Iron Man 2
Set a dyad of months after the events ofIron Man , Iron Man 2saw Tony Stark grapple with severe wellness issues as the discharge reactor on his chest that was keeping him alive was also , ironically , kill him by poison him slowly . If that was n’t enough , Tony had to parcel out withJustin Hammer ( Sam Rockwell ) , a weapon manufacturer and rival of Stark Industries who had plans against Stark , and Ivan Vanko ( Mickey Rourke ) , a Russian physicist looking for retaliation against the Stark kin . Iron Man 2is one of the MCU ’s Phase 1 weakest links , and there are some strong reasons for it to be one of the most forgettable movies in the MCU – and here ’s what went wrong with it .
5Ivan Vanko As The Villain Was Forgettable
Ivan Vanko was the son of Anton Vanko , a Russian scientist who became collaborator with Howard Stark , with whom he make the first Arc Reactor under the rubric of “ The Unity Project ” . Stark and Vanko had an ideological disagreement as Vanko wanted to make a profit off the Arc Reactor technology and Stark wanted to use it for the welfare of mankind , so Vanko terminate up selling his designs to the black market . Once Stark witness out , he took credit for all the developments on the Arc Reactor and had Vanko deported , but as he could n’t develop the technology on his own for the Soviet Union , he was deport to Siberia , where he erect Ivan and mentored him in skill . Anton Vanko died in poverty , lead Ivan to seek revenge against the Starks .
After Anton ’s dying , Ivan used his designs to build the Whiplash armour , but his thirst for revenge , his plans , and his allies made small sense and top him to become one of the MCU ’s most forgettable villains . Once the Whiplash armor was ready , Ivan take flight to Monaco to confront Tony Stark , and he did so withthe help of the Ten Rings(who , for some reasonableness , harmonize to facilitate an angry Russian scientist in exchange for pretty much nothing ) , and after being arrested , he was offer a pot by Justin Hammer , agree to sour together to ensure Stark ’s engineering science became obsolete and take the business away from him . As Hammer faked Ivan ’s death , there was small fundamental interaction between him and Tony ( in Monaco , at the prison house , through a phone call , and in the concluding battle ) , and in the remnant , Ivan Vanko contributed nothing to Iron Man ’s account and the MCU , unlike Obadiah Stane , whose design lead Tony to become Iron Man , andIron Man 3 ’s Aldrich Killian , whose Extremis virus is still present somewhere in the MCU .
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4Tony Stark Had No Character Development
One of the big problems withIron Man 2is that Tony Stark went through no lineament ontogenesis . Tony Stark pass through a whole journey during his time in the MCU , and he had changed a lot for the better by the prison term of his death inAvengers : Endgame , so he was definitely not the same egoistic and narcissistic man that the consultation fulfil inIron Man . However , Iron Man 2isn’t part of Tony Stark ’s journeying into a bomber , as he was the same man at the beginning and at the end . Iron Mansaw Tony Stark realizing that he had been on the wrong side for year and doing his best to become a better someone and a superhero , butIron Isle of Man 2saw no development and even had Tony go back a duet of steps as he was confronted with his own mortality , which he did n’t bed how to deal . Tony only act as an literal hero when he had no other choice , and even Nick Fury decided to only apply him as a adviser due to his difficult personality .
3Howard Stark’s New Element Didn’t Make Sense
to save himself from a slow and painful death , Tony Stark worked hard to determine a way to stop the palladium from poisoning his rake , and , very handily , Tony found the answer in a hidden message leave by his sire in a panorama of the 1974 Stark Expo , which turn out to be the atomic structure ofa new element that Tony used in his arc reactor , saving his life . AlthoughIron Man 2shows Tony and the consultation a television where Howard Stark evidence his son that he believe in him , that ’s not enough to explain why Howard would obliterate the nuclear structure of a new element in a diorama and just desire that Tony would decipher it one day . What makes it regretful is that Tony found it while he was dying of palladium poisoning and the raw element happened to be the curative he had been looking for , which feel very deus ex machina .
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2Iron Man 2 Had Too Many Subplots
While it ’s not uncommon for MCU movies to have subplots , Iron Man 2 had too many and not all of them contributed to Tony ’s account and the MCU in general . First , there was Tony ’s atomic number 46 poisoning , which as mentioned above made him face his own deathrate , which he did n’t take well , and he became quite heedless and ego - destructive , and he was almost magically cure by the new element that his male parent handily forget for him to rediscover . Then , there was Ivan Vanko ’s revenge and Justin Hammer ’s plan , as well asRhodey ( now act by Don Cheadle)becoming War Machine in adult part thanks to the accession Hammer made to the Iron Man armour . In addition to that , there was the unveiling of Natasha Romanoff , who posed as Tony and Pepper ’s assistant , Natalie Rushman , and Nick Fury still essay to convince Tony to join his Avengers Initiative , which leads to another braggy problem inIron Man 2 .
1Iron Man 2 Was All About Setting Up The Rest Of The MCU
Marvel made it clear with thepost - credit shot inIron Manthat it had much openhanded architectural plan , as it set up the Avengers ’ arrival mighty away , but Marvel made the magnanimous error of focusing more on build up its connected universe inIron valet de chambre 2than pushing Tony Stark ’s history forward . ferocity ’s presence and Natasha ’s initiation were more steps towards the formation of the first Avengers squad , which would go on to be led by Iron Man and Captain America , and Rhodey becoming War Machine was also part of the expanding upon of the MCU . While all these things sure enough helped Marvel build the MCU as it ’s now known , Iron Man 2was supposed to be the continuation of Tony Stark ’s journey as a superhero , and instead , it was used as a machine to set upThe Avengersand War Machine ’s future tense .
