Road to Endgame: Iron Man 2 (2010)

Directed by Jon Favreau (Marvel Studios
Release date: May 7, 2010 
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell
Box office worldwide: $623,933,331

Iron Man 2 (2010): After Iron Man kicked off the MCU with a HUGE bang, Iron Man 2 (IM2) had a very steep battle to match Iron Man’s success from ’08.

SPOILER ALERT: it didn’t match the success (it actually made more money than the first film but still wasn’t as good).

A lot have argued that we could skip the events in IM2 without missing much. For the most part, that’s an accurate depiction of the movie, but it also gives us two important introductions: Natalie Rushman AKA Natasha Romanoff AKA Black Widow AKA my biggest crush in the entire world and Don Cheadle as Rhodey. It also gives us Rhodey’s first appearance in the War Machine suit.

I’ll argue IM2 is better than what people give it credit for. IM2 will never be seen as a cinematic icon but it’s got its got entertainment value and for a sequel, I’m okay with it!

Anways, here are my positives/negatives of Iron Man 2. 

Positives

• I can’t stress how much I love the Justin Hammer character in this film. Sam Rockwell is fantastic as the rich, arrogant, clueless, goofy goober. He’s such a dorky villain and I ate up every second of Justin Hammer.
  • Hammer and Tony Stark’s interactions are so awkward it’s beautiful. You can feel the disparity between Tony and Justin… GIVE ME MORE HAMMER!
• IM2 gives me one of my favorite scenes in the entire MCU. Five minutes into the film, Iron Man makes his grand entrance to the Stark Expo by skydiving out of a plane to the tune of “Shoot to Thrill” by AC/DC. He hits the stage and is surrounded by Iron Man cheerleaders… this is exactly what I want out of a superhero whose identity is known! Sooooo sick!

• Again, some will say the story is forgettable, but I enjoy the “dealing with death” angle. Stark realizes his arc reactor is poisoning him, so he starts living like it’s his last day (shoutout Tim McGraw). He hijacked a Formula One car, he got stupid drunk wearing the Iron Man suit and then urinated in said suit. He’s pretty much living every man’s dream! In all seriousness, it shows emotional/mental vulnerability to a god-like character.
• We get one of the sweetest suit-ups when Iron Man puts on the Mark IV briefcase in Monaco.

• The romantic softy in me finally got to see Tony & Pepper mack out. Power couple of the year.
• Elon Musk cameo FTW.

Negatives

• As much as I love Justin Hammer, IM2 completely whiffs on Whiplash/Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke). They give the audience very little reason that we should be interested in this character. Ivan’s father was screwed over by Tony’s father, Ivan tried to kill Tony and then disappears… as a henchmen for Justin Hammer. He’s one of the most forgettable villains in the MCU, and frankly, Whiplash doesn’t know how to fight! He takes his sweet ass time trying to take out Tony in Monaco, and he gets killed in the end because he opens his armor to get blasted in the face. It doesn’t make sense! #Rattled
  • The Hammerdrones that Whiplash control in the last fight scenes of the movie were lame too. There’s no way those Hammerdrones posed any kind of a real threat against Iron Man & War Machine.
  • Also, he asks for his “biurd” a billion times. Shush

• The introduction to War Mache is important BUT the movie presents it poorly. Rhodey puts the suit on and has a discombobulated and bizarre boxing match with Iron Man. After the fight, Rhodey flies away with it… what the hell!? It was a lackluster introduction to the badass War Machine.
  • Also, Rhodes has been wearing the suit for, like, 5 minutes and already knows hot to fly it? I’m calling BS! It took Tony a week to learn how to fly it in the first movie. How did Rhodes learn how to fly it that quickly??
• I touched on it earlier, but the movie is definitely forgettable. Especially when you’re talking about Tony Stark’s character arc. The movie was a bridge to get from the other character intros (Captain America, Thor, Hulk) to The Avengers and it shows.

Overall Grade: C+

Overall, I like this movie more than most do. It’s entertaining! Even if it doesn’t add a lot of depth to the MCU, so what? It’s a fun watch that shows us a mentally tested superhero with weaknesses. Plus, it gives me one of my favorite characters in Justin Hammer. Even with another forgettable villain like Whiplash, we still get two huge intros in War Machine and Black Widow. IM2 is below average compared to the rest of the MCU films but still an average movie.

MCU Ranking

1. Iron Man
2. Iron Man 2 (It fell flat compared to the first IM, but I’ll take this over Edward Norton’s Hulk anyday).
3. The Incredible Hulk

NEXT UP: THOR