surprised everyone by making an exact copy of the Arc Reactor. Tony presents Pepper with a gourmet meal and is going to tell her the truth, but they have an awkward moment as Pepper knows that something is up and that Tony isn't telling her the whole truth.
Back home, Tony is using JARVIS to conduct investigations into Ivan Vanko. It's revealed that Vanko's father Anton Vanko was Howard Stark's partner and one of the co founders of Stark Industries. Howard Stark found out that Vanko was conspiring to sell weapons to the Soviet Empire and had him arrested for treason and deported to Russia. Ivan has been seeking revenge against the Stark empire ever since. While sitting in one of his hot rods in his basement, Tony nearly collapses and is discovered by Rhodes who tells him that this isn't a good look for him. Rhodes also tells him that he's been battling with the Pentagon by stopping them from coming to his Malibu house and taking his suits to be used for weaponized purposes.
Tony is then preparing for what he believes will be his last birthday party. He asks Natalie what she would do if this were her last birthday party. Natalie responds that she'd do whatever she wanted with whoever she wanted to do it with. While at the party, Tony is extremely drunk and wearing the Iron Man suit. In the background, Pepper and Rhodes are discussing that he's gone way off the deep end. Rhodes tells Pepper that he's tired of dealing with the Pentagon and the Senate Armed Forces Committee. Rhodes, finally having enough of Tony's antics, goes and dons one of the in-development Iron Man suits. He then challenges Tony to a fight, where Tony has the in-house DJ play some good background tunes. The battle ends in a stalemate and Rhodey flies off in the Mark II armor, delivering it to military authorities at Edwards Air Force Base. Justin Hammer is later invited to study the suit himself and provides them with advanced weapons to arm it with.
The next day, he's at the famous Los Angeles landmark doughnut shop Randy's Doughnuts, sitting in the Iron Man suit atop the famous giant plastered doughnut. Disgraced and hungover, Stark is approached by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D who tells Stark that the problems he's having with the government and his drunken Iron Man antics? That is the least of his worries, he's got bigger problems to deal with in the Southwest region. Tony wonders if Fury and the "Avengers Initiative" is real, and Fury reassures Tony that it's real, and that he knew Howard Stark very well, in fact Howard Stark was one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, And Logistics Division), the agency he works for. They are joined by agent Phil Coulson and Natalie Rushman, whom Fury reveals is, Natasha Romanoff, an undercover operative of SHIELD, planted to monitor Tony himself. A hungover Tony is stunned at this revelation and fires Natalie/Natasha, but she then tells Tony that it's none of his business and that he's under investigation from S.H.I.E.L.D. , and she and agent Coulson are there to make sure Tony follows orders and doesn't screw up. Fury and Natasha both mention Tony's palladium poisoning; Tony replies that he's investigated and tested every know element and every permutation of them with no success. Natasha injects Tony with a serum that slows the symptoms of his palladium poisoning significantly, giving him the time to find an alternate element to keep him alive.
Fury provides Tony with a chest of his father's old artifacts that can hopefully be used to find a cure for his condition. Tony resists further attempts from S.H.I.E.L.D. interference, but Agent Coulson reassures Tony that he's not going anywhere until Tony finds the answers that he's seeking about his heart. Reviewing the film reels in the chest, Stark discovers a message from his father that leads him to the original 1974 diorama of the Stark Expo. He retrieves the diorama from his old office, now occupied by Pepper and tries to reconcile with her. In reality, the diorama is a disguised diagram for the atomic structure of a new element that Howard couldn't produce in his time but Tony may be able to with his advanced knowledge.
Stark performs a radical alteration of his home and hand-builds a particle accelerator with the aid of his computer system, J.A.R.V.I.S. Stark synthesizes this new element, creating a new triangular chest arc reactor that cures his poisoning and is much more powerful than Stark's earlier versions. Just before Tony completes the particle acceleration, Coulson tells him that he's free to go and that S.H.I.E.L.D. has reassigned him to another case.
