23 of the most wasted Marvel movie characters as picked from each movie
By Mark Lynch
Iron Man 2: Justin Hammer
The biggest critique with Iron Man 2 is that there were too many main characters.
Other than Tony Stark, there was the introduction of Black Widow, Pepper Potts, a new James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Nick Fury, Ivan Vanko (Whiplash), and Justin Hammer. This is a perfect example of too many ingredients ruining a soup. We didn’t need Whiplash to be the main antagonist. He’s not a villain anyone cares about. He could have shown up during the race and been defeated by Iron Man and we didn’t have to see him again. Justin Hammer should have been the one to carry the bad guy role.
Justin Hammer was an incompetent, businessman who’d rather rush a project than get it right. He essentially is everything Tony Stark isn’t.
Despite all of his bumbling, everything that Ivan Vanko did Hammer could have done. The drones sent after Iron Man still could have happened. And since the Whiplash final fight wasn’t that long or epic, Hammer could have been controlling the suit remotely. Plus, he was a more entertaining character.
Whiplash had his moments, but not like Hammer. Whiplash’s bird was more memorable than he was. Proving that no one cared about him at all.