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Russian television shows Stark
Industries CEO Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) revealing his identity as
Iron Man to the world. Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), whose father, Anton
Vanko (Yevgeni Lazarev), has just died, sees this and begins building a
similar weapon.
Six months later, Stark has used his Iron Man armor to help maintain world
peace. He re-institutes the Stark Expo in Flushing Meadows to continue his
father Howard's legacy. Senator Stern (Garry Shandling) demands that Stark
turn over the Iron Man technology to the government. Stark refuses,
claiming that foreign nations and business competitors are decades away
from successfully recreating his achievements, and that the armor is in
fact his own property.
The palladium core in the arc reactor that keeps Stark alive and powers
the armor is slowly poisoning him, and he has failed to find a substitute.
Growing increasingly despondent and reckless due to his impending death,
and choosing not to tell anyone about his condition, Stark appoints his
personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) CEO of Stark Industries,
and replaces her with Stark employee Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson).
Vanko attacks Stark while racing at the Circuit de Monaco, using an arc
reactor of his own powering whip-like energy weapons. Stark defeats Vanko
with the aid of his portable briefcase armor. He learns that Vanko is the
son of his father's old partner, Anton Vanko. Anton collaborated with
Howard on the first arc reactor, but was deported to his native Soviet
Union following his attempts to profit from the technology and died in
poverty, explaining Vanko's desire for revenge on the Stark family. Rival
defense contractor Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) fakes Vanko's death and
recruits him to perfect a line of armored combat suits to upstage Stark.
At what he believes is his last birthday party Stark gets drunk while
using the Iron Man armor, forcing his friend, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel
James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), to intervene. Rhodes dons Stark's Mark II
armor and after battling him, delivers the armor to the military. Nick
Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), director of S.H.I.E.L.D., approaches Stark,
revealing Rushman as undercover agent Natasha Romanoff and that Howard
Stark was a S.H.I.E.L.D. founder that Fury knew personally. Fury gives him
some of his father's old material; a hidden message in the diorama of the
1974 Stark Expo proves to be a diagram of the structure of a new element.
With the aid of his computer J.A.R.V.I.S. (voiced by Paul Bettany), Stark
synthesizes it. Vanko reveals to Stark that he is still alive and seeking
revenge so Stark uses the untested element, removing his dependency on the
palladium.
At the Expo, Hammer unveils Vanko's armored drones, led by Rhodes in a
heavily weaponized version of the Mark II armor. Stark arrives in his new
armor to warn Rhodes, but Vanko seizes control of both the drones and
Rhodes' armor and attacks Iron Man. Hammer is arrested while Stark's
bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and Romanoff attempt to capture Vanko.
He escapes, but Romanoff returns control of the Mark II armor to Rhodes.
After defeating his drones Stark and Rhodes confront Vanko himself, now in
a new, very powerful suit of armor. Neither can match Vanko, but Vanko is
ultimately defeated when they fire repulsor rays at each other, causing a
large explosion. With his suit too damaged to continue the fight Vanko
ignites his suit and his drones' self-destruct mechanisms, apparently
killing himself in the process. Stark saves Potts from the exploding
drones' remains. Potts quits as CEO, but she and Stark kiss.
At a debriefing, while news footage of the Hulk's rampage plays, Fury
informs Stark that while Iron Man is a suitable candidate for the
"Avengers Initiative", he himself is not. Stark agrees to be a consultant
if Senator Stern presents himself and Rhodes with their medals for
bravery.
In a post-credits scene, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) reports
the discovery of a large hammer at the bottom of a crater in a New Mexico
desert. |
