History TearJerker / IronMan3

* The flashback in the beginning where we first meet Maya and Aldrich. They both seem so hopeful. Maya dreams of creating a universal cure for humanity, Aldirch is an adoring fan of Tony's who wants to create a think tank to take science to new levels. Cut to over a decade later Maya has compromised her ethics in her obsession to perfecting Extremis and seems broken. Aldrich is driven to acquire power and strength and is willing to do anything and everything to erase the sad little man waiting on top of a rooftop on New Years Eve.

* Maya talking to Pepper in the hotel room, and she tells the story of a man who built rockets for the Nazis. At that point, it's just a sad story, but by the end of the film it's absolutely heart-breaking, because the last three sentences describe Maya so well. And come to think of it, she might be describing Aldrich Killian as well.
-->'''Maya''': Fun fact: before he built rockets for the Nazis, the idealistic Werner von Braun dreamed of space travel. He star-gazed. Do you know what he said when the first V2 hit London? 'The rocket performed perfectly, it just landed on the wrong planet.' See we all begin wide-eyed, pure science. And then the ego steps in, the obsession. [[HeelRealization And you look up, you're a long way from shore.]]

* TheStinger reveals that Tony told the story to Bruce, looking for a shoulder to lean on, only for Bruce to sleep through the entire thing and when called out on it, insists he's NotThatKindOfDoctor. While largely PlayedForLaughs, it's still heartbreaking for Tony to reach out to a friend with his problems only for said friend to basically ignore him.

* The true reason why Vice President Rodriguez became a traitor to President Ellis: he was working with Killian so that he could have his daughter's missing leg regenerated via Extremis. Apparently, while Rodriquez is indeed a patriotic man, he loves his daughter more and prioritizes her well-being over everything else, even if it means betraying President Ellis to Killian.

** This became very tragic in the ending when Rodriguez gets arrested after his allegiance with Killian is exposed following the latter's death, implying that he may never get a chance to grow a new leg for his daughter. What's even more upsetting is that given to Rodriguez's strong relationship with his daughter, she will have to spend the rest of her life dealing with the sad truth that her father only became a traitor because of her condition.

* The true reason why Vice President Rodriguez became a traitor to President Ellis: he was working with Killian so that he could have his daughter's missing leg regenerated via Extremis. Apparently, while Rodriquez is indeed a patriotic man, he considers putting the concerns of his daughter's well-being over everything else, even if it means betraying President Ellis to Killian.
** This became even more tragic in the ending when Rodriguez gets arrested for his allegiance with Killian following the latter's death, implying that Rodriguez may never get a chance to cure his daughter's condition, and that she will have to spend the rest of her life dealing with the sad truth that her father is a traitor.

* The reason Vice President Rodriguez became a traitor: He was working with Killian so that he could have his daughter's missing leg regenerated via Extremis.

* While Tony's destroying all his armors he'd summoned to fight Killian and his men was meant to be a Christmas gift to Pepper, and therefore something heartwarming, it's still a little sad.
** On a meta level, it feels like the end of an era. The end of the new Iron Man, who is now completely beloved by fans and one of the most well-known superheroes, and whose success back in 2008 started the new MCU "plan" and spurned so many brilliant movies. Thanks, Robert.
** And then ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' reveals that [[HappyEndingOverride Tony's inability to give up superheroism and inventing better weapons in his following appearances to protect mankind lead directly to Pepper leaving him.]]

* It takes a while to register due to how funny the reveal is, but Trevor Slattery was entirely manipulated by Killian through his addictions, and never had any idea he was participating in real events. And then he ends up going to jail for it, though at least he also has a sizable fanbase. And on a meta level, he's telling this to Robert Downey Jr., a man who knows full well how an addiction can control your life.

*** Tony's PTSD, end of story. Creator/RobertDowneyJr [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct takes]] Tony's [[IronWoobie Iron Woobieness]] UpToEleven.

*** Tony's PTSD, end of story. Creator/RobertDowneyJr [[HeReallyCanAct takes]] Tony's [[IronWoobie Iron Woobieness]] UpToEleven.

*** Tony's PTSD, end of story. Creator/RobertDowneyJr takes Tony's [[IronWoobie Iron Woobieness]] UpToEleven.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/iron_man_3_tearjerker_8.jpg]]

** Kids triggering his episodes could well have a lot to do with an earlier event also: the little boy from ''Iron Man 2'', whom Vanko's drone nearly blew away because he'd been ''wearing an Iron Man mask''. How many more kids have been wearing those, since the Chitauri invasion? How many times has he dreamed about ''not'' diving to save one quickly enough?

* The quiet voice Pepper has when she realizes that she's not a hostage, she's a ''trophy''. She's been kidnapped and put through immense pain for ''hours'', and it's all just because the bad guy is so petty that he only sees her as Tony's property. It is also likely to be the moment when it truly sinks in for her that Killian doesn't care if she survives - he's not keeping her to motivate Tony to do something, he's just keeping her around to torture both of them [[DisproportionateRetribution for being dismissive of him a decade ago]].

-->'''Trevor''': ... I never thought... people'd been hurt... they lied to me.

