Iron Man 2

Rating: 6/10 (29 January 2014)

(from http://cobyscomics.blogspot.com/2014/01/iron-man-2.html)
After Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, the next movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Iron Man 2. Critics were pretty harsh on this one, and understandably so. It was a pretty obvious set-up for The Avengers movie, but, you know what? I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing.
Cheadle
One of the biggest controversies of Iron Man 2 was the change in characters for Rhodey. Terrence Howard only recently came out and admitted he didn't do the second movie because Marvel wanted to give 80% of his pay to Robert Downey, Jr, and they felt that the second movie would work with or without Howard. And they were right! I actually prefer Don Cheadle to Terrance Howard. Cheadle comes off as more serious and hardcore (even in that ridiculous Iron Patriot armor), where Howard has that artistic, flamboyant aire to him that's just hard to get past.
Whiplash
Much like Iron Man 3, I didn't care about the villain in this one. OK, I guess it was pretty cool how they took the Blacklash concept and remade him into Ivon Vanko, son of Howard Stark's old Russian partner, Anton. This sorta kinda explains how Vanko could've developed the Arc Reactor technology, which was another so-so plot device for them to be able to throw in Tony's face how he wasn't the only one with that technology anymore.
How in the world Vanko was able to survive full-on Repulsor Ray blasts to the chest, let alone perfectly time the incoming Grand Prix race cars to be able to whip them to pieces, is anyone's guess. Maybe his exo- skeleton gave him an increased strength and reaction time, Elysium- style? I guess we have to suspend disbelief for a minute here, in order to give Iron Man a credible threatening foe.
My main problem with Vanko was, every time he came on screen, I couldn't help but see Mickey Rourke as a more piratey Hyperion from Immortals and Whiplash as Blacklash from that 90's Iron Man cartoon. Apparently, even Rourke was disappointed with the way his character came across (which, ironically, he talked about during the publicity for Immortals), so at least I'm in good company with my criticism.
I gotta tell you though, as far as cool factor goes, when Iron Man and War Machine blasted each other with Whiplash in the middle, this one tops the charts.
Natalie Rushman
I can't believe I forgot all about Black Widow even being in this movie... I'm so ashamed....
Who else was tricked and thought Scarlett Johansson was really gonna be Tony's assistant? As far as hot assistants go, if anyone could put Ollie's Smoak to shame, it would've been "Natalie Rushman".
Post-Credits Scene
Mew-Mew! Remember how stoked everyone was to see Thor's Hammer at the end of Iron Man 2? I remember the theater literally applauding. I honestly didn't think it would ever happen. I thought Marvel was just effing with us, they'd never actually give Thor his own movie. But they did, and it was awesome! And Thor 2 was even better!
Stan Lee!
as Larry King. You gotta love the old dude's sense of humor: "So I finally, for the first time in my life, felt like I was a celebrity".