ita_!, my understand is profit. By controlling both sides of the fight, 2x the profit. He didn't need the President, as he had the VP under his control.

The way the film played it, the suits had to charge up (assumedly, ideally from the arc reactor). Once charged, they could function for a while on their own... because of Reasons, okay?

42 is more modular than the others, so I could buy that it can adapt better to other bodies than 1-41 (although mark 1 is unlikely to be helpful, as that was the "out of the cave" suit). Once again, the answer seems to be because of Reasons.

Yeah, I get that they set him up being more of a non-suit fighter with the punching bag in the beginning, but I don't like it.

I think your last question is up for debate. I tend toward the former, as I find it more narratively interesting.

I was surprised not to see Warren Ellis's name anywhere in the credits.

He was thanked in the credits as was Joss.

I agree with Debet that Killian's motive was to make money by selling weapons to both sides of the anti-terrorist conflict.

I enjoyed Tony's interactions with Harley and Gary-the-TV-Guy more than the action sequences.

Gwyneth is really appealing as Pepper - as a role she wears it well.

I didn't understand why Mark 42 suit didn't have any power at the beginning? Did they say it wasn't fully charged or something?

The new suit needed to be calibrated, so it was not at fighting condition from the beginning . It also consumed a lot of power flying from CA to TN .

(needless to say I cried here--are superhero movies supposed to make you cry, or is that just something I'm aging into)?

You mean when Tony sent the suit to Pepper when the Malibu house was under attack? Because I had some feels. Accompanied by a tear or two, yeah.

Yeah, it was at prototype/testing, so it wasn't combat-ready.

Because I had some feels. Accompanied by a tear or two, yeah.

Actually not then, but shortly afterwards, where she (shit, it's setting me off again...) saves him in the suit. Seriously, I could cry again now if I thought about it too hard.

As far as motivation goes, are we to understand that everyone likes money, so obviously he's going to use this setup to get more of it, or was that stated at some point as a goal, over and above revenge on the entire world? Also, why would you ever trade the President for the VP? They are not equivalent! If the hold you were getting over the former was usable, I think it would be superior to 100% control over the latter, and also HOW IS NO ONE GOING TO NOTICE YOUR small family member grew back a limb?

eta: also if that was the goal, how was the action of the movie going to help achieve it?

I could not get to step #2 with a bunch of stuff.

Well, I assume that once the VP took over and Killian was in control, they would roll out some form of Extremis and the daughter could get her new limb in a legit way.

Also, I don't think it was really about revenge. It was about him controlling the market and the Country. Yeah, his motivation totally grew from revenge, but I don't think Killian looked at it that way.

Well, your helpful Vice President becomes President once the uncooperative President has been killed in a terrorist attack.

And I suspect that the VP wasn't thinking real clearly about growing about a limb on his granddaughter. Maybe he figured he could send her and her family off to somewhere they weren't well-known, maybe give them new IDs, no idea how he's going to explain all that to her parents, and also my first thought was, Extremis really fucking hurts, chances are Killian hasn't fully explained this process to him.

A friend on Twitter grumbled that the ending sequence could have been more entertaining. I said, what? How? What more did you want, CLOWNS?

He was thanked in the credits as was Joss.

I saw Joss but not Warren. Thanks.

A friend on Twitter grumbled that the ending sequence could have been more entertaining. I said, what? How? What more did you want, CLOWNS?

Is that the ending sequence where it's all tell and no show? It could do with some fixing.

I guess I don't understand how he was going to control the President--if you can relatively seamlessly insert yourself in with the guy who actually got voted into the role, you take him, instead of shoving someone else that America didn't really think seriously about being in charge instead who'll come to power in the middle of even more drama .

Scrappy, controlling what market and the country for what? He's the only player in the market for Extremis we've been told about, and the other half is that he wants to run America?

As far as I could make anything out of anything, you'll rue the day you didn't take me seriously! is as good a stupid motivation as any, but I'm not even convinced that's at work here.