At Hammer Industries, Vanko has radically changed the design of Hammer's suits: they are now automated drones. Despite what Vanko considers improvements, Hammer is displeased and imprisons Vanko in a small room with two guards while he takes the drones to the Stark Expo.
Hammer unveils his new military drones, captained by Rhodes in a heavily-weaponized version of the confiscated Mark II armor. Unfortunately, it is soon discovered that Vanko has programmed the drones, giving himself complete control. He also has control of Rhodes' new armor, and Stark arrives just as they go on the attack. As Stark battles these remote-controlled enemies and tries to evade Rhodes, Happy Hogan and Romanoff race to Hammer's Queens facility to stop Vanko. By the time they arrive, Vanko has already departed for the Expo in a new armored suit, an updated version of the harness he used when he attacked Tony in Monaco. Back at the Stark Expo, just as Hammer has finished his presentation, the drones attack the standing room only crowd and they begin to flee. Stark and Rhodes chase after the drones and destroy each and every one of them, while Agent Romanoff has Justin Hammer arrested for harboring the fugitive Vanko.
Natasha is able to give Rhodes control of his armor again so that he and Stark can fight Vanko together. The two armored allies combine their powers and successfully destroy all the drones. When they are attacked by Vanko, they are able to take him down, but Vanko's armor and drones are revealed to have been equipped with self-destruct charges. As they begin to explode, Stark races to save Pepper, rescuing her at the last moment. After landing on a roof she quits her CEO position, and she finally gives Tony a kiss, to which they both find Rhodes sitting a few meters away. Tony finally tells Pepper the truth about his heart, and she completely freaks out. He then claims he was there first so they should get their "own roof" after Stark tries to defend himself.
At a debriefing, Fury informs Stark that while Stark is "unsuitable" for the "Avengers Initiative", SHIELD. wants Stark as a consultant. Stark agrees on the condition that Senator Stern personally present him and Col. Rhodes with their medals for bravery. But Senator Stern is less than amused when he presents Tony with his medal.
In a post-credits scene, SHIELD. agent Coulson is seen driving to a remote impact crater in the New Mexico desert. As he informs Fury over the phone that they've "found it", the crater is shown to contain Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor.
IRON MAN 3
The movie opens with Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) narrating a story about how we create our own demons. In a flashback to New Year's Eve 1999, Tony, meets a botanical scientist named Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) in Bern, Switzerland, and arrogantly avoids crippled scientist Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who wants Tony's backing in his endeavor, Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM). Maya has an experimental plant. Maya has been working on experimental (and in some cases unethical) biological research in plants that causes their DNA to change drastically and has the power to cure incurable diseases and paralysis.
Cut back to present day America at Tony Stark's beach side Malibu mansion where it's Christmas time. It's been quite some time after the events of New York City and the Avengers Initiative, a haunted Tony Stark has obsessively built several Iron Man suits in his mansion. Tony works on a new model, the Mark 42, which is modular; all the suit pieces fly to him and recombine. The first attempt at making the MK42 work is met with a funk version of "Here Comes Santa Claus" with Tony dancing while the pieces are coming at him. As per the course, Tony of course completely ignores any safety measures that JARVIS takes. It ends rather poorly when Tony is thrown across the room attempting flight with the MK42 and it shatters into pieces. JARVIS of course gloats with an "I told you so" moment.
Back at Stark Industries, Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) goes to meet her 4:00 appointment, who is Aldrich Killian, and he looks much different than he did in 1999. Aldrich wants Stark Industries' backing in his think tank called "Advanced Idea Mechanics". AIM's goal is a biological experiment called "Extremis" which harnesses' the brain's power to alter human DNA. He then shows Pepper a massive hologram reconstructing of his brain and how Extremis can utilize parts of the brain that would otherwise go unused. Pepper tells Aldrich that Stark Industries isn't interested in funding AIM because the ideas could be translate into human weapons.
Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) has found a new career as the head of security at Stark Industries although he's annoying nearly 99% of the company's personnel and visitors with his penchant for requiring everybody to wear badges, and Pepper explains that complaints against him have risen nearly 200% since he started working there. Tony then continues his story about creating demons. He then talks about how he turned on the TV to find a new terrorist at work called "The Mandarin". The Mandarin has hijacked American airwaves and makes his American debut by explaining about an attack that he carried out on a US military station in Afghanistan and has killed a lot of people in the process and takes credit for the attack. The president's initial response to the Mandarin however makes him the butt of the jokes of late night talk show hosts. It seems the only thing that he's able to come up with is to take MK8, with James Rhodes, the one formerly known as "War Machine" which is then repainted, rebranded, and reintroduced as "The Iron Patriot".
Meanwhile Tony and Rhodes are dining at a Chilis'-esque restaurant. Tony asks James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) what's really going on with the Mandarin. Rhodes tells Tony that while the media and the press only know of about 3 attacks, there have been several more that have taken place off the books. Rhodes explains that he's now operating MK8 as the "Iron Patriot" (formerly known as War Machine). While the two are coming to an agreement that the name chosen was horrible, Tony is confronted by a group of kids who want his autograph. Tony jokes that the boy looks very much like the title character in the movie "A Christmas Story". The girl asks how Tony was able to escape the worm hole in New York, causing him to freak out. Tony makes a B-line for his Iron Man suit and enters, JARVIS explains that Tony is suffering a massive anxiety attack.
Pepper drives home and Tony has a huge stuffed toy for her as her Christmas gift. However, he is busy working and Pepper isn't greeted by Tony, but by another prototype of the Iron Man suit, and that has her rather upset. Tony has developed a heads-up-display (HUD) and was using it as a remote control. That night while asleep, Tony is having some bad PTSD induced trauma about what happened in New York. They're then startled when one of the new prototype Iron Man suits is awakened and has made its' way into the bedroom. Tony then immediately dismantles it. A frustrated Pepper tells Tony that she's going to sleep downstairs and has him "tinker with that" after he explains to Pepper that he's been a complete mess since the events in New York and has been unable to sleep.
The next day Happy has followed Savin (James Badge Dale) to the Chinese Theater. The Mandarin comes on TV and issues a new threat against the Chinese Theater, calling it a "cheap American knock off" just like the fortune cookie. In front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Savin gives another man a briefcase. Happy tries to intercede but is beaten by Savin, and the other man explodes, leaving only his old dog tags. The Mandarin comes on TV and takes responsibility for the blast. Tony is now furious over Happy, who suffered severe injuries to the attack. After going to the hospital to visit Happy, and to make sure that all of the hospital employees were wearing badges while in Happy's room (not to mention the TV must be on his favorite show, which is Downton Abbey), Tony is mobbed by reporters. One of them blatantly asks if Tony is going to kill this guy. A frustrated Tony then asks the reporters if that's what they really want, then issues his threat to the Mandarin saying that he just died and gives his home address on TV, egging on the Mandarin to carry out an attack on his home and that he'll be ready. Tony then angrily destroys the reporter's tape recorder and tells the mob of reporters to bill him.
While at home, Tony has JARVIS bring up a hologram diagram of the destruction at Graumann's Chinese Theater. While JARVIS is analyzing the attack, Tony discovers a curious oddity of military dog tags. Since there was no active military personnel at the blast, Tony wonders exactly what the dog tags are doing there. JARVIS then analyzes the latest Mandarin attack and compares with past incidents. The one that looks identical to the blast happened four years ago in Rose Hills, Tennessee, and predates any known Mandarin attack. Tony asks JARVIS if he's ever been to Tennessee. JARVIS then creates a flight path for the Iron Man suit. Then a doorbell rings. A paranoid Tony wonders why he's getting visitors since he told JARVIS that the house is on complete and total lock down. The visitor turns out not to be the Mandarin, but Maya Hansen, who tells Pepper that her boss might be working for the Mandarin. And her boss? None other than a mutual acquaintance of theirs - one Aldrich Killian. A freaked out Pepper is arguing with Maya and just as that's happening Maya points to the television where three helicopters are in formation outside the Stark mansion.
