It has long been known that Iron Man 3 is based on the Extremis story arc. Basically, Tony Stark figures out a new technology that’ll improve his suit. It uses nano-machines to basically make Tony Stark and the Iron Man suit one in the same.

It’s like a second skin. He can activate it at any time and it’ll just install itself over his body and protect him. Whenever he wants, he can recede it. It’s super cool and brings a new dimension to Iron Man. I mean, really, do you expect Stark to have to change into every suit at all times?

In this photo we can see a hint of that. The suit looks like it’s growing onto him, or it could even be coming off. Or hey, maybe it’s broken and he has to fix it. There’s one thing for sure: this is looking much more interesting than Iron Man 2. [SuperHeroHype via ComingSoon]

extremis, iron man 3