History Headscratchers / IronMan3

** Uh, no. One assumes she continues to refer to him that way in case someone might be listening in.
** Well, there's some speculation that they may be leaving it open for another movie passed Avengers 2. Then again, MODOK wasn't the original leader of AIM, he was something they made later on and took over.
** Yeah, the Master could refer to someone above Killian, if they wanted to set up a villain for a sequel: a real Mandarin, Thanos, MODOK. Thanos was referred to as "MasterLord" by his minions when they were conducting operations on Earth in his first appearance. But I'm just WildMassGuessing here.
** While leaving things open is certainly possible, I think its most likely because not everyone in the organization knows the truth.

** I figured that she called him "The Master" because ''that's just what they call him''. Killian gave him the codename "Master" when he was first recruited and that's just the name that everybody uses. And it's good security practice too, in case SHIELD ever manages to intercept their communications.

** Since the movie is basically an account of events told from Tony's perspective, of Bruce's dream being influenced as Tony talks, it's reasonable neither one would factor in Killian carrying a handgun at the time.

** According to the Iron Man 3 game he had the Mark I-VII Mark 42, and a few Iron Legion suits rebuilt to deal with the threat of the game, though that might not be canon to the films universe. At any rate he'll have a new suit in Avengers 2 anyway (and would have even if they weren't destroyed, as every movie he gets at least one new suit.)

** So, the extra footage could be B-roll footage, at least as far as Killian sees it?

** Assuming Robert Downey Jr agrees to come back, if only for more Avengers movies, I assume they'll move into Stark Tower. Sure he's going through PTSD with New York, but he can certainly work past that. The end of the film seems to imply he's over it, or at least ''getting'' over it.

** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' insinuates that Tony at least moved back to New York and resided in Stark Tower for a bit, then by ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' he's living in a lakeside house with Pepper, also presumably in New York State.

** He's a multibillionaire. Surely even if he doesn't own other houses, the ability to, I don't know, build or buy a new one isn't that much of a stretch? I mean no one freaked out when Wayne Manor was destroyed at the end of Batman Begins or were scratching their heads as to where the penthouse in Dark Night came from.

** Collusion in a criminal conspiracy, I assume. Or working with Terrorists. If the accountant was, somehow, really killed, then manslaughter ("They told me it was blanks!"). He clearly knew AIM were bad guys, he just didn't care as long as he was kept knee-deep in drugs, booze, and women. Well, maybe not his ''knee'' in that last case.

** If nothing else, they could just convict him on ''drug charges''.

** Slattery is British, not American, so he couldn't be charged with treason unless he's a US citizen. He'd likely be extradited to the UK for trial, though.
** ''All Hail the King'' shows that he gets put in an American prison that Justin Hammer, among others, is incarcerated in.

** Remember that, from a government viewpoint, SHIELD has not been trustworthy during the invasion, even if they ultimately save the day. Among the things I remember, Nick Fury violated direct orders to nuke New York, and let Thor go away with the Tesseract. I don't find it very unsurprising that the government refuses to seek the aid of SHIELD. Besides, they surely thought that Mandarin is just a lunatic, nowhere near an invasion of aliens or gods, and Rhodes alone should be enough to deal with him. As for the other heroes' viewpoint, the movie did not take place in a few days, it took place '''in a single day''', the day before Christmas. So yes, they did not had the chance to be informed and join the action in time. Specially not Captain America: a 1940s guy like him, in his context and in the day before Christmas, would surely be in the cemetery, paying a visit to his long dead parents. And he surely left the futuristic gizmos (like the cell phone) at home, to be undisturbed, and did not had any TV nearby; and so nobody could find him nor he knew what was going on until it was all finished.

** How would the Avengers call him? After he got to Tennessee he was pretty much unreachable, since it was a long time before he got Jarvis back online again (that's why he needed that news van). And at the end of the Avengers it's made clear that all the heroes dropped off government radar, so I doubt Tony has any of their contact info.

** IIRC, Brandt and Savin could killed Tony on numerous occasions, with Tony only surviving because they kept screwing around with him and letting him set up explosions/surprise attacks. Probably because they didn't see him as remotely being a threat out of his armor.

** I'm going throw this out there, but it's very possible that Mandarin plot wasn't a top priority for Shield. Let's face it Killian's smokescreen really wasn't something up there with alien invasion, Asgardian super weapon or Hydra threat level. Mandarin to he rest of the world was just another conventional terrorist that the US government was fully capable of stopping. Fury might have had Steve on different mission that he saw as bigger threat to the world at large. Killian's real plan, which probably would have caught Shield's eye, a army super soldiers Tony stopped him. Like everyone else said the whole movie takes places in two days.

** In any case the ''real'', Doylist, answer, is that Marvel were worried that this might be RDJ's last movie since his then-contract was up ''and'' because one of the criticisms of the previous movie was that it focused too much on setting up ''The Avengers''. Both meta reasons for keeping the focus on Tony Stark alone...which obviously didn't work like they thought it would, since we are all wondering why SHIELD or at least one other Avenger aren't in this movie (Banner doesn't count).
** With it being revealed in Winter Soldier that SHIELD is actually HYDRA in disguise, it would make sense the Avengers wouldn't be involved in the threat of Extremis or the Mandarin. HYDRA likely regards Killian as an asset to be utilized and exploited by allowing him to go about what he's doing unimpeded.

