Marvel Mondays: Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Winter Soldier

Hello again and welcome back to "Marvel Mondays!" Last week we tackled Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers, and this week, we're diving into Phase 2 of the MCU. Phase Two includes: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 2, Thor: The Dark World, Ant Man, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1, and The Avengers: Age of Ultron. However, today we're going to pick up immediately following the events in New York in The Avengers by talking about Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Iron Man 3. It's well known that I love Iron Man, so I figured it would be best to start with that one, and it's the first film of Phase 2...that played into that decision as well.

As a refresher, here's the upcoming schedule for "Marvel Mondays":

March 19th- Thor: The Dark World and Ant Man
March 26th- Guardians of the Galaxy: Volumes 1 and 2
April 2nd- Avengers: Age of Ultron (exception 1; I'll explain why in the post)
April 9th- Dr. Strange and Thor: Ragnarok
April 16th- Captain America: Civil War (exception 2; I'll also explain why in the post)
April 23rd- Spider Man: Homecoming and Black Panther
April 30th- Infinity War Preview, Predictions, and MCU Review
May 7th- Avengers: Infinity War

Now, let's get onto the movie!

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Iron Man 3 is the 7th film in the MCU, and the beginning of Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's the sequel to Iron Man and Iron Man 2 and presumably wraps up the Iron Man franchise as there have been no rumblings or rumors of an Iron Man 4. It's the second Marvel film to be produced and distributed by Walt Disney Studios and takes place immediately following the events that take place in The Avengers. Released May 3rd, 2013, Iron Man 3 became the sixteenth film to earn over $1 billion in box offices and was the 2nd highest grossing film of 2013, also the 5th highest grossing film of all time, and it boasted the 6th highest grossing opening weekend of all time. Needless to say, people were excited for the third installment of the Iron Man franchise. The story of the movie is that Tony is dealing with PTSD following taking a missile to space and almost dying; but there's no time for rest as a terror organization known as The Mandarin is wreaking havoc. Tony must learn the real meaning of Iron Man and save not only the world from The Mandarin, but also save his girlfriend Pepper Potts from near death. A thrilling film from start to finish, Iron Man 3 is often regarded as the best film in the series because of it's action packed sequences, crazy twists, and emotional moments...there's also that epic scene with all of Tony's suits at the end. 

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The production of Iron Man 3 was far different than any of the other films in the series for one obvious reason: Jon Favreau wasn't directing this one. Replacing Favreau would be Shane Black, who directed Downey Jr in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. This was a show of RDJ's power within the MCU as he pushed for Black to get the job. Coming alongside Black to write the script would be Drew Pearce, who was originally hired to write the script for the Hulu show Marvel's Runaways. Downey Jr would be back to reprise his role as Iron Man, joining him would be Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Don Cheadle as James Rhoades/War Machine/Iron Patriot, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, and Paul Bettany as J.A.R.V.I.S. Joining the film would Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, Rebecca Hall as Maya Hanson, and James Badge Dale as Savin. During the production of the film, Downey Jr suffered a broken ankle; it halted production for a couple of days, and RDJ didn't return to film for 2 months in order to recover. A fun little tid-bit happened at Walt Disney World when the Monorail Black was given an Iron Man schemed paint job in anticipation for the film. 

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Let's talk easter eggs in Iron Man 3. I will say that aside from Guardians of the Galaxy, the majority of the films in Phase Two do not have as many easter eggs as the films in Phase One. So at the beginning of the film, two people try to talk to Tony on the dance floor at the club hotel he's at. Remember Dr Yinsen, the guy who kept Tony alive in the cave during Iron Man, that's him just younger trying to talk to guy he saves years later. In the end battle with all of the suits, Tony calls upon one suit by the name of The Heavy Lifting Suit; take a closer look at it and it looks a lot like the Hulkbuster suit we see in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Avengers: Infinity War. Finally, if you look close enough, you can find a mangled ball of metal downstairs in Tony's building area. The ball of metal is actually the remaining pieces of the car Tony drove in the Formula One race in Iron Man 2.

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The post credits scene of Iron Man 3 is honestly the most boring of them all. It has nothing to do with any of the films and is completely random, but I assume it ties together the movie pretty well. At the beginning of the movie, Tony seems to be talking to someone. The post credits scene shows us that Tony is talking to none other than Dr Bruce Banner. I guess you can say that's a callback to The Avengers but that's it. 

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Now, let's talk about Captain America: The Winter Soldier!

