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Age of MCU: Top 3 Best Things about Iron Man 2 and Top 3 Worst Things about Iron Man 2

Top 3 Worst Things

3. Drones

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There’s nothing wrong with a climatic battle against an army of Iron Man rip-offs. Such a final was one of the grizzliest and badass finales in the MCU. However, the moment Whiplash informs Justin Hammer that he’s changing his suits into drones, one can almost hear a collective sight coming from the audience.

That’s because at that point, Iron Man 2 gains a somewhat predictable climax, for all its awesomeness. Obviously, the drones are going to go haywire. They’re going to obliterate everything in their path. Iron Man and War Machine are also going to save the day. You can guess all this from Whiplash’s one simple word for Jeremy.

 

2. A Glorified Music Video?

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There are times when Iron Man 2 feels like the greatest music video AC/DC never made. The fact that the band repackaged a bunch of their songs into an album called Iron Man 2 suggests just that, not to mention The Clash and a Queen cover popping up here and there.

Of course, the Iron Man trilogy is giddy in its own love for itself as superhero films about superheroes being badass superheroes is always taken as a burst of freshness for the genre, especially after Nolan’s Batman trilogy. But here, in Iron Man 2, it starts to wear thin. The darker edge of Iron Man 3 stopped Tony Stark from being the poster boy MTV left behind, but Iron Man 2 has moments where all you want to do is dance to the music, and not really be bothered with what’s going on in the film itself.

 

1. Whiplash’s Vendetta

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Whiplash’s plan for taking down Tony is fuelled primarily by vengeance, but it’s convoluted at best. Was Whiplash’s original plan simply to kill Tony at the grand prix and leave it at that? It just happens to be a happy coincidence that Hammer sees what Whiplash is capable of and recruits him for his own ends.

It’s as if Whiplash is simply making his plan up as he goes along, and cares about nothing else other than seeing Tony dead, regardless of any impact it may have on him. With that in mind, it comes across as though Whiplash hasn’t considered all the possible things that could go wrong, and therefore doesn’t have the full-proof plan he thinks he has.

What did you make of this list? Is Iron Man 2 the greatest MCU film ever, or is it better off suffering from the same fate as Whiplash? Sound off in the comments or send us your thoughts on Twitter!

About the author

Fred McNamara