Iron Man 3: The Extremis Guide

The Avengers may have just opened in theaters, but already superhero fans are looking towards the next wave of Marvel Studios films. That new wave kicks off next summer with Iron Man 3. Robert Downey Jr. and the gang will return once more to save the world and deliver some snark.

What makes this latest sequel interesting is that, more so than the previous Marvel Studios films, Iron Man 3 looks to be drawing inspiration directly from the comics. Recent reports suggest that the film will be based on Iron Man: Extremis by writer Warren Ellis and artist Adi Granov.

But just what is Extremis, and how does it fit into the world we've seen develop over the course of three movies so far? That's what we explore in this guide as we hypothesize what direction the story will take in Iron Man 3.





Extremis debuted in 2005, shortly after the various Avengers titles were relaunched in the wake of the Avengers Disassembled storyline. As the tale opens, Tony Stark is dealing with the collapse of the Avengers and the end of his short-lived stint as Secretary of Defense. The day-to-day pressures of running his company are conflicting with his desire to hide from the world and tinker with the Iron Man armor.

Tony has an unexpected reunion with an old colleague named Maya Hansen. Hansen is a scientist responsible for the creation of the Extremis process, essentially a computerized version of the super-soldier serum that created captain America. When Extremis is stolen by a terrorist group, Hansen calls in Iron Man to help stop a new super-powered foe from unleashing the power of Extremis on Washington D.C.

The core struggle Tony faces in Extremis is the need to evolve. His past as a weapons manufacturer still haunts him. He questions whether the Iron Man armor has actually helped the world or just brought more death and destruction. And when faced with the perfect fusion of biology and technology in the form of his new foe, Mallen, Tony comes to the realization that Iron Man is behind the curve. So what comes next?





Robert Downey Jr. will reprise his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man (it may also be his final performance depending how contract re-negotiations with Marvel Studios go). Despite recent victories over Iron Monger, Whiplash, and Loki, Tony still faces newer and greater threats and will need an even more advanced version of the Iron Man armor to keep up.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle will also reprise their roles as Pepper Potts and James Rhodes, respectively. What role these two will play is unclear given that neither character appears in the original Extremis storyline. However, it's a safe bet that Rhodey will suit up as War Machine again, which may invite more conflict between Stark Enterprises and the military. Meanwhile, we're crossing our fingers that Pepper will be given her own suit of armor and that Rescue can make her live-action debut.

Jessica Chastain was slated to co-star in a role believed to be Maya Hansen, the co-creator of Extremis. Hansen is both Tony's intellectual rival and a potential love interest. However, as an alcoholic and a person who places her work over her morality, Hansen also represents what Tony could become without a conscience. Though Chastain has now dropped out, Diane Kruger, Gemma Arterton, and Isla Fischer were all rumored to be in the running as well and may once again be contenders.

The character Sal Kennedy serves as a mentor figure to both Tony and Maya in the comic. Sal is a futurist who pushes both characters to move their industries forward. He's also a bit of a hippie and a recreational drug enthusiast who spends his free time sampling various mushrooms and other psychedelic drugs. The character would be perfect for Jeff Bridges if Bridges hadn't already played Obadiah Stane in the first film. So far there's no word if Sal will actually appear in Iron Man 3.

Guy Pearce has been cast as Aldrich Killian, Maya's colleague and co-creator of the Extremis process. Killian commits suicide early in the first issue of Extremis, but we have to assume that Marvel Studios wouldn't hire Pearce if the character was going to bow out of the film so quickly. One possibility is that Killian will be combined with the Mallen character and that he will be the first Extremis-enhanced villain Iron Man is forced to battle.

Finally, Ben Kingsley has been cast as a mystery villain, while Andy Lau will reportedly play an unknown character. And despite early reports to the contrary, Scarlett Johansson will not reprise her role as Black Widow here.





The most significant outcome of Extremis was a new suit of armor and a new slate of abilities for Tony. Initially, he proved no match for Mallen's Extremis powers because his armor was too clunky and slow. Now matter how advanced the weaponry in his armor, Tony couldn't move at the speed of thought like Mallen did.

