It’s one year after Marvel’s The Avengers and Tony Stark is back in his own solo adventures with Iron Man 3. The movie continues right where last year’s juggernaut ended and Stark now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after his near-death experience in The Avengers. That has given him a mission: To take care of the one he loves, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

No Iron Man movie is complete without new armour, although the latest is far from ready when tragedy strikes. The mysterious terrorist The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) destroys Stark’s home and fellow scientist Aldrich Killian’s (Guy Pearce) Extremis technology appears to have some dire side effects on its test subjects.

We do end up seeing more of Stark than Iron Man and seeing the former so exposed, physically and emotionally, gives the movie its heart. All this collides at the epic finale where Stark faces off against an army of genetically modified soldiers, with everything — from relationships to research — at stake.

There are points where it feels Iron Man 3 isn’t flying with all thrusters on — Stark’s recovery from PTSD isn’t fully fleshed out, and despite a rather fast-paced 131 minutes, it does feel like more could have been done.

Still, Robert Downey Jr is on his best form as Stark: The false bravado is ever-present and the wisecracks and snide quips fly fast and furious — thanks in part to new director/writer Shane Black, who wrote Lethal Weapon and lends the same buddy-cop vibe for Stark and James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), aka War Machine/Iron Patriot.

Add to that the awesome Ben Kingsley, who steals the screen and tackles his role with obvious relish; Guy Pearce, who does his “slick industrialist” role with aplomb; and Gwyneth Paltrow, who finally gets to do more than just wait to be rescued and you’ve got a show.

What would have made the movie perfect would have been more epic moments and more for the fanboys, but that would be nitpicking — and only because the recent slate of superheroes movies have been well, super. Iron Man 3 is a fun ride that drops some of the bombast of the superhero story and brings it back to the intimacy of the individual hero, and in this sense it’s good that we’re left wanting more.

But stay for the after credits easter egg — it is just enough to give this movie a thumbs up.