The latest big Marvel movie, Iron Man 3, opens today. It's getting decent reviews, but it might have a tiny technical impairment holding it back: With two prior movies, plus a little tie-in called The Avengers, how can everyone stay up to speed on the hero's story?
We're here to help the nerd-challenged among you catch up in the best way we know how -- through the teaching power of GIFs.
So strap on up your repulsor boots and suit up. All systems are go.
This is Tony Stark.
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He's a complicated guy, so we'll let him describe himself.
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He's also a former weapons contractor. But you really only need to know one thing about him...
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Tony's not your average superhero. For one thing, he only has one power: his genius intellect.
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And unlike most comic book crusaders, he doesn't have time for all that secret identity nonsense.
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But he's traditional in a few ways: He's got a girlfriend, Pepper Potts.
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And a best pal, USAF Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes.
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A few years ago, Tony was kidnapped and mortally wounded by terrorists. He had to build himself an artificial heart to survive.
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While he was at it, he built an entire supersuit to take the terrorists out.
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He built the first Iron Man suit with a box of scraps in a cave and escaped.
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And once he got home, he decided to stop selling weapons and dedicate himself to world peace.
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To further that goal, he did what anyone would do: built a new suit and became a superhero.
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The Iron Man armor is, to say the least, pretty cool.
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It can do some boss stuff, like shoot lasers.
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And missiles.
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And fly.
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And, uh, other stuff too.
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The point is, it's cooler than the Batmobile.
Naturally, supervillains keep trying to kill him and take the suit.
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First it was his old friend, Obadiah Stane...
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Then, later, the sinister Ivan Vanko...
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...and the somewhat less threatening Justin Hammer.
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So Tony built more new suits.
Even Rhodey got one.
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And together they kicked some ass and saved the day again.
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Last summer, Iron Man teamed up with some other superheroes in The Avengers.
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It was pretty crazy. They fought aliens and Tony almost died saving the world.
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But don't expect to see any other heroes in Iron Man 3. This is Tony's show.
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So what do you think? Are you ready for the premiere now?
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