Iron Man 2 is a 2010 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures.[N 1] It is the sequel to 2008's Iron Man, and is the third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Directed by Jon Favreau and written by Justin Theroux, the film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man, alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, and Samuel L. Jackson. Six months after Iron Man, Tony Stark resists calls from the United States government to hand over the Iron Man technology, which is causing his declining health. Meanwhile, Russian scientist Ivan Vanko uses his own version of the technology to pursue a vendetta against the Stark family.
Plot[]
In Russia, the media covers Tony Stark's disclosure of his identity as Iron Man. Ivan Vanko, whose father Anton Vanko has just died, sees this and begins building a miniature arc reactor similar to Stark's. Six months later,[N 2] Stark is a superstar and uses his Iron Man suit for peaceful means, resisting government pressure to sell his designs. He reinstitutes the Stark Expo to continue his father Howard's legacy.
The palladium core in the arc reactor that keeps Stark alive and powers the armor is slowly poisoning him, and he cannot find a substitute. Growing increasingly reckless and despondent about his impending death, and choosing not to tell anyone about his condition, Stark appoints his personal assistant Pepper Potts CEO of Stark Industries, and hires Stark employee Natalie Rushman to replace her as his personal assistant. Stark competes in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, where he is attacked in the middle of the race by Vanko, who wields electrified whips. Stark dons his Mark V armor and defeats Vanko, but the suit is severely damaged. Vanko explains his intention was to prove to the world that Iron Man is not invincible. Impressed by Vanko's performance, Stark's rival, Justin Hammer, fakes Vanko's death while breaking him out of prison and asks him to build a line of armored suits to upstage Stark. During what he believes is his final birthday party, Stark gets drunk while wearing the Mark IV suit. Disgusted, Stark's best friend, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes dons Stark's Mark II prototype armor and tries to restrain him. The fight ends in a stalemate, so Rhodes confiscates the Mark II for the U.S. Air Force.
Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., approaches Stark, revealing "Rushman" to be Agent Natasha Romanoff and that Howard Stark was a S.H.I.E.L.D. founder whom Fury knew personally. Fury explains that Vanko's father jointly invented the arc reactor with Stark, but when Anton tried to sell it for profit, Stark had him deported. The Soviets sent Anton to the gulag. Fury gives Stark some of his father's old material; a hidden message in the diorama of the 1974 Stark Expo proves to be a diagram of the structure of a new element. With the aid of his computer J.A.R.V.I.S., Stark synthesizes it. When he learns Vanko is still alive, he places the new element in his arc reactor and ends his palladium dependency.
At the Expo, Hammer unveils Vanko's armored drones, led by Rhodes in a heavily weaponized version of the Mark II armor. Stark arrives in the Mark VI armor to warn Rhodes, but Vanko remotely takes control of both the drones and Rhodes' armor and attacks Iron Man. Hammer is arrested while Romanoff and Stark's bodyguard Happy Hogan go after Vanko at Hammer's factory. Vanko escapes, but Romanoff returns control of the Mark II armor to Rhodes. Stark and Rhodes together defeat Vanko and his drones. Vanko seemingly commits suicide by blowing up his suit, along with the defeated drones.
At a debriefing, Fury informs Stark that because of Stark's difficult personality, S.H.I.E.L.D. intends to use him only as a consultant. Stark and Rhodes receive medals for their heroism. In a post-credits scene, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson reports the discovery of a large hammer at the bottom of a crater in a desert in New Mexico.
Cast[]
- Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
- Davin Ransom as Young Tony Stark
- Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
- Don Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine
- Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
- Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer
- Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko/Whiplash
- Samuel L. Jackson as Director Nick Fury
- Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson
- John Slattery as Howard Stark
- Garry Shandling as Senator Stern
- Paul Bettany as J.A.R.V.I.S. (voice)
- Kate Mara as U.S. Marshal
- Leslie Bibb as Christine Everhart
- Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan
- Christiane Amanpour as herself
- Philippe Bergeron as Detective Lemieux
- Larry Ellison as himself
- DJ AM as himself
- Tim Guinee as Major Allen
- Eric L. Haney as General Meade
- Ali Khan as Ten Rings Agent
- Eugene Lazarev as Anton Vanko
- Stan Lee as Larry King
- Helena Mattsson as Rebecca
- Anya Monzikova as Rebeca
- Margy Moore as Bambi Arbogast
- Olivia Munn as Chess Roberts
- Elon Musk as himself
- Bill O'Reilly as himself
- Jack White as Jack
- Sonny the Bird as Irina
- Max Favreau as Peter Parker[1]
Sequel[]
Iron Man 2 was followed by a sequel: Iron Man 3 (2013).
