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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tt1228705.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:''[[{{Tagline}} It's not the armor that makes the hero, but the man inside.]]'']]
3%%
4->''"If you could make God bleed, people would cease to believe in Him."''
5-->-- '''Ivan Vanko[=/=]Whiplash'''
6
7''Iron Man 2'' is the second movie in the ''Film/IronManFilms'' series, released in 2010 and based on the Creator/MarvelComics character ComicBook/IronMan, starring Creator/RobertDowneyJr as the armored SuperHero and directed by Creator/JonFavreau. It is the third film in both the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse and its Phase 1, and notably, the first installment released after Creator/{{Disney}} bought out Marvel in 2009; however, both this and the [[Film/{{Thor}} next two]] [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger installments]] were still distributed by [[Creator/{{Paramount}} Paramount Pictures]].
8
9Several months after the events of ''Film/IronMan1'', the film deals with the consequences of Tony Stark outing himself as Iron Man and becoming the world's newest defender. His first major issue is Congressional hearings about sharing his tech, with rival (''[[AlwaysSecondBest and perpetually second-place to Tony]]'') industrialist [[SmugSnake Justin Hammer]] (Creator/SamRockwell) standing the most to gain. Despite their best efforts, Tony is untouchable: unbeatable in conferences and unstoppable as Iron Man. But his invincibility is tested by Ivan Vanko/Whiplash (Creator/MickeyRourke), a man with a grudge against the Stark empire who is more than capable of challenging Tony's genius, as Tony is also dealing with a [[PhlebotinumBreakdown slowly fatal medical condition]] resulting from his arc reactor implant. ComicBook/BlackWidow (Creator/ScarlettJohansson) makes her MCU debut in a supporting role and Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes ([[TheOtherDarrin now played by]] Creator/DonCheadle) suits up as his alter-ego ComicBook/WarMachine.
10
11Followed by the 2012 CrossOver film ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' and the 2013 sequel ''Film/IronMan3''.
12
13----
14!!''Iron Man 2'' provides examples of:
15
16[[foldercontrol]]
17
18[[folder:Tropes A to E]]
19* AbsurdCuttingPower: Vanko's electric whips can slice through cars. Tony's do-it-yourself particle accelerator emits a LaserCutter beam that slices through his lab wall and some shelving and cabinets as he's aligning it.
20* TheAce: Of ''course'' Tony's a good enough driver that he can participate in the Grand Prix.
21* ActorAllusion:
22** [[Creator/ScarlettJohansson Natasha Romanoff]] modeled [[Film/LostInTranslation in Tokyo]].
23** [[Creator/SamuelLJackson Nick Fury]] in [[Film/PulpFiction a diner, talking someone out of his self-destructive behavior to boot]], while also discussing [[Franchise/TheIncredibles lost super suits]]. Another character of his also [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas previously]] hung out around a [[DonutMessWithACop donut shop]].
24** Happy Hogan is well-qualified as a boxing partner; Creator/JonFavreau in his younger, trimmer days played boxing legend Rocky Marciano in a biopic, and a MMA fighter on ''Series/{{Friends}}'' as well as ''Film/FourChristmases''.
25* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Rhodey can't help but smile when Tony shows actual test footage of attempts to copy his suit.
26* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Justin Hammer is much easier on the eyes in the film than in the comics, where he's a very wrinkled old man. Partly thanks to the merging of Hammer's character with another rival of Tony's who's much younger.
27* AdaptationalBadass: Combined with AdaptationDistillation and CompositeCharacter. In the comic, Whiplash was just a guy with a ridiculous costume and two lashes. The movie mixed him with another villain called Crimson Dynamo and revised him as a GeniusBruiser who could hurt Iron Man.
28* AdaptationOriginConnection: Anton Vanko has ties to Tony's father and the past of Stark Enterprises, though this is closer to the inverse, as Stark's family is tied to the birth of Whiplash rather than Vanko being involved in the creation of Iron Man.
29* TheAlcoholic:
30** Tony Stark starts drinking more than he can handle, to distract himself from the fact [[spoiler:he's dying]].
31** Anton Vanko is also implied to have been one, with his "20-year vodka filled rage" destroying himself and his son Ivan.
32* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Tony for Justin Hammer, who just barely hides his resentment about always being second-best compared to Stark behind his faux grin.
33* AmericanRobot: Justin Hammer tries to pass off his Hammeroid drones as this. They come in [[RealRobot Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine]] models no less. Every model of drone has a specialist weapon or device attached to it - an anti-armor cannon for the Army, missile launchers for the Navy, high-speed flight systems for the Air Force, and close-range machine guns for the Marines. [[spoiler:Too bad the RenegadeRussian in charge of AI sets them on rampage...]]
34* AMFMCharacterization: After Tony Stark's birthday party is ruined by an Iron Man suit-wearing James Rhodes, Tony requests for the DJ to play Music/{{Queen}}'s "Another One Bites the Dust" as a way to show he doesn't take Rhodes' threat even remotely seriously. The DJ also cycles through "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock and (appropriately) "Robot Rock" by Music/DaftPunk.
35-->'''Tony Stark:''' Gimme a phat beat to beat my buddy's ass to.
36* AndIMustScream: Rhodey is trapped inside the War Machine armor with no control over it, no way out and he is forced to try and kill his best friend. The look he gives Tony when Natasha finally reboots the armor remotely says it all.
37* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Tony attempts this several times with Pepper, but only gets as far as making her even more concerned about his mental health.
38* AnnoyingBackgroundEvent: More like Annoying Foreground Event: During the scene where [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofX3M6sRssY Tony is trying to apologize to Pepper]], he's continuously distracted by the motions of a kinetic sculpture on the desk, eventually interrupting himself and moving so he can't see it. At the end of the scene, he tries to stop it from moving... and fails.
39* ApologeticAttacker: Rhodey, when his War Machine armor gets hacked and is used to attack his friends. He can't stop his suit from attacking Tony, but he ''can'' call his shots.
40* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: While it may seem like a standard Hollywood mistake when Justin Hammer calls magazines "clips" while showing weapons to Rhodey, he also demonstrates complete ignorance and/or apathy towards ''every'' rule of firearms safety, not bothering to clear any of the guns he picks up (all of which have magazines inserted), and lacking any muzzle or trigger discipline whatsoever. His appallingly unsafe handling coupled with the many technical details he gets wrong in the same scene subtly indicates that he really doesn't know what the hell he's talking about, and is trying to dazzle Rhodey with bullshit.
41* ArtisticLicenseSports:
42** When Ivan attacks Tony at the Historic Monaco Grand Prix, Happy has to dodge race cars still driving at full speed to get to him, despite the fact two cars were cut in half and the track is completely blocked. In real life, race control would have waved the yellow flag the moment Ivan walked onto the track and likely immediately called off the race once he started attacking the drivers.
43** It's also very unlikely Tony would even get to drive his F1 car in the race, as many sanctioned race events require drivers to have competition licenses to prevent inexperienced drivers from causing accidents in very fast, very expensive cars.
44* AscendedExtra:
45** Nick Fury, after having a minor appearance in ''Film/IronMan1'', gets more screen time and becomes Tony's mentor as a major character in the film. Played with since Creator/SamuelLJackson had signed a multi-picture contract with Marvel and was always intended to have a recurring role in the MCU.
