Iron Man 2
(2010)
Release
Date: May 7, 2010
After
Marvel came out of nowhere with the success of Iron Man, and started building
up to a shared universe with Nick Fury’s cameo at the end of Iron Man and Tony
Stark’s cameo at the end of The Incredible Hulk, people were starting to take
notice. As such, expectations were raised for the studio’s first sequel. Could
Iron Man 2 live up to the original, or would Marvel stumble?
After
coming out as Iron Man at the end of the previous film, Tony Stark has become
even more of a media darling than he used to be, if such a thing is possible
for a person who was already egotistical and narcissistic. Tony is now
performing as Iron Man at the Stark Expo, a scientific event dedicated to Tony
Stark and how he is awesome and kewl. However, this display is a front, as Tony
isn’t nearly as happy out of the public eye. The US military is putting
pressure on Tony to hand the Iron Man armour over to them, and he is slowly
being poisoned to death by the palladium used to power the suit, which is
making black marks on his body as if he were a L’Cie, which he isn’t because
the Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t introduced magic yet, and why would it
cross over with Final Fantasy anyway? These pressures are making Tony act in an
increasingly self-destructive manner, culminating in him resigning as CEO of
Stark Enterprises and appointing Pepper Potts as his successor, while he goes
off to drive cars.
Tony’s
car driving career comes to an end after the first race when he is attacked by
Ivan Vanko, AKA the supervillain Whiplash. Vanko has a grudge against Tony
because he thinks that his father’s research was plagiarized by Tony’s father,
who got Vanko’s father deported. Vanko used Stark Industries blueprints stolen
by rival company head Justin Hammer to fashion his own suit of armour, before
realising Ivan Man was a stupid name, and making electrified plasma whips
instead. Vanko is defeated by Tony’s bodyguard Happy Hogan, who drives his car
onto the track and runs over Vanko repeatedly so that Tony can put the Iron Man
armour on and beat Vanko properly. Vanko is imprisoned, but the now disgraced Hammer
breaks him out of prison and assigns him to work on suits for Hammer.
Vanko’s
assassination attempt causes Tony to sink further into depression and
alcoholism, which causes his friend Rhodey to say enough is enough and take a
suit of War Machine armour to hand over to the military because he feels Tony
is irresponsible. At this point, Tony is visited by Nick Fury, head of SHIELD,
who had placed his subordinate Black Widow as an undercover spy at Stark
Industries. Fury reveals that Tony’s father had discovered a new element, but
that the technology wasn’t in place at the time to create it, which is
presumably why he lost out to Andrew Ryan and his proposal for a city under the
sea at the World’s Fair. Anyway, Tony’s technology is now advanced enough that
he is able to finish his father’s work, and the resulting element is the
perfect replacement for Palladium, conveniently enough. Not even a threatening
phone call from Ivan Vanko can ruin Tony’s good mood, though he does head to
the Stark Expo, having traced the call as coming from Justin Hammer’s
laboratory, with Hammer due to make a presentation at the Stark Expo.
Hammer
makes his presentation, and shows off an army of military drones, with War
Machine as the piece de resistance. (Vanko had changed his mind about making
suits of armour, insisting that “Drones better.”) When Iron Man crashes the
party, Vanko hacks the drones and War Machine, and sics them on Iron Man, who
is able to trick the drones into destroying each other. After discovering
Hammer’s involvement in the incident, Pepper Potts gets him arrested, while Black
Widow hacks into War Machine and releases the suit from Vanko’s programming,
allowing Rhodey to control it again. Iron Man and War Machine team up and
rather easily defeat Vanko, now piloting his own Ivan Man suit with electrified
plasma whips.
A
positive aspect of the film is that the returning characters from the first
film are handled well. Tony Stark is as entertaining as he was first time
round, yet this film also finds the time to explore his personal issues. The
suggestion that he isn’t happy and is putting on a show while living as
recklessly as possible with the time he has left makes the character more
interesting and brings a degree of emotional depth that was absent last time,
since he got over being captured by terrorists fairly quickly following his
escape. The only thing here that doesn’t quite sit right is a drunk Tony being
played for laughs, given how his other issues are portrayed and the famous
Demon in a Bottle comic arc, in which Tony battled alcoholism. Supporting
characters from the first film are given more to do this time, with the most prominent
examples being Pepper Potts and Rhodey, who is established as being a friend of
Tony’s, but one who isn’t afraid to call him out or give him a kick up the ass
when he needs it. In this film, Rhodey is recast with Don Cheadle (Terence
Howard played him in the first film.) It wouldn’t really be fair to say that
Cheadle is better than Howard, since the latter didn’t have a lot of screen
time to establish the character, but he seems to be more into the role, and has
become the actor more associated with the role. It’s funny how that works out
with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In both cases of a character being recast,
the second actor is the one who is more closely associated with the role.
Not
pictured: an email from Mark Ruffalo saying “U mad bro?”
To
be honest, Vanko isn’t all that interesting as a villain. He doesn’t have much
of a personality, and his beef with the Stark name is both one-sided and aimed
more at Tony’s father, rather than anything Tony himself has done. Perhaps it
would have carried more weight if Tony had acknowledged the animosity a little
bit, as it might have helped elevate Vanko as a bit more of a threat. Vanko is
in the odd position of being a personal villain who isn’t seen by his opponent
as being personal. His weak showing at the climax also reflects poorly on him
in this respect. This could possibly be due to scenes showing Vanko in a
sympathetic light being deleted, according to Mickey Rourke. On the other hand,
Justin Hammer is great as a love-to-hate smug prick who cannot go five minutes
without being passive-aggressive. He’s among the least powerful villains in
these films, yet he’s easily among the most punchable, but in the best possible
way.
The
set-piece scene where Vanko attacks Tony on the race track is the film’s
highlight, giving Vanko a great entrance, and making for an exciting and
creative fight sequence, as well as that transforming
suitcase. However, it does pose a problem in that this scene comes in at the 30
minute mark, and the rest of the film’s action sequences fail to top it. This
great entrance could also contribute towards Vanko’s disappointment, as he cannot
live up that first impression. The final battle is a big anti-climax in this
regard, as he tosses Iron Man and War Machine around for a minute or so, then
they take him down with one attack. It doesn’t compare with the Iron Monger
battle from the first film, and a small battalion of drones being reduced to
scrap metal isn’t enough to make up for the anti-climax.
In
reference to the question posed at the start, I would argue Iron Man 2
stumbles. It’s certainly the weakest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
reviewed thus far, but it’s still decently watchable. Iron Man 2 falls victim
to the unspoken rule that the second film of a superhero series is the best
(for evidence, see Superman II, Spider-Man 2, X-Men 2, The Dark Knight etc),
and is unable to live up to the expectations this trend imposes.
Stan
Lee Spotter: Stan Lee appears as US talk show host Larry King, attending the
Stark Expo’s opening as a guest.
Next
Time: Stop, Hammer Time!
Bonus:
At the end of the film, Ivan Vanko kills himself by activating the
self-destruct mechanism in his Ivan Man suit and the drones. Originally, he was
going to survive this scene and return later to attack Tony and Pepper, but
Rhodey would finish him off. This was cut and his death was not shown on
screen, just in case Marvel wanted to say he survived and bring him back later.
I don’t think that’s happening though, since Mickey Rourke didn’t enjoy working
on the film. Maybe Thanos can get Vanko’s burd in Avengers 3?