* Was it not a huge, ''huge'' risk for Killian to recruit Slattery? The latter is obviously a drug addict, alcoholic, and an idiot to boot. What if he [broke character during a live broadcast? What if he laughed? What if he threw up or shit himself? What if he decided to ad-lib because he was high? What if he died of an OD? What if he figured out what was going on and had a crisis of conscience, then revealed it on live TV? To use a RealLife example not intended as a TakeThat, there's a reason Creator/RobertDowneyJr was uninsurable for so many years: hiring drug addicts is ''very'' risky and dangerous. Surely someone as clever as Killian would have realized all the things that could go horribly, ''horribly'' wrong with Slattery that could have, at best, severely undermined the fearsome aura he was trying to create around the Mandarin, and, at worst, brought down his entire organization (as Slattery did, in fact, end up helping to do.)

** Well, The Mandarin is literally "the role of a lifetime". It's a major commitment, not something that you can just give to any actor (they would essentially have to give up their personal life for the foreseeable future). Trevor was skilled enough to play the part credibly, yet compromised enough that Killian could control him and keep him compliant with hookers and drugs. And there are plenty of actors who are able to successfully conceal their ''many'' personal issues while the cameras are rolling ("the show must go on" and all that). That doesn't address why Killian wasn't worried someone might recognize Trevor, though.

** ''All'' of Killian's minions are drug addicts, not just Trevor. Extremis is addictive, remember? Killian clearly has had a lot of practice manipulating junkies; he probably picked Slatterly ''because'' he knew his usual manipulation-tactics would work on him, just as well.

[[folder:Airforce One Security]]

** It's a headscratcher for sure. To let him on without verifying his identity assumes that no one could make a knockoff Iron Patriot armor, nor could anyone remotely override said armor. Both of those happened in ''Iron Man 2''.
** He seems to arrive just before the plane takes off, so maybe they were in a hurry and didn't do all the normal security stuff. Besides, the suit probably transmits all sorts of wireless authentication codes (which supposedly can't be faked), and has all sorts of things to make sure only Rhodey can wear the suit (which supposedly can't be bypassed). Don't forget that the ''Vice President'' is working for the bad guys. He probably ''proposed'' the security measures that Killian is bypassing, and specifically included loopholes (that no one else would notice) so that Killian's plan would work.

** As Tony demonstrated in the second film, the suit has...plumbing.

** Who says only the movie audience got a DiscretionShot? Much of the Mandarin's footage switched perspective. The first few broadcasts, we saw as if we were people of that universe.

** According to a trailer of the Marvel short with Thor The Dark World Trevor wound up in prison, with the short being an interview with him (and will probably bring up the charges he's accused of).

* What episode of Downton Abbey Happy is watching at the end of this film? There is a man and woman looking at each other and another woman in a black dress walk towards them.
** It's sometime early in season 2 (say, the first half) as Sybil is working as a nurse and Branson is pestering her about his feelings.

* Where were the battalions of soldiers wearing mass produced powered armor the government should've had by now considering their access to the War Machine suit? Stane was able to get the Iron Monger suit functional from some scraps seemingly overnight!

** And finally, the assumption that all veterans are morally upright folks who would support the President is only an assumption. In RealLife, a nontrivial number of veterans openly and harshly criticize the sitting POTUS anyway. And with the tens of thousands of disabled and injured veterans from America's wars in the early [=21st=] century, even having just 1% of them be disturbed enough to join Killian would account for dozens on-screen.

[[folder: Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Iron Man]]

** As of the beginning of Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron, Iron Man and War Machine are both still operative. As of the ending, Iron Man retired and War Machine became a new Avenger.

** Killian didn't think he needed Stark, Maya did. Killian just wanted revenge on Tony; if it turns out he could use him first, then great. And then Maya tries to kill herself, Killian shoots her first, and suddenly Tony is more important (but still not invaluable).

* We see the president strung up over some oil barrels while wearing the Iron Patriot. When I first saw it, I assumed the Iron Patriot was disabled, but Rhodey takes it and uses it just fine (in fact, they use the hand jets to free him). So, why didn't the president just free himself? Moreover, why would they keep the president captive inside a fully functional suit of mobile armor? That should be the opposite of being held captive.

** Both Savin and Pepper had some difficulty working the suits. Each one fires the repulsors completely by accident. Probably why Savin sticks to punching out and shooting the presidential aides on Air Force One with a handgun.

** Two options. 1, Killian somehow managed to bluff the gov't while IP was ''hors de combat'' (we already know he has sophisticated media tech), or with an explanation as to why he broke contact, possibly involving an extended firefight that "Rhodes" would fully debrief them on after he finished escorting the President. 2. It was a bluff. Had something gone wrong, Savin was perfectly capable of killing everyone and kidnapping the President the old-fashioned way.