46** Happy Hogan, after having a few brief appearances in the first movie, becomes a major character in the movie.
47* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: When Natasha is hacking into Rhodey's suit, the Russian "code" appearing on screen is just a glossary of operators.
48* AttentiveShadeLowering: Tony, pigging out on donuts in full Iron Man armor sans helmet, gives Nick Fury the FlatWhat version of this look when told to get off the store sign he's reclining on.
49* BabysitterFromHell: Coulson says that he will become one should Tony not get to work.
50-->'''Coulson:''' If you attempt to leave or play any games, I will tase you and watch ''Series/{{Supernanny}}'' while you drool into the carpet.
51* BackToBackBadasses: Iron Man and War Machine facing off back to back against about twenty hijacked Hammer drones.
52* BackseatChangingRoom: During the climactic battle when ComicBook/BlackWidow changes into her [[SensualSpandex standard battle outfit]] in the back of the Stark Industries limo while "Happy" Hogan is driving. Happy naturally can't stop himself from glancing in the rear view mirror but stops do so when he almost hits another car.
53* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: Hammer tells his mooks to take Ivan's bird. The guy grabs it and stuffs it in a sack.
54* BadToTheBone: "Another One Bites the Dust" plays during the fight scene between Tony and Rhodey.
55* BadassBoast:
56** One thing you can always count on is you can count on me to pleasure myself!
57** During Hammer's description of the Ex-Wife, which is mostly just him giving it flattering compliments that have little to nothing to do with its capabilities, he only gives one notable piece of technical information about it. He describes the missile as containing a 'cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine RDX burst'. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment He used two different terms for]] [[KnowNothingKnowItAll the same explosive (RDX) back-to-back]]. [[spoiler:When War Machine uses it on Whiplash, it simply bounces off his armor and sputters on the ground.]]
58--->'''Tony:''' Hammer tech?\
59'''Rhodey:''' Yeah...
60** Ivan gives one of his own to Tony over the phone:
61--->'''Ivan:''' What your father did to my family over 40 years I'll do to you in 40 minutes!
62** Tony gets one when he appears before the Senate Committee.
63--->'''Tony Stark:''' You want my property? [[InsufferableGenius You can't have it]]. But I did you a big favor: [[NGOSuperpower I have successfully privatized world peace]].
64** And his bombastic speech at the opening of the Stark Expo.
65--->'''Tony Stark:''' I'm not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me. I'm not saying that from the [[LargeHam ASHES!]] [[PunctuatedForEmphasis OF CAPTIVITY!]]... never has a greater Phoenix metaphor been personified in human history. I'm not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sippin' on an iced tea, because I haven't come across anyone who's man enough to go toe-to-toe with me on my best day!
66* BadassDriver: Props to Happy for breaking into the grand Prix and driving the wrong way around the track to get to Tony. Obviously, a lot of this is down to the skill of the F1 drivers, but Happy kept out of their way and got to Tony Just in time.
67* BaitAndSwitch:
68** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=FSFjFGUZGIg&NR=1 alternate opening]] begins with the usual Marvel Comics logo and studio credits, albeit overlaid with sounds of Tony gasping and crying out in utter agony. When we finally cut to Tony, he's [[spoiler:wasted and face-first in a toilet; in full armor, no less.]]
69** The main opening makes it look like Tony is inserting into a hostile warzone with him dodging anti-aircraft munitions, only for the explosions to be revealed as fireworks and him landing at his own expo.
70* BarbellBeating: During the fight between Iron Man and War Machine at Tony's mansion, the two end up in the gym. War Machine grabs some weights and throws them at Iron Man, who retaliates by picking up a barbell, pulling one of the weights out, and hitting his friend with enough force to send him flying.
71* BashBrothers: Iron Man and War Machine work together to beat some baddies. They're also best friends.
72* BatmanGambit: Vanko arranges to get a passport, and cover as a worker at the Monaco Grand Prix, figuring that Stark would have to be there to watch his Stark Industry cars. He also knows that Tony is dying from palladium poisoning (he even mentions it during the prison talk), and Tony's ego would have him right where he wants him, alone on the track for a time.
73* BeamOWar: The final thing the drunken Stark and Rhodes do in their brawl is point their repulsors at each other and let loose. [[spoiler:It knocks Tony on his butt and Rhodes manages to abscond with the Mk.2 armor. [[ChekhovsGun Later on they use the effect to defeat Ivan]].]]
74* BeginWithAFinisher:
75** Rhodey points out that Tony should have used his deadly laser attack at the beginning of the battle. Tony's response is he was saving them, since they're [[ItOnlyWorksOnce one-time use only]].
76** A moment later, when Vanko arrives, Rhodey decides to use his most powerful weapon immediately: the bunker-buster missile "the Ex-Wife". [[spoiler:It completely fails.]]
77* BigBad: Ivan Vanko, a vengeance-crazed madman out to destroy Tony Stark.
78* BigBadWannabe: Hammer is one of the most obvious examples of the trope. He thinks of himself as Tony's rival and plans to ruin his expo and displace him as the world's number one ArmsDealer but he's strung along, outwitted, or ignored by Ivan every step of the way, and gets arrested when his Hammeroids get overridden by Ivan.
79* BilingualBonus:
80** When Tony Stark asks Natasha if she actually speaks Latin, she responds with the phrase "Fallaces sunt rerum species," a quote from ''Lucio Anneo Seneca'' meaning "The appearances of things are deceptive."
81** Also when Vanko tells Hammer that the drones at the show won't be fully capable, he adds that they will be able to "make salute." But in Russian, ''salyut'' means ''fireworks.'' The Stark Expo turns into one hell of a fireworks show.
82** Black Widow is and speaks Russian, so she is able to reprogram Vanko's hack into War Machine's system.
83--->'''Black Widow:''' You got your best friend back.
84* BigEntrance:
85** Tony lands stylishly at the site of his Stark Expo in his Iron Man suit to the cheers of many admirers after skydiving out of his personal carrier. For added effect, he's surrounded by a group of Rockettes-esque women in garb meant to resemble his armor who are performing the Can-Can.
86** Whiplash also has one, during ''a Formula One race'' in order to attack Tony, who is driving one of the said cars.
87* {{BFG}}: Overtly, War Machine with his shoulder mounted minigun, but as Tony points out:
88-->'''Tony:''' You ''have'' a big gun, you're not ''the'' big gun.
89* BigOMG: Pepper has one when she sees [[ComicBook/BlackWidow "Natalie Rushman"]] [[CurbStompBattle flip over Happy Hogan and pin him to the boxing-ring floor]].
90* BlindIdiotTranslation: The Russian news announcement Vanko is watching of Tony Stark's hearing headed by Senator Stern reads "Сенаторы вопрос Тони Stark". It's obviously supposed to mean "Senators question Tony Stark". However, "вопрос" only means question as a noun. Additionally, his last but not his first name is strangely not transliterated and left as "Stark" instead of "Старк".
91* BloodSplatteredWarrior: After the fight with the hammer drones, Iron Man and War Machine are covered in oil.
92* BoobsAndButtPose: Black Widow strikes it on the poster.
