If you’re a superhero fan living in North America, today very likely means only one thing: the launch of Iron Man 3. Perhaps waiting for a more suitable date to release the title, Marvel and Walt Disney Studios hung on until May 3 to unleash Tony Stark’s newest — and, according to some, best — supersuit-powered adventure, and millions of fans are champing at the bit to see it.

Despite having opened in Japan surprisingly early (Japanese releases are notoriously late, with movie fans forced to wait until this March for both Django Unchained and Wreck it Ralph alone), tongues are wagging all across the country today about Iron Man 3, but for an entirely different reason.

Put together by a clearly passionate and creative team of fans in Thailand, the following video recreates the official Iron Man 3 pre-release trailer shot by shot using little more than hand-crafted props, questionable make-up and models dangling from strings. Even so, it is nothing short of wonderful.

With close to a million hits to date, this video has garnered a tremendous amount of attention online in Japan in the past couple of days. Despite a few gasps of horror upon witnessing its crude visuals, the vast majority of viewers saw the production for the creative gem that it really is, with comments of “OMG this is so cute!” and “it’s a perfect recreation” appearing by the dozen.

The sticky tape and spray-painted underpants may be clearly visible, but the amount of love and care that went into this video shines so much brighter.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy what is arguably one of the most charming and inspired cinematic trailers you’ll see this year.

Iron Man 3: Thai Version! 

Just for comparison, here’s the original cinematic trailer, followed by a side-by-side comparison of the two. This thing just gets better with each successive viewing!

Enjoy the movie, boys and girls!

Video via YouTube