SPOILER*SPOILER*SPOILER
IRON MAN 2 SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT
Okay, so who went to see it? Show of hands! (counts) Excellent. (steeples fingers) And with our might combined, we shall rule the world. I got extremely lucky. My theater had a double showing: Iron Man 1 at 9 and Iron Man 2 at 12. In short, I had roughly four hours of Starkish goodness. And lemme tell you, watching them in a row like that really let me appreciate the quality of IM2 more. I went dressed as girl!Cap. Supposedly I dragged a cousin, but she crapped out and went home before the showing of IM2 (BOO). Luckily, I had a fanboy on my right who was willing to geek with me and, on occasion, keep me from falling out of my seat.
There are roughly five plotlines in IM2 that I counted. Granted, I've only had 3 hours of sleep, so I may be fuzzy. (I did not get home until 3, and removing makeup/etc took until almost 4, then work at 8 WHEE.) I'm going to address them individually as best I can. They all weave in and out, so it's hard, and some are obvious set ups for later. In order of Importance:
Plot 1) Legacies, Heirs and What You Leave Behind. (AKA: Ohnos My Armor Is Killing Me Again)
Plot 2) Whiplash/Ivan Vanko
Plot 3) Justin Hammer
Plot 4) The Entourage
Plot 5) Avengers
Plot X) Easter Egg
Plot 1: This is really the over-arching plot, I think. It's the driving force behind damned near everything, and really is what pushes the rest of the conflict. It's Howard's story, Justin's story, Tony's story, Ivan's story, Pepper's story.... Hell, it's even the Easter Egg. Tony is acting like a person about to suicide (giving his things away, making arrangements for "after", taking dumb risks, etc). It depressed me horribly that no one noticed the warning signs. Even Pepper only sort of gave lip-service to it. There didn't seem to be anyone who recognized what was going on. :\ Poor Tony. Everything Tony does is driven by this... need to leave his mark, and to make sure everything is taken care of after he's gone. That's why he let Rhodey take the Mark II. That's why he promoted Pepper. That's why he had the World Fair. It follows through with Howard, and Tony being his Legacy (his greatest creation-I teared up).
And it's all because Tony was dying (again). I do love how they kept that tied in with IM1. Palladium! Win! But anyway, if Tony hadn't been dying, none of this would have happened. He was in that "staring down the barrel of mortality" place, and that is a very strange and uncomfortable place to be for a man who lives like he's immortal. I think it was handled very, very well, in addition to showing how much of a manipulative bastard Tony can be.
Plot 2: This was much less subtle and all-pervasive. It buys into the Legacy theme (specifically, Legacy Gone Wrong), because that's what Ivan was. He was, in a way, as much Howard Stark's legacy as his father's. It was sad, but appropriately twisted. I really felt for him, and kind of wanted him to end up doing a Crimson Dynamo and becoming Tony's friend. Alas. And his bird made me sad. What about the bird? What happened to it? Is it safe? I WANT TO KNOW.
Plot 3: This was so sidelined, I will be pissed if he doesn't make more appearances. He was laughably ineffective, and served only to give Ivan the resources he needed. HE'LL BE BACK.
Plot 4: I loved this. I loved Natasha. Not only was she lacking in sex kitten qualities, but she kicked ass, was very well-played and clearly banged Pepper on the side, to the satisfaction of both. Every time Happy was on the screen, I loved it. Pepper kicked ass and took names in her own way. Rhodey is obviously being set up for his own spin-off, which makes me dance with glee. None of them, by themselves, had much of a plot, but they all worked to push the rest of the story forward in a way that didn't diminish any of them. I am a bit (a lot) :\ at the Pepper/Tony, mostly because it resolves nothing, Pepper would not lose her shit enough to think a relationship with Tony is ever a good idea, and (most importantly) it will give Matt Fraction impetus to keep fucking us over in 616. Classically, the major way Tony loses girlfriends is by death or by them going evil. I don't want that to happen to Pepper. ;-; I will only forgive if Movie 3 has them having a falling out and Pepper getting a suit, then going on to her own spin off.
Plot 5: This was clearly mostly meant to tease us, but I have suspicions! (You can't have the Avengers with Tony only as a consultant, which suggests they may be planning to reclaim his identity, or Tony may say SCREW YOU to Fury and do his own team. Or something like that.) What I loved most about this is how it highlighted what we in Fandom have been saying for a while. To quote the Cap/Iron Man Ship Manifesto: "Tony likes being Iron Man a lot, but he’s really not all that fond of being Tony Stark." That separation of identity in the movie was pretty subtle. Natasha's suggestion that they have Iron Man, not Tony. Tony not denying that he hates himself. Tony's continued insistence that they're one and the same, while he does everything he can to separate them, including speaking of Iron Man in third person at times. I'm hoping to see more of this.
Plot X: HOMG HOMG HOMG.
Just for kicks, I pulled out my Stark Suicide Special bingo card. Below are the results for the movie.
BINGO
Only three, because I still need to retrieve the others from my phone/camera. One visible, other two linked. They are not much different, and my internet at home thanks you for your patience.
