So much for the villainous aliens of “The Avengers.”
The new trailer for “Iron Man 3,” just released, depicts a newly elected president swearing revenge on supervillain “The Mandarin,” just before Air Force One is bombed and government officials float through the air.
The Marvel series of comic-book movies have always lightly dabbled in politics — Tony Stark, the titular “Iron Man,” is a weapons contractor who’s under perpetual scrutiny from the government, while his fellow Avenger Captain America is a jingoistic figure of American can-do optimism. They’re far from the three movies depicting coups and paramilitary overthrows of the president coming out this year (those would be “White House Down,” “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “Olympus Has Fallen”).
The franchise is better known for action than real-world resonance of any sort. But a plot hinging on vengeance against a globally known terrorist striking back against American power may indicate that we’ll be seeing more and more movies tinted with themes that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Kathryn Bigelow movie.
