Summary: Mostly meh movie, mostly redeemed by the integration into the Marvel Movie Universe, but only for people who like comic books, I think. So the movie starts off being all aboot how Tony Stark is this devil-may-care asshole and that is causing him problems (and also irritating the viewer, who DOES NOT LIKE Stark at this point, and things like his appearance before Congress just piss the viewer off because you’re supposed to be cheering for Stark, but how can you be?), and you think to yourself, isn’t this basically the first fucking movie all over again? Wasn’t that supposed to be RESOLVED? What is this I don’t even, you know? And then… (SPOILERS) … Nick Fury shows up, and the thing takes off. Being part of the Marvel Universe is key to this movie, and even if the Avengers movie ends up sucking, it saved this one from that fate. So, yay.

  1. So did you know that the Black Widow was who she was the instant she was introduced? Because I was all, “yeah, ‘Natalie R’, I think we get it,” but obviously to most people even if she had been Natasha Romanov from minute one, it would have meant nothing. Which, actually, they never DID mention that she was the Widow in the movie, I think.
  2. So what was up with all that end “we want Iron Man, but not Stark” stuff? Did Robert Downey Jr. want too much to be in the Avengers movie, so they’re subbing in someone else for him? Is it going to be Don Cheadle, because that at least would be semi-canon?
  3. I think the biggest place that knowing the comics hurt me was with the villain, because I kept expecting him to turn into the Crimson Dynamo, and it kept not happening. I mean, I guess it sorta happened at the end, but not really, you know? Very weird to steal the name of one villain and use him as a different villain.
  4. Overall, a much weaker movie than the last one, which was really only saved by Nick Fury and the hinting around the Avengers stuff. All of the Stark/Iron Man-specific stuff was mishandled (like his alcoholism, which turned into an EOL party), and only the fact that this is part of something bigger made it worth watching.