PIC 1
PIC 2
Crossposted to Dreamwidths ohnoz!
Okay, so who went to see it? Show of hands! (counts) Excellent. (steeples fingers) And with our might combined, we shall rule the world. I got extremely lucky. My theater had a double showing: Iron Man 1 at 9 and Iron Man 2 at 12. In short, I had roughly four hours of Starkish goodness. And lemme tell you, watching them in a row like that really let me appreciate the quality of IM2 more. I went dressed as girl!Cap. Supposedly I dragged a cousin, but she crapped out and went home before the showing of IM2 (BOO). Luckily, I had a fanboy on my right who was willing to geek with me and, on occasion, keep me from falling out of my seat.
There are roughly five plotlines in IM2 that I counted. Granted, I've only had 3 hours of sleep, so I may be fuzzy. (I did not get home until 3, and removing makeup/etc took until almost 4, then work at 8 WHEE.) I'm going to address them individually as best I can. They all weave in and out, so it's hard, and some are obvious set ups for later. In order of Importance:
Plot 1) Legacies, Heirs and What You Leave Behind. (AKA: Ohnos My Armor Is Killing Me Again)
Plot 2) Whiplash/Ivan Vanko
Plot 3) Justin Hammer
Plot 4) The Entourage
Plot 5) Avengers
Plot X) Easter Egg
Plot 1: This is really the over-arching plot, I think. It's the driving force behind damned near everything, and really is what pushes the rest of the conflict. It's Howard's story, Justin's story, Tony's story, Ivan's story, Pepper's story.... Hell, it's even the Easter Egg. Tony is acting like a person about to suicide (giving his things away, making arrangements for "after", taking dumb risks, etc). It depressed me horribly that no one noticed the warning signs. Even Pepper only sort of gave lip-service to it. There didn't seem to be anyone who recognized what was going on. :\ Poor Tony. Everything Tony does is driven by this... need to leave his mark, and to make sure everything is taken care of after he's gone. That's why he let Rhodey take the Mark II. That's why he promoted Pepper. That's why he had the World Fair. It follows through with Howard, and Tony being his Legacy (his greatest creation-I teared up).
And it's all because Tony was dying (again). I do love how they kept that tied in with IM1. Palladium! Win! But anyway, if Tony hadn't been dying, none of this would have happened. He was in that "staring down the barrel of mortality" place, and that is a very strange and uncomfortable place to be for a man who lives like he's immortal. I think it was handled very, very well, in addition to showing how much of a manipulative bastard Tony can be.
Plot 2: This was much less subtle and all-pervasive. It buys into the Legacy theme (specifically, Legacy Gone Wrong), because that's what Ivan was. He was, in a way, as much Howard Stark's legacy as his father's. It was sad, but appropriately twisted. I really felt for him, and kind of wanted him to end up doing a Crimson Dynamo and becoming Tony's friend. Alas. And his bird made me sad. What about the bird? What happened to it? Is it safe? I WANT TO KNOW.
Plot 3: This was so sidelined, I will be pissed if he doesn't make more appearances. He was laughably ineffective, and served only to give Ivan the resources he needed. HE'LL BE BACK.
Plot 4: I loved this. I loved Natasha. Not only was she lacking in sex kitten qualities, but she kicked ass, was very well-played and clearly banged Pepper on the side, to the satisfaction of both. Every time Happy was on the screen, I loved it. Pepper kicked ass and took names in her own way. Rhodey is obviously being set up for his own spin-off, which makes me dance with glee. None of them, by themselves, had much of a plot, but they all worked to push the rest of the story forward in a way that didn't diminish any of them. I am a bit (a lot) :\ at the Pepper/Tony, mostly because it resolves nothing, Pepper would not lose her shit enough to think a relationship with Tony is ever a good idea, and (most importantly) it will give Matt Fraction impetus to keep fucking us over in 616. Classically, the major way Tony loses girlfriends is by death or by them going evil. I don't want that to happen to Pepper. ;-; I will only forgive if Movie 3 has them having a falling out and Pepper getting a suit, then going on to her own spin off.
Plot 5: This was clearly mostly meant to tease us, but I have suspicions! (You can't have the Avengers with Tony only as a consultant, which suggests they may be planning to reclaim his identity, or Tony may say SCREW YOU to Fury and do his own team. Or something like that.) What I loved most about this is how it highlighted what we in Fandom have been saying for a while. To quote the Cap/Iron Man Ship Manifesto: "Tony likes being Iron Man a lot, but he’s really not all that fond of being Tony Stark." That separation of identity in the movie was pretty subtle. Natasha's suggestion that they have Iron Man, not Tony. Tony not denying that he hates himself. Tony's continued insistence that they're one and the same, while he does everything he can to separate them, including speaking of Iron Man in third person at times. I'm hoping to see more of this.
Plot X: HOMG HOMG HOMG.
Just for kicks, I pulled out my Stark Suicide Special bingo card. Below are the results for the movie.
BINGO
Only three, because I still need to retrieve the others from my phone/camera. One visible, other two linked. They are not much different, and my internet at home thanks you for your patience.
PIC 1
PIC 2
Crossposted to Dreamwidths ohnoz!