Helicopter gunships, led by Savin, attack with missiles. Tony commands the 42 suit to cover and protect Pepper. Pepper and Maya survive the attack. Tony gets the 42 back but down on power he cannot fly, the house crumbles into the sea taking the Ironman down. The suit regains some power and flies off, unseen. Tony then finds himself in rural Tennessee after JARVIS follows a flight plan from Tony's investigation into the Mandarin. On crash landing, JARVIS and the 42 suit run out of power. The world believes him dead.
Tony is now alone in the middle of Tennessee and is trudging through the snow, dragging the MK42 along with him. He seeks shelter in a nearby house which appears to be empty. There, Tony immediately begins work on repairing the MK42 so he can contact Pepper and tell her what's really going on. But the house isn't empty. It's occupied by a lonely 10 year old kid named Harley (Ty Simpkins), who is stunned to find Iron Man himself working in his garage. Tony asks the kid for some help and that he'll be rewarded later on if he gets the help he needs. Harley tells Tony that the world thinks he's dead after the attack on his mansion. Tony calls himself "The Mechanic" and Harley asks Tony one question too many about the events in New York City, causing Tony to have another anxiety attack.
Back at the remains of Tony's now completely destroyed Malibu mansion, Pepper is searching for any clues to find out whether or not Tony's still alive. Thankfully she is able to retrieve a voice message left from Tony recorded after the attack that proves that he is alive. A relieved Pepper then seeks answers. Tony, working with Harley, assumes that Harley is being bullied at school because Harley keeps making harmless weapons to defend himself with, like a potato gun. Tony finally manages to get JARVIS back online thanks to a HUD display that he developed several months prior to the attack on his mansion.
Teaming with Harley, Tony investigates the remains of a local explosion bearing the hallmarks of a Mandarin attack. According to JARVIS the explosion in Rose Hills, Tennessee has the look and feel of a Mandarin attack but predates anything that's known by the US military. Harley tells Tony all the rumors surrounding the attack and the "soldier" in question. He discovers the explosions were triggered by soldiers from the Extremis program, an experimental treatment intended to allow its users to recover from crippling injuries. However, if a user's body cannot properly metabolize Extremis, the user's body heats to an extreme temperature and explodes. After veterans started growing unstable and exploding, their deaths were used to cover up Extremis' flaws by manufacturing a terrorist plot. Tony witnesses Extremis firsthand when Mandarin agents Ellen Brandt and Eric Savin attack him. Tony blows up the woman and stuns Savin to escape.
In the aftermath of the attack on the town, Tony manages to escape into a news van, where he uses the satellite to contact Rhodes. Thankfully the van is being operated by one of Tony's biggest fans, who even goes so far as to have Iron Man's likeness tattooed on his arm - though rather unrecognizable. Tony manages to successfully contact Rhodes, where they have managed to locate what they think is the Mandarin. Rhodes takes War Machine (or Iron Patriot depending on which way you look at it) to the Middle East. There, they are shocked to find nothing but an abandoned warehouse which doesn't have a single trace of the Mandarin. The Mandarin comes back on TV and explains that he's going to brutally murder the CEO of a major oil company on live television if the president doesn't contact them within a specific time frame.
Tony and Rhodes have managed to hack into the servers at AIM. The test footage they see of Aldrich testing Extremis on his subjects proves to be absolutely horrific. Rhodes uses the IP addreses that the Mandarin has been using to hijack American airwaves and traces him to Miami. Tony and Rhodes then head to Miami as fast as they can to hopefully put an end to the madness. Tony infiltrates the estate headquarters using a variety of home-made weapons, Harley's trade mark potato gun, and a limited edition children's watch belonging to Harley's unseen sister. Inside he discovers the Mandarin is actually a flighty British actor named Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), who is oblivious to the acts the Mandarin has carried out. When confronted, Slattery manages to tell both Tony and Rhodes that he's the Mandarin, and manages to completely annoy them both, and Tony goes to confront Killian, while Rhodes stays behind and tries to get any information he can out of the completely clueless Slattery. Tony is captured by some of Killian's henchmen - who are also Extremis experiments, and Maya reveals she was working with Killain all along. She thinks Tony can help perfect the Extremis DNA. Aldrich arrives and reveals he has kidnapped Pepper and subjected her to Extremis, intending to infuse her with superhuman abilities and turn her against Tony as leverage to gain Tony's aid in fixing Extremis' flaws. Aldrich then kills Maya.
