By now you've surely seen the first trailer for director Shane Black's Iron Man 3, starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Sir Ben Kingsley.  You might have even glanced at the collection of images we pulled from said trailer to get a closer look at the images hidden within.  Now, we're going to take those images and speculate as to what they might mean for the plot.  What's up with War Machine's paint job? Why is Iron Man all up in people's faces and being a sleep creep?  Why does an over-sized bunny appear to have an arc-reactor?  What's the deal with the Mandarin's rings? Marvel's Kevin Feige has some insight to share on that last question.  Hit the jump to see the answers.Iron Man 3, also starring Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall, opens in 3D on May 3rd, 2013.For a refresher, here's another look at the trailer for Iron Man 3, followed by some stills with a bit of discussion on each:[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/embed/2CzoSeClcw0[/EMBED_YT]As has been noted all over the interwebs, this trailer has a much darker tone than previous iterations of Iron Man.  From Stark's opening monologue in which he states that he has a lot to apologize for after New York, we're led to believe that Iron Man 3 is going to pick up right where The Avengers left off.  That brings us to the following image:There has been some speculation that perhaps this memorial is from a bombed out building as a result of Stark Industries' weapons getting into the wrong hands.  I'm going to go the other direction and say that this scene is the result of the Chitauri invading New York and vaporizing people in the streets.  The scene occurs in the trailer when Stark is talking about not being able to sleep and having nightmares.  Perhaps his ability to finally make the "sacrifice play" has opened him up to guilt and remorse that his previously over-confident self couldn't be bothered with. (God, I hope he starts drinking in this one.)While Stark is busy tinkering with his new armor, his armor is apparently busy doing other things.  We previously reported that Iron Man 3 is based on the Warren Ellis comic arc, "Extremis," in which nanotechnology allows Stark to bond with the armor (the strongest version yet) and become Iron Man whenever he chooses.  This technology is great in the fact that Stark no longer has to carry around a briefcase suit of armor or dive out of a building in the hopes that his rocketing armor suit will catch up to his homing bracelets in time.  But it's crappy in the fact that villains like Aldrich Killian (Pearce) can use it to infect the other suits and turn them into weaponized drones. Why else would Iron Man be attacking planes or sleep creeping on Pepper Potts (Paltrow) or mounting Stark in the dominant position?Little attention has been paid to Paul Bettany, who voices Stark's computerized assistant, Jarvis.  I'm curious as to whether or not Jarvis will become corrupted in the film or act as an "inside man" to help Stark right the Extremis infection.  A silent suit would certainly be creepy, but perhaps Bettany will have to voice some dialogue in scenes with the AWOL robo-suits.Speaking of those suits, Stark apparently solved the "icing problem" back in the original film and we saw him SCUBA-suiting in The Avengers, but it looks as if his new Mark XLVII armor is getting the full climate test in this one.  Not only will he be practically blown up in the third movie, but he'll be dragged underwater (shouldn't be a problem, right?) and somehow end up surrounded by ice and snow.  Hope Stark purchased the all-weather option.Meanwhile, Stark's armor isn't the only thing getting upgraded as the trailer shows a quick glimpse at Tony going under the knife, possibly for an upgrade to his arc reactor, but probably for the nano-technology treatment.  But, hey, at least when Stark gets home, he'll have a nice giant bunny stuffed animal to cheer him up...until his house gets blown up.Wait, is that the Starship Enterprise crash-landing? No, it's Stark's Malibu beachfront home being obliterated by, one can only assume, the Mandarin (Kingsley).  While this scene of devastation comes courtesy of a few rockets fired from strafing helicopters, many fans are wondering whether or not the Mandarin will use his infamous rings of power.  Marvel's Kevin Feige recently spoke to EW on just such a topic, saying not to expect beams of ice or fire like in the comics.  So, no magic, even though magic has already been introduced through Marvel's films and the comics' version of the Mandarin has ten rings of unfathomable power:

"But this version of The Mandarin will not follow that same backstory, said Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios."

What Feige didn't explain was that creepy tattoo on the back of the Mandarin's neck. Bullseye? Captain America shield with an Avengers symbol on it?  Is the Mandarin nothing more than a devout fan who was shunned at one too many comic conventions? Or is the ringless person sporting the tattoo someone else entirely? How very strange...

So we've seen Iron Man's enemies, including Killian, the Mandarin and an army of his own suits turned against him; what's up with his allies?  First up is Colonel James Rhodes (Cheadle), aka War Machine.  When the first images of his new suit came out, we speculated that it was the Iron Patriot.  Turns out that ol' War just needed a new paint job.  What's still up in the air, so to speak, is just who War Machine happens to be body-slamming into that table.

Even without Rhoadsie, Stark still has Pepper...right? Oh, unless Killian puts his creepy moves on her.  Though he's not alone in this game of hearts as it looks like someone else is seducing Stark.  And what the hell does Dr. Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) have to do with this story?  Oh right, she helped develop Extremis and is an integral part in Stark's life in more ways than one.

What what about good old stand-by, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau)?  Happy ain't so lucky this time around, as the trailer showed in a quick glimpse.  Speculation is all we've got on the director's cameo so far but perhaps a bit of fan investment into his character's fate will make the tale of Iron Man 3 that much more palpable.

For more of our  Iron Man 3 coverage:

• First trailer for IRON MAN 3
• 35 Images from the IRON MAN 3 Trailer
• First Look at Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin in IRON MAN 3; Plus New Images and Details
• Promo poster for IRON MAN 3
• First look at IRON MAN 3 Toys