'Iron Man 3''s Super Bowl spot previews the hero's battle against the Mandarin

'Iron Man 3' includes a sequence where Air Force One falls apart and the superhero must save the passengers, as seen in the Super Bowl preview. 'Iron Man 3' will hit theaters May 3.

Let’s take a break from talking about the future of the next set of Marvel Studios films coming over the next three years and focus on the here and now. Phase Two kicks off in the first weekend of May with Iron Man 3 and while we ponder the idea of Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark travelling into deep space with a new slick armored suit, we can watch one of his other (confirmed) new suits get torn to pieces.

Director Shane Black and co. are positioning the Iron Man threequel as a standalone story, bringing its titular hero back to the forefront as we say goodbye to the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization for a few hours of Robert Downey Jr. screenplay, mixed in with the most action we’ve seen from the series yet.

The 14-second Super Bowl teaser (click here for all the full Super Bowl movie trailers) mostly rehashed footage we’ve seen from the full Iron Man 3 trailer, namely Tony’s home being decimated and Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin, but managed to include a few new brief shots of Don Cheadle’s James “Rhodey” Rhodes sporting his new patriotic armor and an upwards shot of Guy Pearce’s mysterious Adrich Killian, but the full commercial (up top) delivers something quite a bit different.

Many of the leaked set photos during production revealed a sequence of stunt actors hanging and we learned it would be for a sequence involving Iron Man saving people who are falling from Air Force One… with no parachutes. The 30-second spot shows Air Force One falling apart and Stark beginning to save them, before it ends and teases the extended spot. Compared to the Fast & Furious 6 spot, it was relatively underwhelming.

Marvel Studios’ “Iron Man 3″ pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Rob Keyes blogs at Screen Rant.