Tony escapes his captivity by summoning the MK42 suit from Tennessee, and reunites with Rhodes on the estate, discovering that Aldrich intends to attack President Ellis aboard Air Force One. Unfortunately as time is critical, the MK42 has yet to regain full flight power. Savin boards the President's plane wearing the Iron Patriot suit, kills the Secret Service agents aboard and takes the President. Savin then blows holes in the airliner body and survivors fall out. Iron Man kills Savin and manages to rescue the falling people, Tony had been controlling the unit by remote control. Meanwhile the Iron Patriot flies away. Tony and Rhodes trace Aldrich to an impounded oil drilling platform where Aldrich intends to kill Ellis on live television. The Vice President will become a puppet leader, following Aldrich's orders in exchange for Extremis to cure a little girl's disability.
Rhodes manages to locate the President. He's in a massive ship yard at the Port Of Miami. Tony decides he's had enough of Killian and enacts a plan to take him down, and has JARVIS enact the "House Party Protocol" which unleashes a massive army of Iron Man suits - each one different from the next. On the platform, Tony goes to save Pepper, and Rhodes saves the President. Tony summons a fleet of his various Iron Man suits, controlled remotely by JARVIS, to provide air support and attack the many other Extremis infected guards. Rhodes secures the President and leads him to safety, while Tony discovers Pepper has survived the Extremis procedure. However, before he can save her, a container crane rig collapses around them and she falls 200 feet to her apparent death. Tony is forced into confronting Aldrich using several suits and finally traps him in the 42 suit that self-destructs. But, a glowing Aldrich survives and staggers toward a defenseless Stark. Killian tells Tony that the Mandarin was made up, that he is the Mandarin and that all attacks were taken out by Extremis experiments. Pepper shows up with Extremis powers and finishes off the weakened Aldrich.
After the battle, Tony orders JARVIS to implement "Clean Slate Protocol" which destroys each remaining Iron Man suit remotely, as a sign of his intention to devote more time to Pepper. The Vice President and Slattery are arrested. In a voiceover Tony mentions he cures Pepper, and Tony himself undergoes surgery to remove the shrapnel embedded near his heart. He pitches his obsolete chest arc reactor into the sea, musing he will always be Iron Man, even without his armor. He gathers some scrap parts from his house wreckage and drives off in his Audi eTron. He then leaves Harley with a rebuilt lab and new version of Harley's trademark potato gun, telling him that Iron Man will be back and leaves a thank you note from "The Mechanic".
In a post-credits scene, it is revealed that Stark has been recounting his experiences to Dr. Bruce Banner, who awakens, having fallen asleep at the beginning of Tony's story, followed by the words "Tony Stark will return".
Cut back to present day America at Tony Stark's beach side Malibu mansion where it's Christmas time. It's been quite some time after the events of New York City and the Avengers Initiative, a haunted Tony Stark has obsessively built several Iron Man suits in his mansion. Tony works on a new model, the Mark 42, which is modular; all the suit pieces fly to him and recombine. The first attempt at making the MK42 work is met with a funk version of "Here Comes Santa Claus" with Tony dancing while the pieces are coming at him. As per the course, Tony of course completely ignores any safety measures that JARVIS takes. It ends rather poorly when Tony is thrown across the room attempting flight with the MK42 and it shatters into pieces. JARVIS of course gloats with an "I told you so" moment.
