Iron Man 3 picks up after the events of The Avengers, leaving Tony Stark suffering from panic attacks. He investigates terrorist attacks by a villain known as the Mandarin, which leads him to discover an ex-scientist named Aldrich Killian is using an experimental treatment called Extremis to turn people into human bombs. Killian has also kidnapped Tony's girlfriend Pepper Potts and plans to kill the President on live television. Tony battles Killian and his enhanced soldiers. With Pepper's new Extremis powers, she is able to defeat and kill Killian, saving Tony and stopping Killian's plans.