93* BoogieKnights: Drunk Tony in full armor.
94* BoxingLessonsForSuperman: We see that Tony has been teaching himself how to box--and dirty box, with maybe a dash of MMA. It comes in handy later: on one occasion, he's able to outfight Rhodey (who is military-trained but is using a less-advanced suit and a rookie with PoweredArmor) with GoodOldFisticuffs and on another, he beats down drones with his bare, er, well ''iron'' hands.
95* BrickJoke:
96** Tony says the senator that is hauling him to a subcommittee meeting should be giving him a medal. Guess what he leverages Fury to make the same senator do at the end of the movie.
97** Happy chides Tony for "dirty boxing" during their workout. Later, when fighting a guard at Hammer Industries, Happy gains the upper hand by biting his ear. Doubles as a ShoutOut to Creator/MikeTyson.
98** Nick tells Tony at the end of the movie that they'll be using him as a consultant. Couple of years later, we get the short "The Consultant", where Coulson uses Tony as an annoyance to keep Ross away from the Avengers.
99* BrokenPedestal: In-universe, Whiplash sets out to invoke this trope among the public regarding Iron Man.
100* ButNotTooWhite: If you look closely at Justin Hammer's palms during the "gourmet meal in the hangar" scene, you'll notice that they are bright orange. Apparently Justin was a little overzealous with the fake-n-bake and forgot to wash his hands afterwards.
101* ButtMonkey: Poor Hogan. If only he was in ''Film/DieHard'' rather than a superhero movie...
102* CallBack:
103** In the first movie, the financially successful Tony Stark was captured by a terrorist group and forced to build weapons for them. In this film, Ivan Vanko, who is almost bankrupt, is captured by the financially successful Hammer Industries and forced to build weapons for them. Both groups of captors learned their mistake.
104** A very subtle one: Tony tells Vanko his Arc Reactor isn't efficient, and when he scans it at the race track, it only outputs 1.81 [=GJ/sec=]. In the first movie, Tony's original Arc Reactor's output was [=3 GJ/sec=], showing that indeed Vanko's is far less efficient than Tony's original.
105** Rhodey departs in the Mark II the same way Tony started his first flight in that particular suit.
106** Rhodey passes on the Mark III because Tony hasn't repaired it yet.
107* TheCameo
108** Creator/StanLee gets confused for Larry King.
109** Bill O'Reilly does a segment on his show, ''The O'Reilly Factor'', on Tony's rash decisions.
110** DJ AM spins the beats for Tony's crazy party.
111** Larry Ellison
112** Creator/SethGreen also has a blink and you'll miss it cameo.
113** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk Elon Musk]], pitching Tony on an idea for electric jets.[[note]]This is more important than it appears at first. Back when ''Iron Man 1'' was being filmed, Jon Favreau "[[http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1984745_1985495,00.html had no idea how to make (Stark) seem real.]]" Creator/RobertDowneyJr's ''ExactWords'' were, "We need to sit down with Elon Musk."[[/note]]
114--->'''Stark:''' Elon, how's it going? Those [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_%28rocket_engine%29 Merlin]] engines are '''fantastic.''' \
115'''Elon:''' Thank you. I've got an idea for an electric jet.\
116'''Stark:''' You do?\
117'''Elon:''' Yeah.\
118'''Stark:''' Then we'll make it work.
119* CameraAbuse: When Tony shows the Senate Committee other countries' attempts at creating their own Iron Man suits, one camera man is accidentally shot by a malfunctioning suit in North Korea. One in Iran is hit by a crashing suit as it skids along the ground.
120* CanonCharacterAllAlong: After the Marvel-Sony deal in 2015, it's been speculated that the kid in the Iron Man mask at the Stark Expo is a young [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker]]. It has since been confirmed by WordOfGod that it is him.
121* CanonDiscontinuity: The novelization of the movie claims that the new element Tony creates is vibranium. Needless to say, future MCU movies would establish that this is absolutely ''not'' the case.
122* CarFu: Happy Hogan repeatedly rams Ivan Vanko during the villain's attack on Tony at the racetrack. [[MadeOfIron It doesn't do much]].
123* CelebritySuperhero: After revealing his SecretIdentity at the end of the previous movie, Tony now is this. He even uses his new-found fame as brilliant billionaire genius ''and'' superhero to promote the Stark Expo.
124* CeilingSmash: Rhodes throws Stark into the ceiling during their fight.
125* CerebusRetcon: The revelation in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' that [[spoiler:Senator Stern is an agent of HYDRA puts his designs on Stark's technology in a much more sinister light.]] Tony's father issues also take a darker subtext with the reveal that [[spoiler:the deaths of his parents in a car accident was an assassination engineered by HYDRA.]]
126* ChekhovsGun:
127** The model for the original Stark Expo shown in Howard Stark's opening video to the modern-day Stark Expo [[spoiler:ends up being the key to Tony finding an alternative to the palladium in his arc reactor.]]
128** Played for laughs with Hammer's "Ex-Wife" missile. After being hyped up to extreme levels, it ends up being worthless. [[EpicFail And makes a farting noise]] as it does so, too!
129* ChekhovsSkill:
130** [[spoiler:The feedback from two repulsor blasts hitting each other packs one hell of a punch.]]
131** Another, more villainous example is [[spoiler:Ivan's computer hacking skills]].
132** Natasha Romanoff's martial arts skills also come in handy.
133** More or less done as a joke, but Happy's knowledge of boxing enables him to take down one security guard at Hammer industries... at the same time that Natasha is taking out all the rest.
134* CherryTapping: [[spoiler:Black Widow pepper sprays the last guard]] after a rather awesome fight sequence.
135* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: For all his villainous aspirations, Justin Hammer is just plain ''weird''.
136* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: [[CompositeCharacter Ivan Vanko]] is never referred to as Whiplash or Crimson Dynamo, but he's referred to in the film's marketing as Whiplash.
137* TheComicallySerious: The tough, thuggish Ivan gives the brief and subtle yet highly amusing appearance of a FishOutOfWater while joining Justin Hammer for an expensive, five-star meal.
138* CompensatingForSomething: What Tony thinks about all the guns strapped on the War Machine armor.
139* CompositeCharacter: Ivan Vanko is a fusion of two different ComicBook/IronMan villains, Whiplash and the Crimson Dynamo. It also helps that the current comic Whiplash and the original Crimson Dynamo shared the last name Vanko. [[note]] Ivan's father was called Anton; Anton Vanko is the identity of the original Crimson Dynamo.[[/note]]
140* CompressedAdaptation:
141** Tony's drinking problem harkens back to the "Demon in a Bottle" story in the 70's which highlighted his substance abuse. Unlike the comics, this is only treated as part of an overarching plot thread ([[spoiler:Tony's slow death by palladium poisoning]]), instead of being the plot point itself.
142** The part where Rhodey puts on one of the early Iron Man suits to beat some sense into Tony, though it seems more like an allusion; back in Tony's days as an alcoholic wreck, Rhodey subbed in for him as Iron Man.
143* CompressedHair: Played straight during the Stark Expo intro. Lampshaded in the novelization.