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier takes place following the events of The Avengers as Steve Rogers is still trying to get acclimated to the world today. It's the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger and really is one of the more riveting films in the MCU. Directed by the Russo Brothers, who would go on to direct Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, Winter Soldier has a very James Bond feel to it, and many people call it a political action film. Released April 4th, 2014, the film brought in a large sum of $714 million during it's box office run. The film brings back the likes of Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), and Sebastian Stan (The Winter Soldier). Joining the cast would be Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter), Robert Redford (Alexander Pierce), and Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow/Crossbones). 

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The pre-production of the film went relatively smooth in regards to the other Marvel films. Following the release of Captain America: The First Avenger, the Russo Brothers were immediately in talks with Marvel and Walt Disney Studios to direct, not only The Winter Soldier, but also Civil War and potentially Infinity War. Joe and Anthony Russo signed on to the direct the film and production began. Really, the only interesting thing regarding production was who was going to play Sharon Carter. Names from Anna Kendrick to Felicity Jones to Jessica Chastain to Emilia Clarke were all linked to the character and all at some point were rumored to be playing her. Ultimately, Emily VanCamp was cast as Sharon Carter and the other actresses continued their success outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

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There are a couple of subtle easter eggs in the film as well. When Fury is showing Rogers the new hellicarriers, he tells him about how Stark improved them and how Stark got up close and personal with the carriers. This is a subtle reference to when Tony had to restart one of the engines manually in The Avengers. If you look closely at Black Widow, you can see an arrow necklace she wears. This is an homage to Hawkeye, but don't get too excited, we see her real love interest takes the shape of a big green guy. What's pretty cool is that the actual creator of The Winter Soldier comic books is given screentime by the Russo Brothers. Ed Brubaker is the creator of Bucky in the Marvel comic books, and in doing him justice, Joe and Anthony requested he be in the movie; you can see him brainwashing Bucky if you look closely. A big easter egg can be found when Senator Stern, yeah the same guy who tries to make Tony turn over the Iron Man suits in Iron Man 2, can be seen with Jasper Sitwell saying "Hail HYDRA". Speaking of Mr Sitwell, he gives us arguably the biggest egg of them all! When Sitwell is being interrogated, he spills all of the beans regarding who HYDRA is targeting, including people who pose threats to the organization. When he starts listing names, he says Stephen Strange, also known as, Dr Strange. There's a ton of MCU timeline mumbo jumbo here that we're not going to get into, but it's still pretty cool. Finally, we see Bucky holding Cap's shield during a battle sequence. This may not seem like much, but given the rumors circulating regarding Cap dying in Infinity War, it's safe to say this may be a call to who may fill Captain America's shoes once his time does come.

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There's two post credits scenes in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The end credits scene is of Bucky and it's safe to say this is really close to the events in Civil War as Bucky seems to be wearing close to the same thing we see him in during Civil War. Here he is seen inside a museum showcasing Captain America and Bucky Barnes. The big scene though is the mid credit scene. This is our first glimpse of the villains of Avengers: Age of Ultron. We see Loki's scepter is in the hands of Wolfgang Von Strucker, and as he makes his way through the cave we see he has two people in holding cells: one boy looks to be extraotdinarly fast and the other, a girl, looks to posses some kind of powerful magic that is shown. These two are none other than Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, also known as the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. All three play a pivotal role in Avengers: Age of Ultron. 

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After watching both films the second time around, I really enjoyed Winter Soldier a lot more than when I first saw it. As far as Iron Man 3, I've always loved it and will always love it as it shows another human side of my favorite hero. Overall, I have Winter Soldier at number 11 on my list. I liked it a lot better the more I saw it, but I could do without the whole ship scene with GSP. I thought it was an overall thrilling movie, and not crazy political.

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Iron Man 3 comes in at an easy 8 for me. I loved it more than Iron Man 2 but not quite as much as the original Iron Man. The fight scenes in Iron Man 3 are crazy intense, including the tanker scene with all the suits. I love the crazy twists in the movie that come from nowhere, and how it shows yet another human side of Tony Stark as he battles PTSD. A surprising high point for me was Gwyneth Paltrow and how important she was to the story and seeing how much she means to Tony. Hopefully we don't see her end in Infinity War.

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Kevin Scott is a contributing writer for The Mouse Knows Best Podcast. He is self proclaimed Disney addict and oftentimes annoys his family with how much he talks Disney. He enjoys walking around all Disney Parks and taking as many pictures as he can in one day. When he isn't at Walt Disney World, he is working to get back or re-watching Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars movie. His spirit animal is a mix between Simba and Kylo Ren with a dash of Tony Stark. You can find him on Twitter @doubleoh_kevin and on Instagram @waltdisneyduo.