Shouldn't "Iron Man 2" Have Been Called 'Iron Men' Instead?

Anything you can do, I can do better...

The Story:

Multi-bajillionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) returns!  It's been six months since the big reveal to the world that he is Iron Man, and now the United States wants its grubby paws on the Iron Man armor.  Leading the charge is a smarmy Senator (Garry Schandling) and weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell).  Torn between the conflict between his government and his best friend, Rhodey (Don Cheadle) isn't sure what to do.  When Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) shows up sporting technology similar to Stark's, all bets are off, and Tony is in the for the fight of his life.

The horrible thing about sequels is that they rarely live up to the status of the film that they are following.  On rare occasions the second film can overshadow the first, Toy Story and the Godfather spring to mind, but most are missing that special something. 

Or perhaps it is just the bar is so high from the audience going in, unlike the first film, that the sequel is doomed from the start.  Which is a shame.

On its own merits, Iron Man 2 is a wonderful superhero film, and really important in the overall development of Phase One of the Marvel cinematic universe.  Of course, this is also hindsight seeing in 20/20, what they were able to put into that movie that would come to fruition later.

Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) returns to Iron Man, this time not after the credits, but in the film itself.  He lays more of the groundwork of SHIELD and once again Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) returns.  Joining the cast is The Black Widow (Scarlett Johannsen).

Yet even with all these characters vying for screen time, character development and action sequences, nothing really feels rushed or left out.

If anything, the biggest letdown of the film is the somewhat unoriginal thought of having Iron Man fight another Iron Man.  Very reminiscent of the first film, though Jon Favreau amps up the explosive power by adding War Machine to the mix and having the two friends battle against an army of Iron Man wannabes.

Again, judged on it's own, the movie is really quite good out of the shadow of its predecessor.

Plus, often times while the first sequel is often considered inferior, many times the third movie in a trilogy is often as good or just a little less awesome than the original.

We'll see!

Final Grade: Originally a B-, but the years have been kind, and so will I... B+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Extremely high, and I have happily finally added the 2nd installment into the DVD Library.  Yay me!