War Machine: Every Don Cheadle Marvel movie ranked worst to best
6. Iron Man 2
At this point, we all know that Iron Man 2 was a disappointing follow-up to one of the greatest superhero movies ever created. It’s no secret that there are many problems with Tony Stark’s second adventure in the MCU that range from pacing issues to an overload of half-baked storylines. However, despite its flaws, the movie surprisingly excels in one aspect: its portrayal of James Rhodes.
Iron Man 2 wasted no time in explaining Rhodey’s recast and instead had him deliver a quick line referencing the change: “Look, it’s me, I’m here. Deal with it. Let’s move on.”
From that point onwards, the movie gifted us with a faithful interpretation of Rhodey who first wore an Iron Man suit due to Tony’s alcoholism problem and worked for the U.S. Air Force (those two being prominent aspects of his comic book counterpart). Rhodey then became War Machine in the movie’s third act and aided Tony Stark in his fight against Ivan Vanko in an epic (even if short) action sequence that completely stole the show.
Unfortunately, even when Iron Man 2 did justice to Rhodes’ character, many other aspects of the film didn’t receive the same treatment. The “more is better” philosophy made Iron Man 2 feel crowded and underdeveloped in many aspects. Ivan Vanko and Justin Hammer didn’t have enough screen time or development to be remembered as iconic villains in the MCU (or even be remembered at all).
Tony’s arc reactor poisoning never added a sense of danger to the movie, and that storyline was meaningless when you consider that Tony could’ve undergone surgery to remove the shrapnel inside his body and ditch the arc reactor as he did in Iron Man 3. Finally, a lot of build-up toward the Avengers made Iron Man 2 feel like a transitory step towards bringing Earth’s Mightiest Heroes together instead of a movie that could stand on its own.
Still, Iron Man 2 is an entertaining popcorn flick that’s far from being terrible by any means, but that didn’t live up to its predecessor’s expectations either. There’s a lot of enjoyment to be found when rewatching it now, especially if you compare it to the MCU’s latest underwhelming projects. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that Don Cheadle’s first movie in the MCU was its most disappointing one.