So as we march on through the beginnings of the Marvel Movie Universe we now come to our first sequel in the bunch, Iron Man 2. Going back to the character that got the ball rolling the goal here was to really set things in motion for The Avengers and do things bigger and better in Tony Stark’s second outing as the Armored Avenger. Iron Man 2 did have big changes in store with changing the actor that James Rhodes from Terence Howard to Don Cheadle and adding in Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow along with the tried and true method of superhero sequels of having two foes for our hero to conquer.
Iron Man 2
literally begins seconds after the scene in Iron
Man where Tony Stark announces to the world that he is in fact Iron
Man. In Russia
a man by the name of Ivan Vanko sees this and begins to build his own arc
reactor to get revenge on Stark for he feels is stolen technology from his
father. Meanwhile back in the states Stark is dealing with the government who
wants the Iron Man tech for themselves for military use. Along with that Stark
is slowly dying from having the arc reactor is his chest and he needs to find a
way to stop it. Another thorn in Stark’s side is Justin Hammer, a business
rival who is trying to one up Stark and become the government’s top guy for new
military technology. Vanko comes to America
and attacks Stark when defeated this brings him to the attention of Hammer and
with that a new partnership is started to destroy Stark once and for all.
Iron Man 2 is a really solid film. It’s not a new and fresh
as the first one but on one level the fact that it doesn’t have to deal with so
much origin set up is a nice refreshing feeling to have. The film does however
have points where it drags when dealing with the relationship between Tony
Stark and Pepper Potts. The one thing that this film betters the first is with
the final act, the last action set piece taking place in the Stark Expo are breathtaking
to see. Storyboarded by the famed animation director Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Lab, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: The
Clone Wars), he really took it up a notch in terms of pacing and camera
angles with this film. The Black Widow character really isn’t handled well and
at times it’s hard to take her seriously as this super spy that can beat anyone
in a fight.
So let’s get to the meat and potatoes of the post, what does
this film bring to the universe as a whole and what other little nuggets of
awesome does it have. Well one big is that Nick Fury, who plays a much larger
role in this film compared to all the other before this and after until
Avengers tells Tony that his father helped found S.H.I.E.L.D. and worked with
Nick Fury personally. They also show that Tony has partially constructed
Captain America
shield in his work space. S.H.I.E.L.D. is more of presence here than just Fury
and Coulson, you get to see just how big this organization might be. Also
having Rhodes become War Machine is a welcome addition
and expands the hero number in the universe. This film also sets a time frame
of the movie, Stark watching footage of the Hulk’s battle in New York on the
news is sets that this film and The
Incredible Hulk at the same time. And with at this point having Fury tell
Stark that he isn’t ready to join a team but can consult also adds to and put
in context the after credits scene in TheIncredible Hulk. The last scene with Coulson arriving in New
Mexico to see Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir perfectly sets
up the next Marvel feature, Thor.