144* ContinuityNod: During the final conversation between Tony and Nick Fury, a monitor displays a reporter doing live coverage of a "Crisis at Culver University". This is a reference to the Hulk's rampage about midway through ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}''. The scene also establishes the relative timeframe of the two movies: [[spoiler:it shows Stark accepting a job as a S.H.I.E.L.D. consultant, in which capacity he appears in the post-credits scene of ''The Incredible Hulk'']].
145* ContractualBossImmunity: It would have been anticlimactic if [[spoiler:War Machine's "Ex-Wife" missile killed Whiplash in one shot. It works in the novelization.]]
146* ContrivedCoincidence: The Iron Man suits are capable of flight and have extensive ranged weaponry, and so should be able to own Whiplash, who only uses his plasma whips with a range of maybe 3 meters. Naturally, circumstances in the movie force Tony to fight Vanko on the ground in melee range. Twice.
147* CorrelationCausationGag: As the hacked Hammer drones start attacking the area, one little kid in an Iron Man mask[[note]]eventually confirmed by WordOfGod to be a young Peter Parker[[/note]] stands up to one with his toy repulsor to fire at the drone. As the drone mistakes the kid for Tony and takes aim as well, Tony drops in behind the boy, shoots the Hammer drone, then tells the boy "Nice work, kid" before taking off.
148* CostumeEvolution: A subtle example. In the previous film, Tony wears a close-fitting outfit under the Iron Man suit, as it's been tailored precisely to his body, literally built around him. Here he's able to wear the armor over regular clothes, even a really nice suit. Part of what Tony is trying to do is to be able to suit up whenever, wherever, a theme that will continue through End Game.
149* CouldSayItBut: The "I'm not saying..." speech.
150* CreateYourOwnVillain: Ivan Vanko. Though technically Tony didn't create him, his father did. Still counts.
151* CrossingTheBurntBridge: A good chunk of the end of the movie is taken up by Tony trying to repent for his assholish behavior from when he was dying.
152* CrowdPanic: The result of the [[spoiler:attack at the Expo. Rather well done in the regard that the matter of having to evacuate a huge, displaced crowd is followed up on later.]]
153* CurbStompBattle:
154** Natasha's first scene includes a sparring match against Happy. It doesn't last long, as Natasha does a PunchCatch and [[SheFu uses her legs to flip him onto the floor]].
155** Those {{mooks}} didn't stand a chance against [[spoiler:Black Widow.]]
156** The [[spoiler:Hammer drones]] didn't do so well against Iron Man and War Machine.
157** Averted for the fight between Tony and Rhodey at Tony's birthday party. Rhodey has a heck of a lot more experience as a soldier, but Tony has a lot more experience with the suit.
158* CurseCutShort: After Stark is attacked by Vanko on the track, Pepper, in a panic, begins to scream at him to "Get in the fucking car!" but the actual swear is inaudible between the commotion and Tony interrupting with "I was attacked!"
159* CutLexLuthorACheck: {{Discussed}}. Tony asks Ivan why he didn't take his arc reactor, inferior to his but still functional, to an enemy nation or the black market and make a fortune. He also could have lived a comfortable life on Hammer's dollar with the quality of work he was providing. In both cases, he preferred using his talents to get revenge on Tony instead of making money.
160* DamnedByFaintPraise: When Tony shows a video of Justin Hammer's disastrous attempts to recreate the Iron Man suit to the Senate committee, the only positive thing Hammer can say about it is that the test pilot ''survived''.
161* DamselInDistress: Inverted. Happy tries to protect Natalie at the Hammer facility. She takes down nine mooks in the time he takes to knock out the one.
162* DareToBeBadass: Only Nick Fury is badass enough to tell Tony Stark to step up and be the fucking Tony Stark that Tony Stark needs to be.
163* DeadManWriting: Howard Stark to Tony on film.
164* DefectorFromCommieLand: Anton Vanko, who was sent back to the USSR after falling out with Howard Stark. Ironically, despite being an actual rather than FakeDefector, Anton tried to betray Howard and give the USSR the arc reactor technology out of purely capitalist motives: the Soviet government would've paid him more than he was getting from Howard.
165* DefrostingIceQueen: A strange variation where, rather than over the course of the film, on the in-movie film ''reels'' Tony is going through, he starts to find more and more evidence that his father was not always the cold fish he remembers from his childhood. This was paid off in the ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Captain America]]'' film.
166-->'''Howard Stark:''' Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to show you... ''my ass''. ''[turns his back on the camera and thrusts his butt out]''
167* DeliberateInjuryGambit: In Vanko's first confrontation with Tony, his electrified whips made him incredibly dangerous from a specific distance. With a prolonged whip snag slowly melting through the armor, Tony starts deliberately tangling ''himself'' in the whip so that Vanko doesn't have any leverage, and since Vanko is otherwise unarmored, Tony could get in close and knock him out. The armor was nearly compromised as a result, but if he did nothing it wouldn't have ended well either way.
168* DespairEventHorizon: The film has Tony quietly slipping over this as his arc reactor magnet, the thing keeping him alive, is also killing him, and he can't find a solution.
169* DisastrousDemonstration:
170** Tony hacks the video screens at the Armed Services Committee and displays footage of North Korea, Iran, and Hammer Industries suffering from this trope while attempting to build their own power armor.
171** Vanko waits until Hammer's big product-promotion event to unleash his drones.
172* DistractedByTheSexy: Black Widow changing clothes in the back of a car nearly causes a crash. It also happened during the filming: when Scarlett Johansson first appeared in the Black Widow catsuit in the Randy's Donuts scene, Jon Favreau famously tweeted that "he'd never seen such a quiet film crew before".
173* DragonWithAnAgenda: Vanko only works for Hammer as far as it helps with his own EvilPlan.
174* DramaticGunCock: When Iron Man charges up his one-use laser weapon, the emitters make a sound reminiscent of a shotgun cocking.
175* DramaticSpineInjury: Tony Stark shows the Senate Armed Services Committee a video of knock-offs of the Iron Man suit, finishing with a suit created by Hammer Industries. Just after being activated, the suit's pilot is asked to turn to the right, but instead of turning properly, [[ExaggeratedTrope the suit's torso spins 180° at the waist]]. There's a muffled scream, and then the visible arm sparks and goes limp, although Hammer tries to save face by saying that the test pilot survived.
176* DrowningMySorrows: Tony decides to get plastered at his birthday party [[spoiler:as his arc reactor is slowly killing him]]. He ends up blowing up half his house.
177* DrunkDriver: Drunk Tony in power armor. It can fly.
178* DullSurprise: The [[EmotionlessGirl emotionally withdrawn]] Natalie Rushman is the undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. super-assassin ComicBook/BlackWidow.
179* EarlyBirdCameo: The kid in the mask that helps Tony take out a Hammer drone? [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tom-holland-officially-confirms-spider-man-was-in-iron-man-2_us_59508ea4e4b0da2c731c7080 Turns out it was a young Peter Parker.]]
180* EatingTheEyeCandy: Pepper Potts tells off Tony for ogling Natasha on their first meeting.
181* EnergyWeapon: Tony unveils a high-powered wrist laser that can shear through basically anything, but uses cartridges that burn out after one shot. [[spoiler:He pulls a 360-degree spin during the battle with the Hammer drones that turns them all into scrap.]]