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- This is the second lowest grossing Iron Man film in the trilogy.
- This is the seventh highest grossing film of 2010.
- This is the second film in the Iron Man trilogy.
- Jon Favreau had a lot of friction with the Marvel higher-ups due to their constant intervention, to the point that they were having him rewrite the script as the film was still shooting. In particular, elements such as the increased prominence of the S.H.I.E.L.D. subplot were the result of a need to establish the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, in preparation for Avengers Assemble (2012), at the expense of the coherence of the film's own plot. These disputes got so bad that Favreau turned down directing Iron Man 3 (2013).
- Scarlett Johansson dyed her hair red before she even got the part of Natasha Romanov, a.k.a. Black Widow, because she wanted the role so badly.
- A lot of Whiplash's identifying features were suggested by Mickey Rourke. He wanted to perform half of his role in Russian, and consulted on the character's tattoos and gold teeth, as well as having a pet cockatoo. In fact, Rourke paid for the bird and the gold teeth out of his own pocket.
- Samuel L. Jackson was promised that Nick Fury would be given more screentime by Jon Favreau. Jackson almost didn't return to play Fury due to problems with contract negotiations, but secured a landmark nine-picture deal to play Nick Fury not only in this movie, but in many other Marvel Studio productions.
- Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard as Rhodey, due to a falling out between Howard and Marvel Studios. The two actors worked with each other in Crash (2004).
- It has been confirmed by actor Tom Holland, who plays Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that his character appeared in the movie, and was the little boy at the Stark Expo wearing the Iron Man helmet when the expo is attacked by Hammer Tech drones.
- (at around 3 mins) One of the very few Marvel Cinematic Universe films that has a full opening credits sequence, which plays over footage of Ivan Vanko building an arc reactor.
- Sam Rockwell accepted the role of Hammer without even reading the script, as he had enjoyed filming Made (2001) with Jon Favreau, while screenwriter Justin Theroux is a long-time friend of Rockwell's.
- Inspired by their use on The Dark Knight (2008), director Jon Favreau considered the possibility of shooting some scenes using IMAX cameras, but eventually decided against it, as he figured that the film's visual effects would not look convincing at such high resolution.
- Emily Blunt was set to star as Natasha Romanov a.k.a. Black Widow, but had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts with her movie Gulliver's Travels (2010).
- Sam Rockwell, who was one of the original choices for the role of Tony Stark in Iron Man (2008), plays Stark's antagonist Justin Hammer in the film.
- Mickey Rourke's Oscar-nominated performance in The Wrestler (2008) was the main reason why the producers wanted him to play Vanko.
- This is Scarlett Johansson's third foray into comic book films. Her previous comic book films were Ghost World (2001) and The Spirit (2008), in which her character worked for the Octopus (played by Samuel L. Jackson). In this film, Johansson is again working under Jackson (as Nick Fury). Johansson had earlier expressed interest in playing the Marvel supervillain Moonstone.
- Jessica Biel, Gemma Arterton, Natalie Portman, Jessica Alba, and Angelina Jolie were considered for the role of Natasha Romanov a.k.a. Black Widow. Alba played Susan Storm in the first Fantastic Four film franchise, and Portman played Jane Foster in Thor (2011) and Thor: The Dark World (2013).
- Jon Favreau's first sequel as a director, and as an actor.
- Tim Robbins was considered to play Howard Stark, Tony's father. Robbins appeared as a father character in Green Lantern (2011), a superhero film based on a DC Comics character.
| Iron Man |
|---|
| Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Iron Man 3 (2013) |
| Phase One |
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| Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012) |