That all changes when Tony injects himself with the Extremis process. It rebuilds his body from the ground up to the point where Tony can now directly interface with computer systems and satellites. The crucial circuitry for the Iron Man armor is now stored inside the hollows of his bones. Like Darth Vader, Tony is now more machine than man, except he actually gets to keep his good looks.


With the new powers comes a new suit of armor. The "Extremis Armor" is a streamlined version of his previous suit. It features a smoother, more organic look and can now move and operate as fast as Tony can think.

We expect to see a similar sort of transformation for Tony in the film along with a new, streamlined Iron Man armor. Interestingly, Adi Granov illustrated the Extremis storyline and worked on the armor designs for the previous Iron Man movies, so the look of Iron Man is already heavily inspired by his art. Will the movie version of the Extremis armor still resemble Granov's art? Or will it take cues from the current "Bleeding Edge" armor in the comics, which is constructed of liquid metal and stored entirely inside Tony's body? That could be a cool sight to witness on the big screen.





If Iron Man has a primary nemesis in the same way that the X-Men have Magneto and Superman has Lex Luthor, it would probably be the Mandarin. This villain, besides being a formidable martial artist and warrior, gains power trough the ten rings he harvested from an alien spacecraft. Mandarin's rings lend credence to the old saying "any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic." His rivalry with Iron Man is one of science vs. mysticism and West vs. East.

Fans have been waiting for a Mandarin appearance for years now, and we suspect that their wish may finally come true in Iron Man 3. For one thing, the previous two movies have been teasing his eventual rise. The terrorist group that kidnapped Tony was called The Ten Rings, and their leader Raza can be seen handling his master's Flame Blast ring. The Ten Rings appeared again in Iron Man 2, providing Whiplash with information and helping Justin Hammer break the villain out of prison.

There's also the fact that the new sequel is being partly filmed and produced in China. Coincidence? We know that Ben Kingsley has been cast as a villain in the film. And despite reports that he isn't playing the Mandarin, we're still not convinced. Kingsley's character apparently weaves a plot that "revolves around the spread of a virus through nanobots." That sounds like Extremis to us, and using Extremis as a terrorist weapon is something Mandarin has done in the past.





Even if Iron Man 3 does end up borrowing heavily from the Extremis storyline, significant additions and changes will have to be made along the way. Though the comic is presented in very cinematic fashion, it simply isn't long enough to form the basis of a two-hour movie. The problem is even more pronounced because one issue focuses largely on providing a modernized take on Iron man's origins, something viewers already saw in the original film.

Perhaps the most sensible idea is to use Extremis as a foundation for the first act of the movie. After gaining his Extremis powers and defeating Mallen (or his equivalent), Tony should go on to face a larger threat. The movie could easily work as an adaptation of two comic storylines. The Iron Man series was temporarily relaunched as Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. During this time, the overarching conflict involved The Mandarin returning from exile, disguising himself as a scientist named Tem Borjigin and working on a plot to unleash Extremis as a worldwide pandemic. He knew that Extremis would be lethal to 97.5% of the world's population, but that the survivors would emerge as a new, highly advanced race.

That sounds like the sort of conflict that could carry the remaining two acts of the film, whereas a one-on-one battle between Iron Man and Mallen would seem dull in comparison to the previous final showdowns. It fits with director Shane Black's desire to craft a movie that is as much a techno thriller as it is a superhero adventure. A more global conflict also allows characters like Rhodey and Pepper to do more, whereas the original Extremis storyline leaves no place for anyone outside of the limited main cast. And the conflict still works even if it turns out that Kingsley won't be portraying Mandarin.

In a more general sense, we'd like to see the sequel explore how the creation of the Iron Man armor has affected the modern battlefield. Tony may have built the suit in order to end war, but the longer it exists, the more opportunities there are for less philanthropic men to abuse the technology. This has been a focus of many Iron Man stories over the years. We're picturing stories like Matt Fraction's "The Five Nightmares of Tony Stark," where 21st Century suicide bombers use arc reactors instead of dynamite to cause death and destruction. Or maybe "Armor Wars," where Tony embarked on an unsanctioned, one-man war against all the foreign powers who sought to corrupt his invention.

Extremis is a good foundation, but there's plenty more potential in the Iron Man universe.




Jesse has been a writer for IGN Comics since House of M was the big craze in the comic community. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.

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