23 Marvelous Movies: Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2, the first direct sequel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was made at a time when Iron Man went from a relatively obscure hero in the comics to an instant star in the movies. So, it only made sense that Marvel would give Tony Stark another outing before they dove into their truly esoteric characters like the even more obscure Thor and the explicitly patriotic Captain America.
Jon Favreau was brought back as director for the last time before departing to make “live-action” Disney remakes and the indie darling Chef. While his signature direction is a welcome return, as it leads to some good character movements, it means that scenes that should have a certain sense of menace and heartache just don’t resonate in the ways that they should.
Iron Man 2 starts promisingly enough, picking up naturally where the last one ended off, with the government lusting over Tony’s suit, the suit causing him serious health issues when he uses it, and him soaking in the praise that he's getting for giving the world its longest period of peace. And it handles most of these threads pretty well, particularly when it focuses on Tony’s relationship with his father.
For me, the real standout sequence is when Tony is watching an old film reel, provided by S.H.I.E.L.D (we'll get to that later), of his father, Howard Stark, explaining his plans for SparkExpo. In that footage is a message to Tony (who was about five years old at the time) saying that he is his greatest creation and that whatever he makes as a man will change the world. The two were never close when Howard was still alive, and Tony was already changing the image of Stark Industries in the first film by shutting down the weapons division. But now he has confirmation that his father always loved him and had faith that he would carry out his legacy.
The writing also builds on this relationship by having Tony find a replacement for his defective arc reactor with a clue from his father’s diorama of Stark Expo. There is also the great line that Tony says as he is discovering this clue, “he’s been dead for twenty years, and he’s still taking me to school”, showing that the apple still is not far from the tree. This subplot was a milestone for this father-and-son pairing that would be expanded upon in future Marvel movies.
The emotional impact of this bit is diluted however with a scene that has Tony trying to apologize to Pepper for his strange behavior, which just feels like it belongs in a cheesy romantic comedy.
This same overly comedic tone appears in an earlier sequence where Rhodey tries to stop Tony from drunkenly destroying his mansion. While the two best friends end up fighting, a DJ plays a mix of Another One Bites the Dust and It Takes Two. And when Rhodey leaves after getting beat up, Tony is seen the next morning eating breakfast in a giant donut. This, along with Tony and Pepper’s kiss at the end being interrupted by Rhodey’s wisecracks, is a prime example of Favreau’s more leisurely direction not being a great suit for the heavier steaks that a sequel demands.
This lack of dark storytelling also stops the villains from shining in this film.
Like Edward Norton in The Incredible Hulk, Mickey Rourke was unhappy making Iron Man 2, due to his character, the main villain of the piece, Ivan Vanko, just not having that much to do between the fight scenes he has against Tony. He mostly just sits around the lab provided for him, grumbling in Russian and complaining that he doesn’t have his pet bird from Russia. While he is an improvement over Jeff Bridges, due to him having a more personal threat to Tony, namely his desire for revenge against the Stark Industries for taking credit for his father’s arc reactor, and his great “if you make God bleed" speech, the writing never really delves much deeper, meaning his main goal is essentially just to kill Tony when he already has so more going for him as a character.
Unlike Rourke though, Sam Rockwell at least seems like he’s having fun as Justin Hammar, a weapons manufacturer that wants to sell his products to the military since Tony refuses to provide them his suits. But he’s just a dork who cracks lame jokes and lets Vanko walk all over him with the weapons Hammar has him make for his own expo.
The two true stars in the film are a replacement and a fresh newcomer, both of whom would become major players in the MCU: Don Cheadle as Rhodey, played by Terrence Howard in the last film, and Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanov. Cheadle makes a much more convincing colonel, thanks to his build and more commanding demeanor; Howard was a bit too doughy to have much of a screen presence. He and Robert Downey Jr have even better chemistry than Downey did with Howard, like when they’re fighting Vanko’s robots.
While Johansson doesn’t have much of an arc in this entry, her usual charisma shows in her debut. Also, at this time in the superhero genre, there was a near-total lack of female fighters, so she has the advantage of being the first major female character in this series, even if she is mostly eye candy here.
Overall, she’s a good example of the kind of heroes that S.H.I.E.L.D is recruiting. Speaking of S.H.I.E.L.D……
Iron Man 2 also received flack for containing so many teases to the then-upcoming Avengers movie, particularly an appearance by the director of S.H.I.E.L.D Nick Fury, played by Samuel Jackson, introduced in the post-credit scene in the last film. While I do think this subplot could have been massaged into the main one better, I think this flaw comes from the fact that no other studio had attempted to create a universe as expansive and deep as the one that Marvel was making, so they were likely very excited to assure audiences that they were going forward with it.
The S.H.I.E.L.D subplot does at least reinforce how hard it still is for Tony to work with people. Although he does improve on relying on others in this outing, he still has a long way to go if he wants to be a team player, especially with one player that, as we’ll see later, has a VERY different worldview and personality than his.
As a whole, Iron Man 2 is a film that, like The Incredible Hulk, is better seen as what it does for its main character and its place in the MCU than as a self-contained film, due to its overly comedic tone and weak villains. It’s somehow both a step forward and step back for the franchise. While it does delve into Tony Stark’s problem with his ego and over-independence and solidifies his role in the Avengers team, it also tries to recapture the lightning in a bottle that was the smaller stakes and character-driven dialogue of the first movie without managing to do so.
While it is an enjoyable outing for Tony Stark overall, we would be getting another character that would be a mighty player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the next film.
