100 Days of Marvel: Road to Infinity War - Mark 6: Iron Man 2

I know what you are thinking: "Iron Man 2" does NOT come before "The Incredible Hulk" in the timeline. Well, tough, I don't own The Incredible Hulk on DVD or Blu Ray, so until my package from Amazon arrives, we are going to keep it moving and go back to "The Incredible Hulk" once it does. It is allegedly skip-able anyway. 

In Iron Man 2, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has come into his own as Iron Man. There has been some clear growth in how Tony Stark interacts with the world and he has spent time developing his goals and his company. He has successfully fought off the public idea that he was insane, or had PTSD, and is using his platform for good.

I really like to see Tony Stark in this way following the first movie. It does a good job at keeping in touch with the character, but also allows us to connect with him at a different stage in his journey. It is impressive that this movie makes the stakes feel higher when Stark was a literal P. O. W. in the first film. His "death sentence" was well-timed and allowed a character with so much to lose to feel like he had lost it all.

It was cool to see Pepper Pots (Gwyneth Paltrow) as CEO, basically being a boss. I feel like the media focuses so much on huge scale wins for women, such as 2017s "Wonder Woman," but then small scale victories, such Paltrow as Pots, or Johansson as Romanoff, go under appreciated. So far, the Marvel cinematic Universe has strong male and female characters, and granted the main stream heroes, for the most part, are male, the films do a tremendous job and giving women the spotlight. It is only day 6 into my series on these movies and how many amazing female characters have their been so far?! 

In fact, this Iron Man movie has some of the best women characters simply being bad-asses. In addition to Potts, there is Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) a super boss spy for shield. Her sparring match with Happy was fun (I believe that was in Iron Man 2 and not 1) and then later when she stops Vanko, the scene where she defeats like 10 bad guys to Happy's one - great stuff.

Ivan Vanko - Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) - is a great villain for Stark. He is seemingly close in intellect, which is crucial for a hero as smart as Stark. He is strong-willed and determined to accomplish his goals. In addition, my readers already know that I am all about grudges and that revenge. Both Stark and Vanko's main power come from their miniature arc reactors - so it is neat that Stark's external villain and internal villain revolve around that. On the one hand, his foe is trying to kill him using one, and on the other hand, his own is slowly poisoning him. We don't even need to talk about Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) because, as a villain, he is weak.

Through Vanke, Stark is able to get some Atonement, by facing the "sins of his father." Though Howard Stark seemingly did the right thing, his actions still result in negative consequences for Tony, and Tony must handle them in this film which allows him to have a moment of atonement when he defeats his father's enemy's son.

James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) - who does this guy think he is? First time I saw this I thought Terrance Howard died in the first movie and was like "what happened to Terrance?" And why does this man think it is okay to steal a suit from Tony Stark, take it back to the WEAPONS DIVISION, and then get upset when someone is like, "man, I can't wait to get more weapons on this bad boy." What the hell did he imagine was going to happen, that he would becoming the freaking Black Iron Man. He would have become Hair Straightener man at worst, and at best - Hot Comb Man. All appliances is what I am going for here.

Ultimately, now that I have seen the movies and I know where they go, I am happy that James Rhodes is played by Don Cheadle. I think he is better fit for the role. Terrance Howard's voice just bugs me - like he never really fits the roles he plays. I like him in "Hustle and Flow," "Their* Eyes Were Watching God," and "Empire." That is pretty much it. I'm glad turned the role, because Don Cheadle is incredible here.

Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is funny in this movie, or rather, he is put into funny situations. I don't know if he directed this movie as he did the first, but he was really enjoyable in this role. If I worked for the government, he is probably who I would be just like.

This week, my full Heroic Analysis on Tony Stark is coming when I get to the 3rd Iron Film. Thanks for reading!

P.S. If you didn't catch the joke in the title, it is because Iron Man's suit reaches Mark IV by the end of the film.