After the colossal success of Iron Man that kicked off Phase I of the MCU, shortly followed by Iron Man 2 & 3, you’d be forgiven for thinking that another installment would indubitably be on its way. We may not be getting an Iron Man 4 movie anytime soon, or even ever, it’s still a bit unclear, but a guy can have dreams, right? This is the part where you say: “Dreams? No. Delusions? Yes.” Regardless, here are a few reasons I believe we should get Iron Man 4. Let’s get stuck in!
6. Extremis
Extremis was the biological virus used by Aldrich Killian to create an army of fire-breathing soldiers we saw in Iron Man 3. Aldrich himself was afflicted by it, as was Pepper, to which we don’t know the extent of her recovery after exposure. The virus works by re-writing the DNA of the affected so that they are resistant to cellular damage or decay. The side effects are that the subject develops the superpowers we’re familiar with. Now, the reason why I bring this up is because there is a storyline in the Iron Man comics where Tony is badly wounded and his only choice of survival is exposure to the extremis virus. He lives, and the effects are that part of his suit becomes integrated with his body allowing him to summon it at will as well as remotely access satellites, computers and electronic systems. He basically becomes a technopathic cyborg. Awesome right?
Now, with all this in mind, imagine what he can do when he can remotely operate all of his suits, hack into security systems, satellites, mobile phones and the like just with his mind. Imagine the new level of superheroism that would bring about. We saw a sliver of that in the last film with him summoning his suit from almost 900 miles away but that was never again touched upon. But imagine if Pepper discovers that’s something she can do, or if Rhodey uses it. The more I think about it, the more the possibilities become endless. It would be a great tool to have when dealing with new threats and advancing into the quickly approaching Infinity War storylines. We’ve seen plenty of innovative ways Tony Stark reconfigures his suits, so who knows what could happen?
5. A New Nemesis
Now a superhero film wouldn’t be complete without a villain or antagonist, and in Iron Man’s case a lot of them have been covered already. We’ve had (in order): Iron Monger, Justin Hammer, Whiplash, The Mandarin, and Ultron. So who’s missing? I’d personally like to see M.O.D.O.K in a Marvel film. Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing is a super intelligent, super megalomaniacal giant head in a floating chair with psionic and mind-control abilities he uses to his disposal in his eternal quest for world domination, and that’s just putting it simply. He is the product of a man-machine mutation that occurred when A.I.M scientists (Advanced Idea Mechanics, like from Iron Man 3) attempted to study their equivalent of the Tesseract. He quickly grew powerful enough to take over A.I.M and has had numerous team-ups with other villains ever since.
I think a character like M.O.D.O.K would be a great antagonist for a fourth Iron Man film simply because it could tie up loose ends/continue storylines from previous films as well as introducing new threats. In this universe M.O.D.O.K could be a not-so-dead Aldrich Killian who is secretly working with Thanos to obtain the last of the infinity stones. There would be plenty of opportunities for Iron Man to go ego to ego or tête-à-(giant)tête in tense intellectual warfare in a Holmes vs Moriarty fashion.
4. Don’t Say “New York”
Remember when there was a portal in the sky and aliens came flooding through it? Remember when Iron Man put a missile through said portal, and almost never returned? Remember when Tony was having bad dreams and panic attacks? Yeah, so do I. But somehow that is all resolved by the end of Iron Man 3? We barely see any symptoms of PTSD after that and I find it a little strange. I know everyone deals with trauma and stress in different ways but we don’t even see any steps towards recovery so it appears that he’s completely fine. It’s either that or Tony’s become good at hiding it from other people.
I’m not saying dedicate a whole film around his recovery but it would be good to physically show to the audience what he’s going through in that respect. It would give his character more depth (not that it lacks) and would affect the decisions he would make. It could change the way a situation pans out and have a knock-on effect on future events. It could. It’s only speculation now because it’s not really been addressed in its entirety. It may have been a factor in the decision to create Ultron but we don’t know. And if so, then that was a little too subtle. Give us something more concrete, dammit!
