I thought it was FANTASTIC, for a lot of reasons, but two most of all.

1.) I expected the experimenting/kidnapping/Pepper being a trophy to just be a really gross thing especially after they directly acknowledged that Aldritch considered her that. BUT PEPPER IS THE ONE WHO ACTUALLY SAVED THE DAY/BEAT THE BIG BAD??? Like W O W. Way to take that whole experimentation problematic bullshit and turn it into Pepper Potts is the hero of an Iron Man title, and not just by getting Tony back on track from his various hot messitudes, but by outright DEFEATING THE BAD GUY WHO CREEPED ON HER ALL MOVIE. Round of fucking applause for Marvel.

(My sister at this point asked me if Joss Whedon consulted on this movie, and staying during the credits confirmed that, yes, he did, and I maintain this is probably why Pepper was the one to ~officially~ beat the Mandarin. It was in his Avengers 2 contract that he’d be a consulting producer for all of Phase 2 so that he could oversee things like this.) 

2. TONY’S ANXIETY. Wow. I actually cried a lot during this movie because it was so hard to watch anxiety portrayed so well and to see it in a superhero. It was so fucking inspiring, and Tony is the best candidate to do this with. We got touches in Avengers of how Bruce Banner deals with severe depression and suicidal tendencies due to the Hulk, but Tony is hands down the best candidate for mental health problems due to his unhealthy coping and his history with addiction. So, I’m so so so happy that they took this and used it and took advantage of that so that they could show mental health this way.

People talk a lot about how great it is to have a crippled hero in Oracle, or POC heroes or female heroes, and that’s how I see giving Tony anxiety problems: we’re finally represented. Anxiety doesn’t prevent you from being a hero and saving people. It’s something to overcome, it makes you BETTER for being able to do those same things and have this huge hurdle between you and doing them, especially because anxiety is a particularly tough one to overcome with what Tony does. I also really appreciated that they SPECIFICALLY MADE A DISTINCTION between Tony’s anxiety disorder and PTSD.

Overall, everything about this movie was perfect tbh, I think there was a LOT of good done in the reinvention of the Mandarin and social commentary there that I feel like people more educated than I on the matter have probably already talked about, but these two things were what stuck out and resonated with me PERSONALLY that made the movie great.

Also wow what a step up from Iron Man 2, I mean really. Iron Man 2 left me feeling it was a little lackluster but this was just all around solid. It continued to feel like a Joss movie, because I imagine it was his oversight that made Tony’s anxiety and his relationship problems with Pepper the ACTUAL arc, and the superhero stuff all secondary, because that’s so characteristic of his methods - ex: Buffy was never a show about vampires, that’s why it can’t honestly be compared to TVD, because Buffy was a show about life and problems that happened to be set in a vampire land. Avengers had this same feel, and Iron Man 3 does too, and I think it’s the best possible vibe for a piece of film to have.