Vision: Every Paul Bettany Marvel movie and show ranked worst to best
By Wesley Bell
9. Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2 takes place six months following the first film, which ends with Tony revealing himself as Iron Man to the world. As a result of that reveal, the government tries to get him to hand over his suit to be used by the military after trying and failing to recreate it after turning to Stark’s business rival, Justin Hammer.
Stark learns from J.A.R.V.I.S. that the palladium in his suit’s arc reactor has been killing him. Believing that he’ll die soon, he starts acting more recklessly. While replacing one of his company’s drivers at the Monaco Grand Prix, Tony gets attacked with a pair of electricized whips by Ivan Vanko, the son of one of his dad’s old business partners.
With help from Pepper and Happy, who brings him a briefcase containing his newest Iron Man armor, Stark defeats Vanko, and the villain gets arrested. Hammer has Vanko broken out of jail to get his help making suits, but Vanko makes a fleet of drones instead. Meanwhile, using his father’s research, which he gets from Nick Fury, J.A.R.V.I.S. helps Tony create a new element that cures him and serves as an alternate power source for his arc reactor.
Hammer debuts the new drones at the Stark Expo, but they go rogue. J.A.R.V.I.S. helps Stark and Black Widow track Vanko’s signal, so she breaks into Hammer Industries with Happy while Tony teams up with Rhodey to take down the drones before facing off against an upgraded Vanko.
The movie has too many moving parts and struggles handling all its subplots. Justin Hammer is one of the better parts of the film. Despite being an antagonist, Sam Rockwell brings a charismatic energy to the role and is one of the characters people have been asking to see back in the MCU for a while.
However, the film also has some fun action beats like the racetrack fight, the Rhodey and Tony fight, and the final battle against the drones. While his motivation is understandable, Whiplash was a cheesy and forgettable villain. Overall, the film, while not unwatchable, isn’t that great.