182* EpicFail: During the Senate hearing early in the film, the senator argues that other countries are trying to make their own battlesuits to replicate Iron Man. Tony promptly uses his own hacking skills to display videos of those attempts, showing just how incapable each of his would-be challengers are:
183** The North Korean project is a chicken-legged battle suit whose legs are too spindly to support its own weight; it takes one step and breaks its leg, toppling over and discharging its gatling gun uncontrollably. For added BlackComedy, the bullets kill the camera-bearer recording this, causing his blood to splatter over the screen.
184** The Iranian suit tries to uses its thrusters and can't control itself, launching itself in an impressive spiral through the air before slamming into a solid object at probably fatal velocity.
185** Justin Hammer's own suit suddenly twists 180 degrees at the waist, audibly snapping the spine of the man inside it at the time. Hammer tries to save face by saying the pilot survived but that just elevates it straight into {{Squick}}.
186* EurekaMoment: [[spoiler:While trying to perfect the arc reactor, Tony suddenly finds inspiration in his father's miniature model of the first Stark Expo. His dad did that on purpose during the video he left behind for Tony.]]
187-->'''Howard Stark:''' [[spoiler:This is the key to the future, Tony.]]\
188[[spoiler:''[camera cut to the City of the Future]'']]\
189[[spoiler:''[camera cut to the Unisphere]'']]\
190[[spoiler:''[camera cut to a ''prototype arc reactor'']'']]
191* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: A gender-flipped version. Ivan Vanko, while bitter towards Tony, is perfectly willing to quietly take care of his invalid father, even though the film implies his father was abusive when he was well. [[MoralityChain But then his father dies...]]
192* ExactWords: [[spoiler:Hammer tells Vanko that the drones better steal the show. They do just that...right out of Hammer's hands.]]
193-->'''Hammer to Vanko about his bird / Vanko to Hammer about suits:''' Don't get too attached to things. Learn to let go.
194* EvilCounterpart: Justin Hammer tries oh-so-hard to be this to Tony, only to fail spectacularly. It's really driven home during his display at the expo where he tries dancing his way onto the stage in an utterly feeble impersonation of Tony's showmanship to a very underwhelmed audience. Hilariously, when Tony shows up in the Iron Man armor, doing nothing more than coming in for a landing on the stage, the crowd goes wild.
195** Ivan built a miniature arc reactor out of scraps and used it to power weapons that gave Iron Man a good run for his money. The novelization even has Tony note that if their fathers had been in reversed positions and it was Howard who was deported and left to descend into drunken depression, Tony might have ended up just like Vanko.
196* EvilPlan: Two.
197** Hammer wants to upstage Tony at his own expo and become the number one arms dealer. He recruits Ivan to be his EvilGenius. [[spoiler:Then Ivan outgambits him.]]
198** Ivan wants payback on Tony Stark for [[SinsOfOurFathers Howard Stark ruining his and his father's lives.]]
199[[/folder]]
200
201[[folder:Tropes F to N]]
202* FailureMontage: When brought up in a Senate hearing, Tony shows one of these to defuse fears that his competitors may be close to building a suit similar to his own.
203* {{Fanservice}}: Creator/ScarlettJohansson as ComicBook/BlackWidow. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when she and Happy drive to Hammer's lab and she changes in the back of his car, granting a clear shot of her in her underwear. Happy [[WatchingTheReflectionUndress peeks at her with the rearview mirror]] and [[DistractedByTheSexy nearly crashes the car]].
204-->'''Natasha:''' Watch the road.
205* FanserviceExtra: The Ironette Dancers don't have any lines but help fill in Tony's stage show at his expo.
206* FauxAffablyEvil: Two
207** Ivan Vanko. One can't help but chuckle at the casual, almost friendly way he talks as he threatens Tony over the phone.
208--->'''Ivan:''' Hey, Tony! How you doin? Heh heh. I double cycle.\
209'''Tony:''' What?\
210'''Ivan:''' You told me 'double cycle, more power'...Good advice.\
211'''Tony:''' You sound pretty sprightly for a dead guy.\
212'''Ivan:''' You too... Ha ha!
213** Justin Hammer will act like your best friend when it's clear he can't stand your guts.
214* FinishingMove: Tony uses his suit's lasers to finish clearing the field of the Hammer drones. Its use at the end is justified as it uses too much power to use more than once.
215* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: Limited by the technology of his time, [[spoiler:Howard Stark leaves behind a projector reel and a model town that is secretly a blueprint for the new element needed to perfect the arc reactor]]
216* FollowTheLeader: In-universe, what several companies/countries are trying to do in response to the Iron Man suit's existence. With mixed results.
217* ForbiddenChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Two repulsor blasts [[BeamOWar crossing each other]]]] took a toll on both Tony and Rhodey. [[spoiler:Tony later uses the same trick to defeat Whiplash.]]
218* {{Foreshadowing}}:
219** Tony asks Pepper to wear a mask until she doesn't have the sniffles. He's dying, he absolutely needs her to stay away until she's healthy.
220** Coulson lets Tony know he's been reassigned, Fury wants him [[Film/{{Thor}} in New Mexico]].
221** Before even the ''Thor'' stinger, we get a hint about the [[spoiler:Tesseract]]. Note the [[spoiler:4D figures in the various archive notes from Tony's father that he pages through.]]
222** Before TheReveal about her identity as Natasha Romanoff (not that it was [[ForegoneConclusion a surprise to comic readers]] or... well, anyone who ''[[TrailersAlwaysSpoil just saw the freakin' trailer]]'') "Natalie" is given an early allusion as to her true role. When Tony and Rhodey are fighting in the mansion and burst from the ceiling, Pepper screams and cringes in horror. "Natalie" ''takes an AssKickingPose.'' She also ''very'' briefly has a Russian accent when Tony goes out to drive a racecar, and tells Pepper "This is the first I am knowing of it."
223** Agent Coulson recognising the Captain America shield in Tony's lab, showing his knowledge of the superhero (and him being a fanboy of Steve Rogers).
224* FreezeFrameBonus:
225** As mentioned in {{Foreshadowing}}... During the Iron Man/War Machine fight at the party, watch Pepper and Natalie. [[spoiler:When the armored suits crash through the floor, Pepper screams and flinches, Natalie drops into a combat stance.]]
226** Pay attention to what Rhodey knocks Tony into the fireplace with. He [[VisualPun literally hit him with the kitchen sink]].
227** Around 1:13:55. Take a look at the image on the right page of the book Tony is thumbing through. A three-dimensional square within a three-dimensional square. Otherwise known as [[spoiler:a Tesseract]]. Seems the Arc Reactor may be based off research on [[spoiler:the cube Howard Stark picked up in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''.]]
228** When Tony builds the homemade cyclotron, he uses equipment from/for Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. (Doubles as a Foreshadowing for ''Film/{{Thor}}'' and ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''.)
229* GatlingGood: War Machine. Gatling ''fantastic.'' Sadly, they got the noise wrong yet again. Imagine how much more awesome the fight scenes would have been if War Machine had been making [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1xIGm5GYp0#t=1m16s this sound]].