Back at Stark Industries, Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) goes to meet her 4:00 appointment, who is Aldrich Killian, and he looks much different than he did in 1999. Aldrich wants Stark Industries' backing in his think tank called "Advanced Idea Mechanics". AIM's goal is a biological experiment called "Extremis" which harnesses' the brain's power to alter human DNA. He then shows Pepper a massive hologram reconstructing of his brain and how Extremis can utilize parts of the brain that would otherwise go unused. Pepper tells Aldrich that Stark Industries isn't interested in funding AIM because the ideas could be translate into human weapons.
Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) has found a new career as the head of security at Stark Industries although he's annoying nearly 99% of the company's personnel and visitors with his penchant for requiring everybody to wear badges, and Pepper explains that complaints against him have risen nearly 200% since he started working there. Tony then continues his story about creating demons. He then talks about how he turned on the TV to find a new terrorist at work called "The Mandarin". The Mandarin has hijacked American airwaves and makes his American debut by explaining about an attack that he carried out on a US military station in Afghanistan and has killed a lot of people in the process and takes credit for the attack. The president's initial response to the Mandarin however makes him the butt of the jokes of late night talk show hosts. It seems the only thing that he's able to come up with is to take MK8, with James Rhodes, the one formerly known as "War Machine" which is then repainted, rebranded, and reintroduced as "The Iron Patriot".
Meanwhile Tony and Rhodes are dining at a Chilis'-esque restaurant. Tony asks James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) what's really going on with the Mandarin. Rhodes tells Tony that while the media and the press only know of about 3 attacks, there have been several more that have taken place off the books. Rhodes explains that he's now operating MK8 as the "Iron Patriot" (formerly known as War Machine). While the two are coming to an agreement that the name chosen was horrible, Tony is confronted by a group of kids who want his autograph. Tony jokes that the boy looks very much like the title character in the movie "A Christmas Story". The girl asks how Tony was able to escape the worm hole in New York, causing him to freak out. Tony makes a B-line for his Iron Man suit and enters, JARVIS explains that Tony is suffering a massive anxiety attack.
Pepper drives home and Tony has a huge stuffed toy for her as her Christmas gift. However, he is busy working and Pepper isn't greeted by Tony, but by another prototype of the Iron Man suit, and that has her rather upset. Tony has developed a heads-up-display (HUD) and was using it as a remote control. That night while asleep, Tony is having some bad PTSD induced trauma about what happened in New York. They're then startled when one of the new prototype Iron Man suits is awakened and has made its' way into the bedroom. Tony then immediately dismantles it. A frustrated Pepper tells Tony that she's going to sleep downstairs and has him "tinker with that" after he explains to Pepper that he's been a complete mess since the events in New York and has been unable to sleep.
The next day Happy has followed Savin (James Badge Dale) to the Chinese Theater. The Mandarin comes on TV and issues a new threat against the Chinese Theater, calling it a "cheap American knock off" just like the fortune cookie. In front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Savin gives another man a briefcase. Happy tries to intercede but is beaten by Savin, and the other man explodes, leaving only his old dog tags. The Mandarin comes on TV and takes responsibility for the blast. Tony is now furious over Happy, who suffered severe injuries to the attack. After going to the hospital to visit Happy, and to make sure that all of the hospital employees were wearing badges while in Happy's room (not to mention the TV must be on his favorite show, which is Downton Abbey), Tony is mobbed by reporters. One of them blatantly asks if Tony is going to kill this guy. A frustrated Tony then asks the reporters if that's what they really want, then issues his threat to the Mandarin saying that he just died and gives his home address on TV, egging on the Mandarin to carry out an attack on his home and that he'll be ready. Tony then angrily destroys the reporter's tape recorder and tells the mob of reporters to bill him.
