I completely forgot how quickly Iron Man 2 zips along. Within the first 24 minutes Iron Man jumps out of an airplane, rocketing around amidst fireworks and explosions; we have an AC/DC dance number and dramatic keynote speech at the Stark Expo; we meet a freshly cast John Slattery and Don Cheadle; we get to see Stark embarrass the snot out of Larry Sanders and Sam Rockwell at that legendary Senate Intelligence Commission Hearing; we see Stark realize he's dying unless he invents a new element, "discard the liberal agenda", and appoint Pepper Potts as CEO of Stark Industries (complete with her adorably pouty shock); and introduce and cement Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow as part of Team A for Marvel Phase 1. And then watch her put Happy Hogan in a headlock.

All while a freshly resurrected Mickey Rourke (coming off his Sin City success after a string of flops) watches his father die then toils away at some mysterious arc-reactor related project and buys himself a Fake ID and a front row seats to the Monaco Grand Prix.

This movie is nothing if not efficient.

_{Source: Iron Man 2 (2010)}

As I've been going through the movies, I've kept a notepad beside me where I jot down quotes for the Potent Quotables section at the bottom. By minute 25, my page is full already. Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer in the courtroom? "I'd love to leave my door unlocked at night. But this ain't Canada."

They've taken the witty repartee of the first outing and essentially constructed their own language around it, one where every line is funny and perfect, but just the perfect amount of funny for the moment.

I'm here, it's me. Deal with it.

Nothing expresses that better than this one-liner from Don Cheadle. Within the span of one second we go from "Rhodey's here??" to "It's me, deal with it." And just like that, Don Cheadle is the new dude... and who even is Terrence Howard? Oh, the guy who doesn't believe in math?

With Iron Man, Howard was actually the highest-paid actor on set. When Iron Man 2 came around, rather than renegotiate like a normal human, he blew up the bridge, accused Robert Downey Jr. of stealing his money, and left to go invent "Terryology," a homemade system of arithmetic where he claims that 1×1 = 2.

Welcome to the real world, jackass.

_{Source: Threw it on the Ground (2010) by Lonely Island}

What strikes me so specifically about Iron Man 2 is that it already feels so much of a piece. The movie doesn’t feel like it’s nervously servicing a future franchise; instead it lays a ton of groundwork without feeling like it's constantly pulling plot punches to do so. Where the first one felt more experimental, Iron Man 2 feels confident, mature, and fully aware of what it's building. Which is crazy because this is only the third movie in a now-25+ movie franchise.

It officially brings S.H.I.E.L.D. front and center, promoting Nick Fury from "eyepatch dude in a bar" to the actual glue guy of the whole franchise. War Machine is born, setting up one of the longest-running superhero bromances in cinematic history. Black Widow gets introduced and immediately rules.

_{Source: Iron Man 2 (2010)}

And Tony Stark not only stabilizes his reactor problem but invents an entirely new element with the help of his dead dad, fights off a massive battalion of Battle Droids, pees in his armor, romances Pepper, almost kills his best friend and then buries the hatchet - it's absolutely wild how dense this movie is. There's also a top-notch prison escape.

Behind the scenes, the movie obviously had a few growing pains. Terrence Howard is swapped out for Don Cheadle after that famously messy salary dispute. Jon Favreau apparently fought with Marvel brass, who were pushing him to cram in more connective tissue for The Avengers. But somehow despite that, or maybe even because of it, the final movie somehow stays more character-driven than corporate. Tony's slow motion breakdown, the messy friendship tensions with Rhodey, even Pepper's new corporate responsibilities... it all feels pretty grounded for a movie where a bird-loving Russian builds laser whips and bamboozles a dessert-first defense contractor in order to take revenge on the son of someone who ripped off his dad 30 years prior.

_{Source: Iron Man 2 (2010)}

On the business side, Iron Man 2 was a clear-cut success. It had a budget floating around $170-200 million and grossed $623.9 million worldwide, easily confirming that Marvel Studios wasn’t a one-hit wonder. Critics were a little more divided. Rotten Tomatoes clocks the movie at a 71% Fresh score, which is still good, but a noticeable step down from the 94% for Iron Man 1. The usual complaint was that the movie felt overstuffed and a little scattershot, but in hindsight compared to some later MCU entries, Iron Man 2 is practically a masterclass in controlled chaos.

This is the real first team-up movie, even without a formal Avengers lineup yet. It locks in the tone, the chemistry, and the stakes and keeps Tony Stark’s "eat cheeseburgers and flirt with death" vibe alive and well while solidly establishing the new team members.

It's not perfect, but way better than people sometimes remember.

_{Source: Iron Man 2 (2010)}

Potent Quotables

"I told you I don't want to join your super-secret boy band."

"Anything you want here, we got it. I like my dessert first."

"If you try to escape, or play any sort of games with me, I will taze you and watch "Supernanny" while you drool into the carpet."

"What, are you Googling her now?"
"I thought I was ogling her?"

"You look like two seals fighting over a grape."

My Personal Ranking

As I continue to go through all the movies over the next several weeks, I'll keep a running tally of where they fit in my personal spectrum of best and worst of all the MCU offerings. Feel free to throw your own list in the comments below!

Next up: Thor comes from out of nowhere to flex Chris Hemsworth's biceps and try and find a dog, cat or bird large enough to ride.