230* GeniusBruiser:
231** Ivan Vanko. Plain and simple. [[spoiler:Capable of taking a few car hits to a torso ''without the benefit of power armor'', though his Whiplash suit probably did some of that[[note]]the concept art galleries show that the Whiplash exoskeleton encases the legs as well[[/note]]. Neck snaps opponents with practiced ease, and hangs his two guards to retrieve his bird. He survived fifteen years in a ''Russian'' prison and is tattooed like an [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Ultranationalist]]. He can also build high tech gear with about the same level of stuff Tony had in the cave and can tell a rich CEO to his face that his computer systems are shit...because he hacked himself administrator privileges in about ten seconds.]]
232** [[spoiler:Black Widow, who can not only mow through dozens of Hammer security in a whirlwind of acrobatic martial arts in the time it takes Hogan to finally beat down one guy, but she also speaks several languages and can easily hack through Ivan's re-programming job on the Hammeroids in minutes, shutting them down without breaking a sweat.]]
233* GenreBlindness: When the Hammer Drones [[IncrediblyObviousBomb begin flashing and beeping in an increasingly high pitch]], Pepper stands there watching one with a confused look.
234* GoodScarsEvilScars: Ivan has the traditional scar down his eye.
235* GoryDiscretionShot: The shot of the hanging bodies of the two Hammer guards Vanko murdered earlier.
236* GracefulInTheirElement: For all his agility while flying, when we see Tony try and run in his armor for more than a few feet (as in the opening shot aboard the airplaine) it's an awkward, hobbling gait.
237* GrandTheftPrototype: Rhodes [[spoiler:[[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece jacks the Mk. II Armor]] from Tony's house]] and takes it to the U.S. military for study. Black Widow points out that [[spoiler:the suits [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield can only be activated by an authorized user]], meaning Tony must have intentionally given Rhodes access prior to the party. Nick Fury lampshades how improbable this would be otherwise.]]
238-->'''Nick Fury:''' Woah, woah, he TOOK it? [[spoiler:You're IRON MAN, and the brother just walked in there, kicked your ass, and TOOK your suit?]]
239* GratuitousLatin: According to Natalia's C.V. she speaks many languages. When Tony asks if she speaks Latin too, she answers... in Latin, and he's impressed. And she's bad-ass in general.
240* GreenEyedMonster: Even though he's wealthy like Tony Stark, Justin Hammer envies Tony's talent and success. His technology throughout the film is described as a joke and a failed knock-off of Stark Industries technology. His jealousy is even shown when he's talking to Tony or mentioning him. Heck most of his motivation in the film is to upstage Tony Stark.
241* GrievousHarmWithABody: Tony does this with some Hammer Drones using parts from other Hammer Drones.
242* GroinAttack: This is employed by [[spoiler:Black Widow on a Hammer security guard.]]
243* HammerSpace: We all love the Mark V suitcase suit, but let's face it, this is where it ''really'' comes from. There's no way that suit could fold down into a suitcase-sized package that's light enough to carry in one hand.
244* HandcuffedBriefcase: Happy Hogan carries around the Mark V "briefcase armor" locked to his wrist like this.
245* HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee: Because Tony's not sharing his Iron Man tech with the military, Senator Stern has a seemingly valid reason (when he's not alluding to American military contractors' profits)--Tony's being an irresponsible jackass.
246* HeadTurningBeauty: A literal case, as Natasha's arrival makes Tony turn his head and be downright hypnotized (Happy reminds him their fight wasn't done, [[CombatPragmatist Tony kicks him]] so he can make his moves on the redhead).
247* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Inverted. In the final battle, the heroes wear helmets but Vanko takes his off, which leaves him vulnerable to Stark and Rhodes' finishing move.
248* HeroicBSOD: Tony goes into one big time, [[spoiler:due to him suffering a slow death due to Palladium contamination]]. It culminates into him throwing a party, [[DrowningMySorrows drunk]], ''while in his Iron Man armor''.
249* HeroicBystander: Towards the end of the film, [[spoiler:the Hammer-drones are rampaging and the crowd is fleeing in fright... except for [[ComicBook/SpiderMan one little boy]] wearing an Iron Man mask, who then holds up a gloved hand at one of the drones. The drone pauses, uncertain whether this boy is the real deal or not, giving the ''real'' Iron Man time to land and blast the drone away. He gives the boy a "Nice work, kid!" before flying away again. In doing this, the boy probably saved dozens of lives.]]
250* HeroWithBadPublicity: Iron Man gets approved for the [[Film/TheAvengers2012 Avengers Initiative]]. [[spoiler:Tony Stark ''doesn't'', even if it's mostly just legal placebo, because his status over the course of the film paints an image of Tony that S.H.I.E.L.D. simply cannot tolerate publicly or officially.]]
251* HiddenInPlainSight: Howard Stark discovered the possibility of a new element capable of working with a miniaturized arc reactor without the flaw of palladium poisoning, then hid it in the layout of the 1974 Stark Expo in such a way that only Tony would be smart enough to discover it.
252* HollywoodHacking: Ivan Vanko needs about three seconds and twenty keystrokes to hack into Hammer's battlesuit system, the first time he sees it. He even lampshades it: "Software shit." It takes [[spoiler:Black Widow]] only slightly longer to penetrate his security and shut them down. Obviously, Hammer's security systems are the worst.
253* HollywoodTactics: Played with. [[spoiler:Tony and Rhodes discuss tactics in the moments leading up to the Hammer Drone attack in the garden, including taking the high ground, making use of cover, and avoiding the "kill box" in the middle of the garden. Unfortunately, they get distracted arguing over [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything who's the bigger gun]]...leaving them right in the middle of said kill box when the Hammer Drones finally arrive a few seconds into their argument. [[BackToBackBadasses They do all right]], although it forces Tony to use up his best weapon before fighting Ivan Vanko head-on.]]
254* HuskyRusskie: Ivan Vanko, aka Whiplash, a Russian scientist with a grudge against Tony Stark, played by Creator/MickeyRourke.
255* HypocriticalHumor: Happy calls out Tony for "Dirty Boxing" earlier in the movie, but later takes out a [[spoiler: Hammer]] security guard by biting his ear Mike Tyson style.
256* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: Inverted. When Nick Fury is listing all the things in Stark's personality that made him ineligible for the Avengers group, Stark denies or fogs every single one...up to "Textbook Narcissism", to which he simply agrees.
257* ImpressedByTheCivilian: As Hammer's robots rampage across the expo and people flee, one little boy in an Iron Man costume stands his ground against an approaching robot. Of course, the real Iron Man swoops in at the last second, destroys the bot, and complements the kid before flying off. [[invoked]]WordOfGod later confirms that the kid was a young Peter Parker.
258* ImprobableInfantSurvival: A kid in a toy Iron Man mask targeted by a Hammeroid gets his bacon saved by Iron Man. [[spoiler:Good thing he lived, too, or Tony wouldn't have found [[ComicBook/SpiderMan him]] when he [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar needed a recruit]].]]
259* InSeriesNickname:
260** "Hammeroids". Near-ubiquitous among fans, but it was used by Tony first.