While at home, Tony has JARVIS bring up a hologram diagram of the destruction at Graumann's Chinese Theater. While JARVIS is analyzing the attack, Tony discovers a curious oddity of military dog tags. Since there was no active military personnel at the blast, Tony wonders exactly what the dog tags are doing there. JARVIS then analyzes the latest Mandarin attack and compares with past incidents. The one that looks identical to the blast happened four years ago in Rose Hills, Tennessee, and predates any known Mandarin attack. Tony asks JARVIS if he's ever been to Tennessee. JARVIS then creates a flight path for the Iron Man suit. Then a doorbell rings. A paranoid Tony wonders why he's getting visitors since he told JARVIS that the house is on complete and total lock down. The visitor turns out not to be the Mandarin, but Maya Hansen, who tells Pepper that her boss might be working for the Mandarin. And her boss? None other than a mutual acquaintance of theirs - one Aldrich Killian. A freaked out Pepper is arguing with Maya and just as that's happening Maya points to the television where three helicopters are in formation outside the Stark mansion.
Helicopter gunships, led by Savin, attack with missiles. Tony commands the 42 suit to cover and protect Pepper. Pepper and Maya survive the attack. Tony gets the 42 back but down on power he cannot fly, the house crumbles into the sea taking the Ironman down. The suit regains some power and flies off, unseen. Tony then finds himself in rural Tennessee after JARVIS follows a flight plan from Tony's investigation into the Mandarin. On crash landing, JARVIS and the 42 suit run out of power. The world believes him dead.
Tony is now alone in the middle of Tennessee and is trudging through the snow, dragging the MK42 along with him. He seeks shelter in a nearby house which appears to be empty. There, Tony immediately begins work on repairing the MK42 so he can contact Pepper and tell her what's really going on. But the house isn't empty. It's occupied by a lonely 10 year old kid named Harley (Ty Simpkins), who is stunned to find Iron Man himself working in his garage. Tony asks the kid for some help and that he'll be rewarded later on if he gets the help he needs. Harley tells Tony that the world thinks he's dead after the attack on his mansion. Tony calls himself "The Mechanic" and Harley asks Tony one question too many about the events in New York City, causing Tony to have another anxiety attack.
Back at the remains of Tony's now completely destroyed Malibu mansion, Pepper is searching for any clues to find out whether or not Tony's still alive. Thankfully she is able to retrieve a voice message left from Tony recorded after the attack that proves that he is alive. A relieved Pepper then seeks answers. Tony, working with Harley, assumes that Harley is being bullied at school because Harley keeps making harmless weapons to defend himself with, like a potato gun. Tony finally manages to get JARVIS back online thanks to a HUD display that he developed several months prior to the attack on his mansion.
Teaming with Harley, Tony investigates the remains of a local explosion bearing the hallmarks of a Mandarin attack. According to JARVIS the explosion in Rose Hills, Tennessee has the look and feel of a Mandarin attack but predates anything that's known by the US military. Harley tells Tony all the rumors surrounding the attack and the "soldier" in question. He discovers the explosions were triggered by soldiers from the Extremis program, an experimental treatment intended to allow its users to recover from crippling injuries. However, if a user's body cannot properly metabolize Extremis, the user's body heats to an extreme temperature and explodes. After veterans started growing unstable and exploding, their deaths were used to cover up Extremis' flaws by manufacturing a terrorist plot. Tony witnesses Extremis firsthand when Mandarin agents Ellen Brandt and Eric Savin attack him. Tony blows up the woman and stuns Savin to escape.
In the aftermath of the attack on the town, Tony manages to escape into a news van, where he uses the satellite to contact Rhodes. Thankfully the van is being operated by one of Tony's biggest fans, who even goes so far as to have Iron Man's likeness tattooed on his arm - though rather unrecognizable. Tony manages to successfully contact Rhodes, where they have managed to locate what they think is the Mandarin. Rhodes takes War Machine (or Iron Patriot depending on which way you look at it) to the Middle East. There, they are shocked to find nothing but an abandoned warehouse which doesn't have a single trace of the Mandarin. The Mandarin comes back on TV and explains that he's going to brutally murder the CEO of a major oil company on live television if the president doesn't contact them within a specific time frame.
