Welcome to my MCU Rewatch, where I write a review and analysis of the MCU movies in the order of theatrical release. In this installment, I realize that Iron Man 2 is an entertaining movie while you’re watching it but fails to show any character growth for the ubiquitous Tony Stark.
Release Date: 7 May 2010
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Jon Favreau
For two movies, there have only been the barest hints of a larger universe within the MCU films, easter eggs if you will, mostly in the special scenes after the credits that Marvel made standard after The Incredible Hulk, where there is no end credit scene. (Or if there is, it was moved to the front of the credits for the DVD version I saw). That comes to an end in Iron Man 2.
Iron Man 2 is where the MCU starts to take off. Colonel James Rhodes (now played by Don Cheadle) dons the silver iron suit to become War Machine. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) makes an appearance that is part of the regular movie. Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) references an event happening in New Mexico. Agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is also introduced, posing as an assistant to Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrov), the new CEO of Stark Industries.
In my last essay about Iron Man, I mentioned that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) attempts to redefine himself in three ways throughout his three films. Iron Man 2 is the movie where he redefines his relationship with his father. I am sorry to say that I misspoke in that essay. When I wrote that, I was thinking about the scene where Tony sees a video of Howard Stark talking to Tony in the future. Then Tony rediscovers the element his father discovered and synthesizes it to cure his paladium poisoning.
In reality, that scene doesn’t have much payoff. Tony spends the majority of the film’s first three acts thinking about his legacy and successors and what will be left behind when he’s gone. He gives the company to his trusty assistant, who has to deal with a bunch of criticism because she’s supposedly under-qualified for the role. He gives Rhodey the Iron Man suit because he’s the right man for the job. And he acts out with reckless abandon like he’s a dude with a death wish, which he kind of is? I mean, if you’re dying, wouldn’t you do extreme things to make yourself feel alive too?
And then Howard Stark gives Tony the life-saving antidote that makes everything better and puts the movie’s tone back to where it ought to have been this whole time. No one is more pissed off than usual at Tony and everyone works together as a team. It’s almost like Tony’s attitude was the thing that was driving everyone away.
Does Tony learn any lessons in Iron Man 2? Not really. He doesn’t learn that life would be so much better if he talks to people about his problems. He doesn’t learn the downfall of preparing for the future to the detriment of the present. He does learn that he’s now disqualified for the Avengers Initiative.
Speaking of the Avengers Initiative, we haven’t heard much about this team of exceptional individuals. Just that this guy named Nick Fury, who runs SHIELD, wants to make it happen for some reason or another. We see that Director Fury and Tony have something of a rapport going on. Fury’s role in the movie is to provide the magic key to solve Tony’s problems. Tony doesn’t figure it out himself through the power of friendship and vulnerability, which I feel would have been a more powerful method.
The movie attempts to salvage this lack of an overall lesson by pairing Tony with two villains that were meant to represent Tony’s struggle with succession and legacy. The first of these villains is Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), the son of a Russian engineer Howard Stark used to work with but ultimately cast out of not just Stark Industries but the United States as well. Second is Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) of Hammer Industries, who is trying his very best to be Tony while embodying none of his charisma.
Again, Tony doesn’t really learn anything against these villains. He doesn’t realize that he should take care of the people in his employ. He doesn’t try to show Hammer that he has qualities that are different than Tony’s that make him unique and awesome. Tony only learns how to synthesize an element that tastes of coconut and metal.
Am I a little salty? A little. My saltiness is related to a part of Tony’s arc that happens in Phase 2, where he learns to let go of the suits that define him and pursue an avenue of himself he’s yet to explore . . . only to go back and try to make something that can protect the Earth all the time with no maintenance whatsoever. It backfires (the end result of that is Ultron), but I’ll talk more about that when we get to it.
For now, let’s all be disappointed in Tony Stark for not really learning anything about how to deal with his daddy issues except by accepting they’re a part of him and he will always be a little resentful of his father.
Tune in next week when I talk about Thor, the sweetest Avenger.
Random Thoughts about Iron Man 2:
- The scene where Hammer takes the cockatoo away from Ivan hits me somewhere I don’t like. I have mostly fostered cats in my adult life, but I have loved each and every one. So I understand the emotional adoption of caring for an animal even though I know it does not belong to me. At the end of the day, that is the scene that defines how small of a man Hammer really is.
- I really like Black Widow’s introduction to the MCU. She’s a pretty face, but you’ll underestimate her at every turn. The ultimate femme fatale. Who I want to be when I grow up, minus the tragic backstory.
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