261** Hammer claims the 7.62mm 6-barrel minigun that ends up integrated with the War Machine suit is known to the US soldiers who use them as, alternately, [[ChunkySalsaRule Uncle Gazpacho]] or "Puff the Magic Dragon". (He was half-right here: The AC-47 gunship, a Vietnam-era ground-support aircraft fitted with several such miniguns for MoreDakka, was nicknamed "Puff the Magic Dragon" for the hail of tracer rounds it rained down on the enemy.) He also nicknames his [[spoiler:not-so-]]super mini-bunker-buster, supposedly capable of "reducing the population of any standing structure to 0" (although it's actually [[spoiler:a laughable dud that needs a little work]]) the "Ex-Wife".
262* InsistentTerminology: Tony insists during the Senate Subcommitee hearing that the Iron Man armor is not a weapon but is instead a high-tech prosthesis.
263* IncrediblyLamePun:
264** Rhodey pulls one on Tony [[spoiler:and Pepper]].
265--->'''Rhodey:''' Get a roof.\
266'''Tony:''' I thought you said you were ''out'' of one liners.
267** Tony gets one in himself, earlier:
268--->'''Pepper:''' Are you Googling her [Natasha]?\
269'''Tony:''' Googling? I thought I was ogling her.
270** When Tony has to fight the drones.
271--->'''Tony:''' I will formally apologize when I am not fighting off a Hammer-oid attack.
272* IncrediblyObviousBomb: The Hammer Drones become these complete with blinking lights and sounds when they self-destruct.
273* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Justin Hammer, though more "ineffectual" (and [[LaughablyEvil humorous]]) than "sympathetic"
274* InstantExpert: Rhodey takes far less time learning how to use the suit than Tony did. Fully justified, as he's a lietuenant colonel in the Air Force and has had years of training in flight and combat that Tony never had. Still, this just goes to show how much of an instant Expert Tony is that after just a few months he's able to go toe-to-toe with Rhodey while drunk.
275* {{Irony}}:
276** A sub-plot involves the device that Tony Stark built to keep himself alive is actually killing him through the volatile metal that powers it. What a beautifully ironic twist to a story about a man associated with iron.
277** Hammer is jealous of all of the attention Tony's getting. Tony's getting attention because he's imploding. He's imploding because he's dying.
278* ItsAllAboutMe: As [[spoiler:the NYPD haul him away]], Hammer accuses Pepper of trying to "pin [the blame]" for [[spoiler:the Hammer Drone attack]] on him (while simultaneously [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame complimenting her on her ruthlessness]]). This, despite the fact that [[spoiler:the Hammer drones going rogue, resulting in millions of dollars in property damage and [[MacrossMissileMassacre dozens]] of casualties]], was basically ''entirely his fault''. While he didn't specifically intend to cause what was going on, he [[spoiler:illegally broke Vanko out of prison and gave a known mechanical genius and psycho access to all his technology, all just to further shady-at-best business practices. The ''most'' charitable option is that his plans have GoneHorriblyWrong.]]
279* ItOnlyWorksOnce: Invoked directly with [[spoiler:Iron Man's Death Blossom {{laser| cutter}}s, which can only be used once per battle.]]
280* JerkassHasAPoint:
281** While Senator Stern is a jerk about it, it's hard to argue that he's wrong to be worried about leaving technology as sophisticated and dangerous as the Iron Man suits in the hands of a private citizen like Tony Stark. [[spoiler:Granted, he probably only wants to hand it over to HYDRA to further their goals, but that doesn't actually disprove his point.]]
282** Tony, also being a jerk about it, also has a point that, as a private citizen, the technology he invented is his and it is completely up to him who he allows to have it and the government cannot legally compel him to surrender it.
283* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He may not openly display it to Tony Stark during childhood (he sent him to a private school to get him out of the house), but Howard Stark does legitimately care for Tony Stark, as evidenced by his blooper tape/hidden message.
284* KickTheDog:
285** Justin Hammer, twice. Once when he tries to pass off some random cockatoo as Vanko's bird, and again when he has his thug stuff it in a sack due to Vanko's apparent lack of progress.
286** Averted by Vanko: He demands to be brought his pet bird, but Hammer brings in a different bird and tells him it's just as good, at which point every experienced movie viewer ''knows'' Vanko will throw a fit and kill the replacement bird. Instead he adopts it as his new pet.
287* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Inverted. The Ex-Wife is said by Hammer to be a kinetic-kill weapon, which can be brushed off as it being a buzzword he threw around... but if it really is the case, then it explains [[spoiler:its total failure. The theory behind it is that the projectile is inert until it reaches high speed, as in the kinetic force will be what causes the destruction. Rhodey shooting Vanko that close would have only bounced back as it doesn't have enough room to accelerate, let alone arm itself even if it wasn't a dud.]]
288* KirkSummation: Tony does this in the novelisation, throwing Ivan's words about being a thief and murderer back at him.
289* KungShui: Tony's drunken brawl with Rhodey winds up destroying much of his house.
290* LampshadeHanging: Coulson tells Stark he's there to keep the latter within the perimeter and on task. Tony later drives nonchalantly drives to Stark Industries for a failed apology to Pepper. After his return, a discover, and a montage, Coulson walks in...
291-->'''Coulson:''' I heard you broke the perimeter.\
292'''Stark:''' Yeah, that was, like, three years ago. Where you been?\
293'''Coulson:''' [[HandWave I was doing some stuff.]]
294* LastDayToLive: Throughout the first half of the film, it is heavily implied that Tony Stark is dying due to palladium poisoning from his power core. He then (under the advice of Romanoff when he asks how, hypothetically, he should spend what may be his last day to live) ends up holding a party and getting wasted, much to Pepper and Rhodes chagrin. It later turns out [[spoiler:there was a new undiscovered element that could save him]]. Tony Stark (with some help from S.H.I.E.L.D Director Nick Fury) survives, although he also has to deal with the consequences of his actions.
295* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: "It's me, I'm here, deal with it, let's move on. Drop it." Doubles as a {{Take That}} to all the complaining over {{The Other Darrin}}.
296* LenoDevice: Bill O'Reilly is not pleased with Tony.
297* LensmanArmsRace: The creation of something as powerful as the Iron Man suit sparks a new arms race with various countries ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Justin Hammer]]) attempting to develop their own versions. Tony initially doesn't take this seriously until Vanko shows up in Monaco with an suit that's a legitimate threat.
298* LetsYouAndHimFight: At long last, we have a live-action comic book movie where two superheroes duke it out. Specifically, Rhodes taking the Mk II and the ensuing fight. They have a rematch later on, although under different circumstances. See IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight.
299* LicensedPinballTable: ''Pinball/IronManStern'', released at around the same time as the movie.
300* LightningLash: Whiplash's trademark whips.
301* MadeOfExplodium: The "Ex-Wife" miniature bunker-buster projectile is supposedly extremely explosive. [[spoiler:Emphasis on ''supposedly'', because it doesn't work ''at all''.]] It almost makes you wonder if one of the scriptwriters recently had a nasty divorce.
302--->'''Hammer:''' These are the Cubans, baby. This is the Cohibas, the Montecristos. This is a kinetic-kill, side-winder vehicle with a secondary cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine RDX burst. It's capable of busting a bunker under the bunker you just busted. If it were any smarter, it'd write a book, a book that would make ''Ulysses'' look like it was written in crayon. It would read it to you. This is my Eiffel Tower. This is my ''Rachmaninoff's Third''. My ''Pieta''. It's completely elegant, it's bafflingly beautiful, and it's capable of reducing the population of any standing structure to zero. [[ICallItVera I call it "The Ex-Wife."]]