3. Peace with Steve
After the events of Captain America: Civil War, you can understand the position Tony was put in, and why his friendship with Steve has gone to the rocks, but it would be nice if later on down the line they reconciled. Despite their difference in opinions, they work really well together, and inspire growth in one another. Remember when Tony met Steve for the first time in Avengers Assemble? Steve was just a military man in a new world and still blindly following orders. It was Tony who taught him to question the authority and the moral compass of the governing bodies they dealt with (looking at you, Secretary Ross. We haven’t forgotten the events of The Incredible Hulk.)
Tony may not ever forgive Steve for what he did but I really hope that they’re able to move past this. People change. And we can’t always hold them to the wrong decisions they made several years ago. Of all people, Tony Stark should know that. So yeah, they may not be best buddies but an Iron Man/Captain America team up is still a strong physical and tactical advantage in any battle.
2. “Give me back my Rhodey.”
Lt. James Rhodes is an important character. He’s a mentally strong character that helps keep Tony grounded with the strength of his convictions alone. They’re best friends, for goodness sake. So it would make sense that Rhodey would have more screen time in another Iron Man film. He’s not really had a lot of input leading up to Civil War which is fair enough, because he was only recently officially made an Avenger. Now that he is one, it would be great to get an onscreen bromance rivalling that of Steve and Bucky’s. I’ll leave the ship names to you guys.
The more interesting element to this that should definitely be explored is Rhodey’s recovery after the accident. There’s so much potential for character development and even backstory if done in the right way. It would be great to see something that reinforces the idea that superheroes are still, for the most part, human, and are not exempt from serious injury. Plus, the fact that Rhodey has a military background and you have an excellent opportunity to address something on the big screen that you often don’t see without it becoming an all-out military movie. How will he find ways to help Tony when times get tough? How does it affect his family and the relationships with the other Avengers? How great would it be to watch the two of them upgrade the War Machine suit together? So much potential content!!
1. Miss Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts
Yeah, I said it. I know some of you found Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts rather annoying but just hear me out. I really want her back in the picture because nobody can deny how great the chemistry (and dialogue) between her and Tony is. Who else is going to give you sassy comebacks like “I do anything and everything Mr. Stark requires. Including occasionally taking out the trash. Will that be all?” and “I was having 12% of a moment”? Tell you what, just have a browse on IMDb to familiarise yourself and you’ll see what I mean.
But while the dialogue between these two characters are great, I’d want to see more from Pepper than just that. I want Tony to reconcile with her, but as we’ve witnessed (and he himself has admitted) that he’s quite a handful, I wouldn’t want them to get back together. That would be the predictable, easy way of solving a conflict and a waste of a great character. So instead of that, I’d prefer them to be just friends and colleagues. Besides, Pepper was made CEO of Stark Industries, remember? I doubt she’d have time to run the company and deal with Tony’s shenanigans, even though she practically did all of that before her promotion.
But in all honesty, I think the most interesting way to take an Iron Man 4 film with Pepper in, is with her as the lead character. Believe it or not, she has worn an iron suit before, and went under the alias of Rescue. The armour, designed just for her, gives her abilities akin to Iron Man’s just without all the weaponry, and while some would ask what’s the point, my response would be that there’s more to superheroes than their ability to shoot laser beams from their chest. And let’s face it, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has yet to release a film with a female superhero as the main protagonist, although one has been announced and we have television shows like Agent Carter (sadly discontinued) and Jessica Jones, it’s still not enough. I think an Iron Woman film would be a great way of utilising a pre-existing character and making her into something more. What do we want? More female leads! When do we want it? Much sooner!
So there you have it, a comprehensive set of reasons why we should have a fourth Iron Man film. There’s so much that could go into one it’s almost frustrating that a new title hasn’t been officially announced. If there are any Marvel producers reading this, then please answer our prayers!
What do you guys think? Is there anything I missed out? Why do you want an Iron Man 4 besides the fact Robert Downey Jr. is great to watch on-screen? Or conversely, why do you think we don’t need another one. I want to open up the conversation on this one – be characteristically hyperverbal if you like ;-). Let us know in the comments section or on Twitter!