* So, given particular things we learn about the Mandarin or rather, Trevor, what of the authenticity of some of the footage seen in his terrorist videos? In particular, the bits with the Mandarin meeting with militants who cheer him on as a leader and a scene where the same militants are seen shooting a picture and burning an effigy of the President. Were those staged as well? It's highly doubtful they'd let a drugged-up actor hang around actual terrorists who might kill him for looking at them funny.
** Probably all faked with some stock footage thrown in for realism. Considering the set up in the movie Trevor probably never left the US after being hired, as nothing seen couldn't be replicated by a sound stage and enough attention to detail.

** All of it was green screens and actors. All the outdoor appearances were on sets with exterior effects added later. All the "terrorists" were actors in costume.
** I don't think all of the footage was done on green screen sets. For instance, the effigy burning footage may have been shot in the hills of Southern California.

** He blew up the suits for Pepper as much as anything, as a gesture to show he's not going to let his tinkering and anxieties distract him from their relationship anymore. It needn't take a world-threatening crisis to get him to rebuild the more useful designs, and go back to designing better ones: all it'd take would be for ''Pepper'' (who knows he loves crafting and wearing his suits, even if he's no longer so dependent on them) to suggest it.

* The government has been trying re-create super soldiers ever since Captain America was a success. There was an alien invasion. I doubt the US government wouldn't buy Extremis considering what happened in New York (they expressed interest in the Iron Man armors, so I imagine they would be interested in anything that can give people powers). The exploding soldiers already scared the US to the point where I think they would have at least watched a finished Extremist project to see if it is what they want. To my knowledge, Killian never mentioned the president turned him away in the past. All in all, this part of his plot seemed unnecessary in making money or getting back at Tony. Feels like its here to try to elevate Killian as a bigger villain than he actually was.

** Killian mentions to Pepper that there's a Presidential ban on "immoral biotech research," which is not surprising considering the negative psychological and physical effects on super soldiers that such treatments leave them with. Unless your name is Steve Rogers, you're essentially going to be drunk on superpowers. Johann Schmidt, Bruce Banner, Emil Blonsky... all those guys have caused tremendous death and destruction through trying to replicate Rogers' success. The United States government probably figures they're better off using high-tech soldiers like the Falcon and the Iron Patriot rather than risk a bunch of super soldiers going insane and turning against their country.

** Remember that after Tony crashed he had to walk for a while carrying his armor around. That alone must have taken a couple of hours. Then there's all the time he spent with the kid before reaching the place. That's another hour or two.

* After Killian successfully breaths fire and gets the Iron Patriot armor to open, we see Rhodes fight some of Killian's men. Later we come back to Rhodes lying on the floor alone and unharmed. What happened? We know James Badge Dale took the Iron Patriot armor, but why did no on think to kill or at least trap the man who no knew all of their plans. It's as if the bad guys simply disappear between scenes.

** This, pretty much. Neither the fake Homeland agent nor Stavin were surprised to see Tony there; hell, Stavin actually grinned and waved at Tony when he saw him.

** As noted before, the accountant didn't get killed by Trevor, and is even seen recovering and getting up as if never shot during the credits sequence. (right before Ben Kingsley's credit pops up)

* The government has been trying re-create super soldier ever since Captain America was a success. There was an alien invasion. I doubt the US government wouldn't buy Extremis considering what happened in New York (they expressed interest in the Iron Man armors, so I imagine they would be interested in anything that can give people powers). The exploding soldiers already scared the US to the point where I think they would have at least watched a finished Extremist project to see if it is what they want. To my knowledge Killian never mentioned the president turned him away in the past. All in all this part of his plot seemed unnecessary in making money or getting back at Tony. Feels like its here to try to elevate Killian as a bigger villain than he actually was.

** Killian mentions to Pepper that there's a Presidential ban on "immoral biotech research," which is not surprising considering the negative psychological and physical effects on super soldiers that such treatments leave them with. Unless your name is Steve Rogers, you're essentially going to be drunk on superpower. Johann Schmidt, Bruce Banner, Emil Blonsky... all those guys have caused tremendous death and destruction through trying to replicate Rogers' success. The United States government probably figures they're better off using high-tech soldiers like the Falcon and the Iron Patriot rather than risk a bunch of super soldiers going insane and turning against their country.

** No. The impression I got was that he was using them as a scapegoat for whenever one of his people exploded and while simultaneously creating a terrorist threat that would make governments more eager for his Extremis super soldiers. AIM had no affiliation or even interaction witch the original members. The organization itself if it still exists may not even be aware, as in real life Al Qaeda often has different cells and branches who did not communicate.

** As of All Hail The King, the Ten Rings was a entirely separate organization that Killian framed for his own plans. They had nothing to do with the events of [=IM3=], and Killian had nothing to do with the events of Iron Man. The real Ten Rings and the real Mandarin are out for revenge on Trevor Slattery and are very active.

** The Mandarin is the leader of the 10 Rings, they say as much in the one shot. And in the movie the logo used in the Mandarin videos is the same as the one used by the 10 Rings in the first Iron Man.