Iron Man 2 Review

Next up, Iron Man 2! A film that gets a lot of negative feedback because people were only seeing the surface of it and not the character development within. Iron Man 2 came out in 2010 and was one of the highest grossing films that year. This is a pattern we will see with Marvel movies, especially as they grow in popularity. I don’t remember when or where I first saw the film, but I remember not understanding its purpose for a while. Thankfully, I understand its purpose now and how important it was for Tony’s character development. 

First things first, did I cry or have any intense feelings? Yes! I cried a bit when Tony saved little Peter Parker at the Stark Expo. For those that don’t know, it was made canon that the child who aims at the bot, that Tony fires at and destroys, is little Peter Parker! It helps set up his back story as to why he respects and looks up to Tony so much. It made me cry a bit knowing that. Overall, I did have strong feelings of excitement while watching the film because I was able to catch everything they threw in! 

Second, we meet Black Widow! Though she is heavily sexualized in this film, as she was in the comics unfortunately, she plays an important role in Tony’s story and the MCU. We get a peek into her skill sets as well as her importance within S.H.I.E.L.D. While she seems cold as a character at first, it’s important to remember that she is there to do a job. We also see the beginning of her friendship with Tony, as she watches him struggle with potentially dying and coming back from his poor decisions. Her name in the film, Natalie Rushman, ties into her name and Russian heritage, Natalia Ramanova. She was there as a shadow to determine if Tony could be a part of the Avengers initiative and keep an eye on him since he was sick. Overall, it was a pretty good introduction of her for the audience, aside from the sexualization of her body through her outfits. 

Third, the film as a whole. We start out with the sound of Tony’s press conference at the end of the previous film where he says “I am Iron Man,” and are introduced to the villain of this film: Whiplash. While his name is never actually mentioned in the film, I did some research and learned who the character was meant to be. Something I didn’t understand at a younger age but understand now is why he was trying to make a god (Tony) bleed. The idea was if you show he is not actually a god, people will revolt and everything he has built will be destroyed. However, the reality of the situation is Whiplash’s issue is with Tony’s father, not Tony. So the logic of destroying what Tony has built is faulty. Speaking of Howard Stark, he is an asshole. The films try to play him out as a caring father, but he never cared about Tony as his child. He only cared about Tony’s genius and wanted him to continue the Stark legacy. He is the source of Tony’s anxiety and his need to bury himself in his work. We see more of Tony’s anxiety throughout the film as he goes on a self-destructive path, then fidgets anxiously while trying to talk to Pepper in her office. Tony is dying and just trying to have a good time but has issues caused by his father are haunting him. One smart decision he makes is having Pepper become CEO, as she is the most competent for the position. Later in the film they finally get together, though it is odd for both of them at first. Overall, a better film than what people say it is as it really dives deeper into who Tony Stark is. 

Fourth, let’s look at some minor details! Of course the MARVEL logo was still the original, and we got another Stan Lee cameo. Interestingly enough, we also got an Elon Musk cameo while they were at the race! That was a fun little surprise given how much he’s been in the news lately. We learned that Tony prefers to drive now, after what happened when he was kidnapped, which is something they remember to keep in. We also get a new actor for Rhodey, because the original actor would not agree to a pay cut after being the highest paid in the first film. Robert Downy Jr. was considered a risk for Marvel, so they didn’t want to pay him the most at first, but he quickly became the most important character within the films. Tying into Rhodey, when they’re fighting in Tony’s house, Tony says “You want to be a war machine?” which references his character’s name later, War Machine. 

Finally, easter-eggs! There were a few things I noticed that I believe any viewer could catch as well. Captain America’s shield is back, and it had an important role in this movie. Well, enough of a role that everyone can notice it! Tony uses it to help stabilize what he’s building after staring at it like it held the key to his success. Some other cool things, at the end of the film we see that the Incredible Hulk takes place at the same time as this film, as shown on the news, and on the map behind him we can see a red dot over Wakanda! After that, in our end credit scene, we see Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir! Which leads us into our next film: Thor. Come back next week to read about Thor!

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This post is sponsored by Podcasting Until Ragnarok, a new podcast I created that is inspired by this blog. It is available for free on Spotify, Anchor, and the Apple Podcast app!