Mega Marvel Rewatch: Iron Man 3

My approach to the Marvel Cinematic Universe changed drastically once I got into the fandom. Before Avengers, I enjoyed the movies and always made a point of seeing them in the theater, and to a certain extent I considered them a single canon and watched them with an eye to what had come before, and what might come next. But getting fannish about them, reading tons of meta on Tumblr and elsewhere, chatting about them non-stop with friends, brought me to a very different level. Suddenly, whenever I watch an MCU film, it's not just about that film, but all the others as well (and the TV series, once Agents of SHIELD came around). It's no longer just a series to me now; it really is a universe.

And so, as with the Avengers, I feel like I've already seen everything there is to say about this film, a film I enjoyed a lot but with some very conflicting feelings. Very little has changed, really, from the initial reaction shot I wrote within a day or so of watching it -- I love Rhodey in this film, I'm happy that the Battle of New York had real consequences for Tony that can't be brushed off, even months later; I'm excited by the choices they made with the Mandarin. My mixed emotions mainly center on the treatment of Pepper. ( More. )

At this point I don't think I'm going to be able to watch much, if any, Agents of SHIELD, but we'll see how it shakes out. Either way, I think Thor 2 is next. I haven't watched that since I first saw it in theaters, so it should be fun.