I am so very glad that they've let Tony mature. The raging man-child is funny, but it's really one-note and it has a nasty habit of dominating all his characterization even when he's being a Real Grown-Up, and you know what? No. A person who is that dedicated and obsessive with his research, with his building, with his science...is gonna change. The weight of it changes you, and the burden of documentation (articulation of what you're doing, why, how, what you hope to find, etc.). I find it stretches belief that it lasts as long as The Cave, but whatever, casting more than makes up for it; anyway, sorry, TANGENT!

Tony as grown-up with genuine issues after the battle in New York, without the training that Rhodey has (and I love that Rhodey gets to be better at some things without negating that Tony's pretty good too, well done there with the light!), oh, man. That's catnip for me. It's competence porn, and that's what I like about this film: everyone is pretty damned good at their jobs, no one is holding the idiot ball, and even when there's characterization I don't agree with I at least see how the narrative is trying to justify it.

*happy burble*