I think their formula for creating movies (make it wholesome, add in some laughs along the way) is getting better as they go along. This seemed more of a movie than The Avengers (and it is true this is more of a personal thing for Stark rather than a whole Superhero saves the world thing.)
What is funny is that they still plan to make Iron Man 4 (After 2015’s The Avengers 2) so it will be interesting to see how they can make a movie that goes further than this one.
Also, this is probably the best in the trilogy. Some very awesome slo-mo shots, you do feel for Stark (and then in some cases yell at the screen asking why plot-holes exist) and the music sounds like an adaptation from The Incredibles.
[And I live in Australia, where it came out 3 days ago.]