--> '''Tony:''' J.A.R.V.I.S.! ''*beat*'' JARVIS...? Don't leave me now, buddy...

--> '''J.A.R.V.I.S.''': ''[voice slowing down]'' I think I need to sleep for a while, sir...

* JARVIS shutting down (for the first time in four movies) after the attack on the Malibu house and the flight to Tennessee drains all his power:
--> '''JARVIS''': ''[voice slowing down]'' I think I need to sleep for a while, sir...
--> '''Tony:''' JARVIS! ''*beat*'' JARVIS...? Don't leave me now, buddy...
** What kills is how JARVIS' tone was high-pitched and cracked, clearly very distressed from the ordeal.

* Tony's reaction to [[spoiler: Pepper's (apparent) death.]] He begins to tear up and then suddenly just seems to [[HeroicBSOD stop feeling anything, with a look of complete desolation on his face]].
** And it gets worse when you think about how this is what Tony has been afraid of ''the entire film''. From [[spoiler: yelling at Pepper that he couldn't protect her outside the mansion, to building ''forty-two suits'' that are calibrated to protect her as well as him]] he's tried everything to keep her safe and ''still failed''. [[spoiler: Thank goodness it was a DisneyDeath.]]
* Tony's reaction to [[spoiler: seeing the hologram of Pepper being tortured with the Extremis virus]]. Never has Tony seemed so helpless. He's nearly crying, and has to look away.
** And then it gets worse when you read Pepper's lips [[spoiler: on the hologram while she's being tortured. "Tony, make it stop!"]]

* The flashback in the beginning where we first meet Maya and Aldrich. They both seem so hopeful. Maya dreams of creating a universal cure for humanity, Aldirch is an adoring fan of Tony's who wants to create a think tank to take science to new levels. [[spoiler: Cut to over a decade later Maya has compromised her ethics in her obsession to perfecting Extremis and seems broken. Aldrich is driven to acquire power and strength and is willing to do anything and everything to erase the sad little man waiting on top of a rooftop on New Years Eve.]]
** [[spoiler: Killian becomes a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds when you remember he was nearly DrivenToSuicide after Tony stood him up. His life must have been so bad up until that point, it's a miracle that his peering over the edge became a life-changing revelation, even if it was for all the wrong reasons.]]
* [[spoiler: Killian shooting Maya right in front of Tony, just when she'd decided to pull a HighHeelFaceTurn.]]
* The brief shot of Pepper standing at the cliff edge after [[spoiler:Tony's DisneyDeath]]. Sure, ''we'' know he's fine, but ''she'' doesn't, and it hurts to see smart, capable Pepper in that kind of state.

* The reason [[spoiler: Vice President Rodriguez became a traitor: He was working with Killian so that he could have his daughter's missing leg regenerated via Extremis.]]
* A fridge one but the bulk of [[spoiler: Killian's]] army are made up of disabled veterans. Some might have been {{Blood Knight}}s but some -- maybe most -- likely were once good men and women that fought for their country and then were abandoned when traumatized or disabled. Extremis gave them a second chance but turned them into dangerous addicts with only [[spoiler:Killian]] willing to help them. They were in the hands of aggressive drug dealers.
* Tony signing his fan's drawing: "[[spoiler: ERIN HELP ME!!]]"

* While Tony's destroying all his armors he'd summoned to fight [[spoiler:Killian]] and his men was meant to be a Christmas gift to Pepper, and therefore something heartwarming, it's still a little sad.

** And then ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' reveals that [[spoiler: [[HappyEndingOverride Tony's inability to give up superheroism and inventing better weapons in his following appearances to protect mankind lead directly to Pepper leaving him.]]]]

* It takes a while to register due to how funny the reveal is, but [[spoiler:Trevor Slattery was entirely manipulated by Killian through his addictions, and never had any idea he was participating in real events. And then he ends up going to jail for it, though at least he also has a sizable fanbase. And on a meta level, he's telling this to Robert Downey Jr., a man who knows full well how an addiction can control your life.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Trevor''']]: ... I never thought... people'd been hurt... they lied to me.

* It takes a while to register due to how funny the reveal is, but [[spoiler:Trevor Slattery was entirely manipulated by Killian through his addictions, and never had any idea he was participating in real events. And then he ends up going to jail for it, though at least he also has a sizable fanbase. And on a meta level, he's telling this to Robert Downey Jr., a man who knows full well how an addiction can control your life.]]

--> '''Tony:''' JARVIS, don't leave me now, buddy.

** And then ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' reveals that [[spoiler: [[HappyEndingOverride Tony's inability to give up superheroism and inventing better weapons in his following appearances to protect mankind lead directly to Pepper leaving him.]]

-->'''Maya''': Fun fact: before he built rockets for the Nazis, the idealistic Werner von Braun dreamed of space travel. He star-gazed. Do you know what he said when the first V2 hit London? 'The rocket performed perfectly, it just landed on the wrong planet.' See we all begin wide-eyed, pure science. And then the ego steps in, the obsession. And you look up, you're a long way from shore.

** What makes this especially hard is that they are shown to have an innocent, almost childlike, artificial intelligence, to see them suffering is in such a brutal manner heartbreaking.