After the only solo outing of the Hulk it's time we checked in on Tony Stark so we'll do just that with Iron Man 2. Now from what I've heard this movie and Thor: The Dark World are considered to be among the worst of the MCU movies so far. While this movie isn't awful there are quite a few problems with it, but at least we can all agree its nowhere near as bad as Batman V Superman. Now while Iron Man is the main focus of this movie, (looks at poster) duh it does introduce Natasha Romanov aka Black Widow played by Scarlet Johansson so here's where she was introduced in the main comics universe.
http://atopthefourthwall.com/tales-of-suspense-52/
So Widow is already working for S.H.I.E.LD and there are some Easter eggs from this comic that made it into the movie such as the name on Ivans fake ID being Boris. On to the movie itself; its been six months since Tony revealed himself as Iron Man and the US government want their hands on the armor but he isn't having it believing that they'll only use the armor for their own ends. So he makes them look like complete jackasses at an inditement hearing and walks off to reinstitute the Stark Expo to continue the legacy of his father; Howard. While he's on his "establishing a proper legacy" kick he makes Pepper Pots (still played by Gwyneth Paltrow) the CEO of Stark Industries. Not only does he believe she deserves it but it's insurance in case he can't solve his latest problem.
Not the government goons I mean an actual problem, see the Arc reactor that's keeping him alive, it's slowly killing him since the palladium core the reactor runs on is poisoning his blood. So he figures that his days are numbered and decides YOLO! So he's boozing it up constantly and generally making a jackass of himself. On one of these stunts he's attacked by Ivan Vanko (played by Mickey Rourke) as revenge for his father Anton who was betrayed by Howard Stark and tossed into the gulag. Ivan is dealt with but he's busted out of prison by Justin Hammer (played by Sam Rockwell) who wants Ivan to perfect his own version of mass produced Iron Man suits to sell to the US army.
With what he believes is his final birthday party Tony gets completely plastered which pisses off Pepper and especially Roddy Rhodes (now played by Don Cheadle) who takes the MK 2 Iron Man suit, kicks Tony's ass with it and takes it back to the Air Force so they can outfit it with Hammer's weapons. After Fury chews Tony out for his drunken stupidity Tony figures out the Arc Reactor problem with an old recording of his father and the diorama for the Stark expo, it being a disguise for a new element Howard was trying to make but couldn't due to the tech of his Era. So he created the new element, saving his life and goes to confront Hammer whose drones and Roddy's new War Machine suit were highjacked by Ivan to kill Tony. Widow eventually tracks down Ivan's server and gives control of the War Machine suit back to Roddy, so the two Iron Men destroy the drones and defeat Ivan once and for all. With that all wrapped up Tony tells Pepper that he was dying and she gives Stark Industries back to Tony and Roddy keeps the War Machine suit, while Coulson is reassigned to New Mexico. In the end credits stinger he's observing a crater and reporting to Fury that "he's here" while we see a hammer in the center of the crater.
Now looking at this movie in retrospect to the rest of the MCU so far is Iron Man 2 really the worst of them? Well yeah there are some parts that are chores to get through but there is also some decent stuff to keep you interested. The worst parts are of course the birthday party sequence during the second act, by Stan Lee's pencil case is it annoying to see Tony acting like such an unhinged d-bag. While nowhere near as painful as the Napoleon scenes in the first Bill and Ted movie it's still not fun. Granted we know why he's doing this, to forget the fact that he's slowly dying and he's trying to cope but man it's still frustrating.
I was honestly hoping that Roddy would smack the shit out of Tony and well surprise surprise, he did. It was also incredibly gratifying hearing Fury chewing Tony out for not only that PR shit-storm of his but also that Roddy stole MK 2 and brought it back to the Military. Another gripe I had was Hammer, he was mostly just a nebbish twerp trying desperately to beat Tony and failing miserably. Thankfully Ivan was the bigger threat of the two, Hammer just thought he could take advantage of Ivan's intellect and vendetta against the Stark name. While it did work he just didn't figure that giving a super intelligent psychopath with an axe to grind access to billions of dollars in robotics, programing and weapons technology would bite him in the ass.
Just a reminder, Hammer is supposed to be the CEO of a multi million dollar weapons company. Sadly another part of this movie that felt wasted was Black Widow. I mean she was just supposed to keep an eye on Tony and what does she do? Why influence Tony into doing his meltdown at the party of course! Lady you were supposed to make sure he didn't cause Fury any migraines, not try to trigger a brain aneurysm!!!
Ivan Vanko was.... pretty good. Mickey Rourke was great in the role but the character he had to play was competently written at best. If I had to rank MCU bad guys so far he'd be at least second place with General Ross at the top and Stane at #3. Now before anyone asks, no the Vanko that becomes Whiplash in both the movie and the comics has nothing to do with the original Crimson Dynamo. (Though since the Anton Vanko of the comics was created before the release of the movie I guess he was just introduced in the comics to set up his MCU counterpart Ivan.) Back on track, Ivan did have decently presented motivations for trying to kill Tony, his father destroyed his father Anton and thus Ivan wants revenge, simple but effective.
But the real villain of this whole fiasco is Tony himself. No he doesn't turn evil or anything its just that a lot of shit is hitting him all at once and he doesn't open up to anyone to try and help him. Let's see he has his artificial heart slowly killing him with no available substitute to try and replace it, his reopening the Stark Expo bringing his daddy issues to the surface. (Though at least he handles this better then Rusty Venture.) The government breathing down his neck and trying to take his Iron Man tech and his drunken antics instead of helping him cope help dig a deeper hole for him.
That last part is important because this movie borrows elements from the "Demon in a bottle" storyline which directly confronted Stark with his alcohol dependency. While the movie does have Tony's alcohol problems and Hammer from the story it goes in a different direction. Now I haven't read that story but from what I can gleam the tone is considerably different. While Demon in a bottle had Tony's alcoholism in the foreground Iron Man 2 had it as a background element. Also in later movies Tony is still having a few drinks but seems to be in more control so the alcoholism isn't the disease in this case its a symptom for Tony's psychological issues. I mean with your death literally just a few possible months or even weeks away and your not so great memories of your dick of a father bubbling back up you'd try to find someway to cope too.
Regardless of my opinions Iron Man 2 is a decent movie in retrospect and helped set up more building blocks for the rest of the MCU to come. Not just character wise but also in terms of world building. While the Hulk was starting to become more known to the world at large and with Tony revealing himself to be Iron Man and bringing with it serious government attention and with it the ramifications of beings with technology and powers beyond that of the average man. So with three movies and three of the main Avengers set up it was time to raise the stakes and scope of this strange new universe. So come join me as the March to Infinity takes us across the Bifröst bridge into the realm of Asgard. Though we'll be sure to stop by a diner or something.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
Iron Man 2 is owned by Paramount Studios, Marvel Studios and Fairview Entertainment Based off the original comic by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, Don Heck and Jack "The King" Kirby.
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