Tony and Rhodes have managed to hack into the servers at AIM. The test footage they see of Aldrich testing Extremis on his subjects proves to be absolutely horrific. Rhodes uses the IP addreses that the Mandarin has been using to hijack American airwaves and traces him to Miami. Tony and Rhodes then head to Miami as fast as they can to hopefully put an end to the madness. Tony infiltrates the estate headquarters using a variety of home-made weapons, Harley's trade mark potato gun, and a limited edition children's watch belonging to Harley's unseen sister. Inside he discovers the Mandarin is actually a flighty British actor named Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), who is oblivious to the acts the Mandarin has carried out. When confronted, Slattery manages to tell both Tony and Rhodes that he's the Mandarin, and manages to completely annoy them both, and Tony goes to confront Killian, while Rhodes stays behind and tries to get any information he can out of the completely clueless Slattery. Tony is captured by some of Killian's henchmen - who are also Extremis experiments, and Maya reveals she was working with Killain all along. She thinks Tony can help perfect the Extremis DNA. Aldrich arrives and reveals he has kidnapped Pepper and subjected her to Extremis, intending to infuse her with superhuman abilities and turn her against Tony as leverage to gain Tony's aid in fixing Extremis' flaws. Aldrich then kills Maya.
Tony escapes his captivity by summoning the MK42 suit from Tennessee, and reunites with Rhodes on the estate, discovering that Aldrich intends to attack President Ellis aboard Air Force One. Unfortunately as time is critical, the MK42 has yet to regain full flight power. Savin boards the President's plane wearing the Iron Patriot suit, kills the Secret Service agents aboard and takes the President. Savin then blows holes in the airliner body and survivors fall out. Iron Man kills Savin and manages to rescue the falling people, Tony had been controlling the unit by remote control. Meanwhile the Iron Patriot flies away. Tony and Rhodes trace Aldrich to an impounded oil drilling platform where Aldrich intends to kill Ellis on live television. The Vice President will become a puppet leader, following Aldrich's orders in exchange for Extremis to cure a little girl's disability.
Rhodes manages to locate the President. He's in a massive ship yard at the Port Of Miami. Tony decides he's had enough of Killian and enacts a plan to take him down, and has JARVIS enact the "House Party Protocol" which unleashes a massive army of Iron Man suits - each one different from the next. On the platform, Tony goes to save Pepper, and Rhodes saves the President. Tony summons a fleet of his various Iron Man suits, controlled remotely by JARVIS, to provide air support and attack the many other Extremis infected guards. Rhodes secures the President and leads him to safety, while Tony discovers Pepper has survived the Extremis procedure. However, before he can save her, a container crane rig collapses around them and she falls 200 feet to her apparent death. Tony is forced into confronting Aldrich using several suits and finally traps him in the 42 suit that self-destructs. But, a glowing Aldrich survives and staggers toward a defenseless Stark. Killian tells Tony that the Mandarin was made up, that he is the Mandarin and that all attacks were taken out by Extremis experiments. Pepper shows up with Extremis powers and finishes off the weakened Aldrich.
After the battle, Tony orders JARVIS to implement "Clean Slate Protocol" which destroys each remaining Iron Man suit remotely, as a sign of his intention to devote more time to Pepper. The Vice President and Slattery are arrested. In a voiceover Tony mentions he cures Pepper, and Tony himself undergoes surgery to remove the shrapnel embedded near his heart. He pitches his obsolete chest arc reactor into the sea, musing he will always be Iron Man, even without his armor. He gathers some scrap parts from his house wreckage and drives off in his Audi eTron. He then leaves Harley with a rebuilt lab and new version of Harley's trademark potato gun, telling him that Iron Man will be back and leaves a thank you note from "The Mechanic".
In a post-credits scene, it is revealed that Stark has been recounting his experiences to Dr. Bruce Banner, who awakens, having fallen asleep at the beginning of Tony's story, followed by the words "Tony Stark will return".
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