Iron Sky is a 2012 Finnish-Australian-Germancomic science fiction action film directed by Timo Vuorensola and written by Johanna Sinisalo and Michael Kalesniko.  It tells the story of a group of Nazi Germans who, having been defeated in 1945, fled to the Moon where they built a space fleet to return in 2018 and conquer Earth.

Iron Sky comes from the creators of Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning and was produced by Tero Kaukomaa of Blind Spot Pictures and Energia Productions, co-produced by New Holland Pictures and 27 Films, and co-financed by numerous individual supporters; Samuli Torssonen was responsible for the computer-generated imagery. It was theatrically released throughout Europe in April 2012

On 20 May 2012, Kaukomaa announced that there are plans for a prequel and a sequel but refused to disclose details.  The video game adaptation Iron Sky: Invasion was released in October 2012. A sequel titled Iron Sky: The Coming Race is in the works.

A director's cut of the film with 20 additional minutes was released on DVD on 11 March 2014.

Plot

The film opens in 2018 with an American manned landing mission to the Moon. The lander carries two astronauts, one of them an African American male model, James Washington, specifically chosen to aid the President of the United States in her re-election (various "Black to the Moon" word-play posters are seen in the film, extolling the new Moon landing).

Upon landing on the far side of the Moon they encounter Nazis hidden there since 1945 (self-styled the "Fourth Reich" in dialogue), by whom Washington is taken captive and the other astronaut killed. Nazi scientist Doktor Richter investigates Washington and obtains his touch screen telephone, which he later recognizes as having computing power that outstrips all that possessed by the Fourth Reich, enabling its use as a control unit of their space battleship Götterdämmerung. When he strives to demonstrate the completion of his Wunderwaffe to the current Führer, Wolfgang Kortzfleisch, the phone's battery is exhausted. Unable to re-energize it, Nazi commander Klaus Adler, chosen for genetic reasons to mate with Earth specialist Renate Richter (Doktor Richter's daughter), embarks in a flying saucer spacecraft to collect more such computers on Earth. He takes with him Washington, who has been "Aryanized" by Doktor Richter using an "albinism serum," a mutagen agent. Upon landing in New York, they discover that Renate has stowed away with them. They are introduced to the President of the United States by her assistant, Vivian Wagner, whereafter they direct her re-election campaign using Nazi-like propaganda. At the time, Renate is unaware of Adler's ambition to become the next Führer and rule the world. After three months, Kortzfleisch lands on Earth and confronts Adler, but is killed by Adler and Vivian. Adler declares himself the new Führer before returning to orbit in Kortzfleisch's flying saucer, deserting Vivian and taking her tablet computer. Concurrently, Renate is persuaded by the now-homeless Washington that Adler intends genocide.

The United Nations assembles to discuss the extraterrestrial Nazi threat, and the American president appoints Vivian as commander of the spacecraft USS George W. Bush, which carries nuclear and directed-energy weapons; only to discover that most of the other nations have similarly equipped their spacecraft, which they dispatch against the Nazi fleet, which consists of the Gotterdammerung, giant Zeppelin-like craft called Siegfrieds, and countless smaller craft. Adler, commanding the Götterdämmerung, destroys parts of the Moon to expose Earth. Renate and Washington travel in Adler's flying saucer to the Götterdämmerung, where Washington attempts to disable the engines while Renate seeks Adler. Meanwhile, the international space fleet damage the Nazis' base and approach the Götterdämmerung. During the battle, Washington disconnects Vivian's tablet that is now controlling the Götterdämmerung, while Renate kills Adler.

The U.S. president congratulates Vivian from the United Nations session; whereupon Vivian discloses the presence of large tanks of helium-3 on the Moon, of which the U.S. president immediately assumes sole claim on grounds that its possession ensures a millennium-long supply of energy. This enrages the other United Nations members, who involve themselves in a brawl while their remaining spaceships destroy each other.

Renate reunites with Washington, who has reverted his genetics back to normal. They kiss before a confused group of refugees whom Renate assures, "[they] have a lotta work cut out for [them]." The final moments of the film show the Earth, apparently during an international nuclear war. At the very end of the credits, the planet Mars is revealed with an artificial satellite of undetermined origin in orbit.

Cast

• Julia Dietze as Renate Richter
• Götz Otto as Klaus Adler
• Christopher Kirby (de) as James Washington
• Tilo Prückner as Doktor Richter
• Udo Kier as Mondführer Wolfgang Kortzfleisch
• Peta Sergeant as Vivian Wagner
• Stephanie Paul as the President of the United States (a parody of Sarah Palin)
• Claus Wilcke as the Russian representative.

Production

Production began in early 2006, and the production team took their teaser trailer of the film to the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, seeking co-financiers.  The team signed a co-production agreement with Oliver Damian's 27 Films Productions.  Iron Sky is one of a new wave of productions, including Artemis Eternal, The Cosmonaut, A Swarm of Angels, and RiP!: A Remix Manifesto, produced in collaboration with an on-line community of film enthusiasts, creating participatory cinema. At Wreck-a-Movie, a collaborative film-making web site, the producers invited everyone interested to contribute ideas and resources to the project

On 11 February 2009, it was announced that the film would star German actress Julia Dietze, while the Slovenian industrial music group Laibach would be recording the soundtrack. Appropriately enough for a film about Nazism, the orchestral soundtrack incorporates leitmotifs from the operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and other operas by Richard Wagner, a composer whose music was favoured by the Nazi leaders. The national anthem of the Nazis from the Moon ("Kameraden, wir kehren Heim!") has the tune of "Die Wacht am Rhein". During the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Iron Sky signed a co-production agreement with the Australian production company New Holland Pictures, which brought Cathy Overett and Mark Overett as co-producers of the film.

Iron Sky was video-recorded in Red camera format.  Cinematography began in November 2010 in Frankfurt for location shooting, and after that in January 2011 in Australia for studio shooting. Settings in Frankfurt were Weseler Werft (Weseler Shipyard) and Taunusstraße (Taunus Street). On 6 February 2011, the cinematography of Iron Sky concluded; it then entered a ten-week post-production process.