Iron Man is back in a trailer for the third installment of the Marvel franchise, but gone are the days of quippy Robert Downey Jr. and rock and roll. Nope, this trailer, as many have remarked, is "dark," so dark that it is even Dark Knight-ish. We, personally, have negative feelings about this turn of events, loving the first two, Jon Favreau-directed films for the humor and sass they paired with their explosions and action. But, alas, the Dark Knight comparison is inevitable given what we were in this glimpse of Shane Black's take on the character. So inevitable that we noticed some similar motifs. Here's a side by side comparison of images from the Iron Man 3 trailer and images from this The Dark Knight Rises trailer. Judge for yourself. 

Snow: 

A damaged hero: 

Flying gadgets: 

A familiar ally: 

A solemn child: 

Ominous flying helicopters/planes: 

A sly, good looking person: 

A plane breaking apart: 

A villain in a bizarre collar: 

Things blowing up: 

Things blowing up and falling into water: 

Our hero in peril plus water: 

Pair these familiar images with swelling, Hans Zimmer-influenced music, and the bad guy with the deep, strange voice, and we have a good sense of where this movie is going. But please, Robert, smile for us? Say something funny? We need it. Watch for yourself: 

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Esther Zuckerman