303* MadeOfIron: Ivan's harness apparently gives him a good degree of protection. Happy drives a car into him and Vanko is barely stunned, and after being flung through the air onto asphalt he's still conscious enough to taunt Tony, if dazed and bleeding heavily.
304* TheMafiya: Ivan Vanko's tattoos identify him as a member of Russian organized crime.
305* MaleGaze: We get a lovely shot of Natasha's rear when we see her in the catsuit for the first time. We also get another gratuitous shot of it again when she fights the bad guys and pulls out the small mines from her belt.
306* MechaMook: The [[IncrediblyLamePun Hammeroids]]. Although ordered to build man-wearable suits, Ivan Vanko insists on making the Hammer drones autonomous drones instead. Elegantly lampshaded with the explanation "Human make problem. Drone better.": in an earlier scene [[spoiler:a human test pilot attempts to pilot Hammer's suit design and breaks his own spine by turning too quickly]] but that's not the biggest problem averted by invoking this trope: [[spoiler:the audience now has no problem when the Hammer Drones are blown up, dismembered, or sent crashing into buildings. Although he takes over War Machine, Vanko loses his control later. The drones won't have such a problem. Why stuff people into suits and risk having them regain control when you can just build drones?]]
307** Ivan also demonstrates exactly what he's saying perfectly. He is giving Hammer programmable drones because people "Cause trouble." This can include not doing what they're told, doing what they want or think is better instead. In other words, the exact thing he is doing.
308* MerchandiseDriven: The helmet and repulsor toys worn by the kid [[spoiler:who Tony rescues from nearly getting killed]] are from the toyline. This is possibly the only superhero movie where using the ''actual toys'' used to promote the film is appropriate in-story.
309* MoreDakka: When Hammer is brought in to weaponize the Mark II armor, he showcases several weapons to Rhodes, starting small and going big.
310-->'''Rhodes:''' I'll take it.\
311'''Hammer:''' Which one?\
312'''Rhodes:''' All of it!
313* MostCommonSuperpower: Averted; you'd think that because this is a superhero movie, Black Widow would have a stuffed bra, but she doesn't and her chest is kept realistically sized, with the cleavage toned down, though Scarlett Johansson isn't flat-chested by any means.
314* MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong: Ivan Vanko seems to be MadeOfIron thanks to surviving adversity in a Siberian prison. Technically, Natasha Romanoff also--she claims in ''Avengers'' that she "used to be" Russian.
315* MotorMouth: Hammer babbles ''incessantly'' throughout most of his scenes; moreover, a lot of his impressive-sounding techno-jabber is pure bullshit. It's not entirely clear if it's a case of ObfuscatingStupidity or Hammer just being a schmooze who tries too hard. He's a foil to Tony, who also chatters, but usually has a point to everything he says, or to Vanko, who is highly intelligent but barely says anything. Vanko expressly calls him out on it during one of Hammer's angry rants, where Vanko's only response (in unsubtitled Russian) is "You talk too much."
316* MrAltDisney: Howard Stark's portrayed in a style very similar to Walt Disney's futurist years. They even got one of the Sherman Brothers to write the theme music for the old Stark Expo. It doesn't stop there either; after Walt's death rumors began circulating, and an urban legend [[http://www.snopes.com/disney/wdco/dejaview.asp says he made a series of films]] giving instructions on the direction to take the company in the future. Tony's dad gives him the key to saving his life, and the day, in a film made before his death.
317* MsFanservice: Natalie Rushman is really played up as a HeadTurningBeauty -- the poster above even gives her, now in Black Widow's SpyCatsuit, a BoobsAndButtPose. By contrast, no other movie sexualized Natasha this much.
318* MusicalNod: The expo theme, "Make Way For Tomorrow Today" later shows up in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''.
319* MythologyGag:
320** A very obscure one: the Black Widow's cover identity "Natalie Rushman" refers to "Nancy Rushman," a cover identity the comic-book version of the Widow used in an arc of ''Marvel Team-Up'' in the 1970s.
321** Tony's bodyguard, Happy Hogan, is shown training Tony how to box. In the comics, Happy was a boxer before becoming Tony's bodyguard. Given Happy's fight with a security guard (which he wins) later in the film, this origin probably still applies.
322** The broken semi-transparent Captain America shield looks like it comes from the Creator/RebBrown ''[[Film/CaptainAmerica1979 Captain America]]'' films. [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K_N0MjuLrOk/T6hSD6C6U-I/AAAAAAAAAz0/3a5D2GSq0Pw/s1600/reb+brown+cap!.jpg Here's a picture.]]
323** Tony suggests perhaps he could be Secretary of Defense, a position he held in the comics for a little while in the early 2000s.
324** Happy Hogan rescues Tony from Vanko on a racetrack. In ''ComicBook/TalesOfSuspense'' #45, Happy rescuing Tony from a crashed race car is how the two characters first met.
325** The map of metahuman activity that Nick Fury shows to Tony has markers in Africa and the middle of the Atlantic ocean. The marker in Africa is in reference to the ComicBook/BlackPanther, while fans have speculated that the one in the ocean is meant to hint at [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]].
326** Tony stores his armor in an attache case, which dates back to the very earliest issues of ''Iron Man''. The idea of the suitcase transforming ''into'' the armor dates back to the [[WesternAnimation/IronManTheAnimatedSeries '90s animated series]]. The armor itself bears great resemblance to the Silver Centurion armor from the comics in its color scheme.
327** The film's villain is named Ivan Vanko; he is more or less an amalgamation of the characters the Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash. His father's name is Anton Vanko, the name of the original CD in the comics.
328** Anton Vanko defected to the West in 1963, the same year both Iron Man and the Crimson Dynamo first appeared.
329** The Stark Expo is held in Flushing, NY, the original location of Stark's factory in the comic books.
330** Olivia Munn's small role is as Chess Roberts, a reporter from the first issue of the third volume of the comics who only appeared once.
331** Stark being forced to attend the Senate Armed Services Committee is lifted straight from the comics; the senator there was named Byrd, not Stern. Likewise, the government trying to get ahold of the Iron Man armor has been a recurring theme in the comics for decades, going away and coming back every so often.
332** Stark's line about the suit being a hi-tech prosthesis was mostly true in the comics originally; in the film though, the arc reactor in his chest is perfectly capable of keeping him alive without any need for the suit at all.
333** Monaco, where the racetrack scene takes place, was the home of Justin Hammer in the comic books.
334** Ivan Vanko's fake ID and name tag at the racetrack is Boris Turgenov, the name of the second Crimson Dynamo.
335** Stark getting drunk in his Iron Man suit and recklessly endangering lives in it is a reference to Demon in a Bottle.
336** Though under different circumstances, Rhodey first donned the Iron Man armor in the comics due to Stark's alcoholism.
337** Howard Stark is said by Nick Fury to have co-founded SHIELD; in the comics, Tony Stark co-founded SHIELD and provided them with all of their tech.
338** In the same scene featuring Bill O'Reilly's cameo, Pepper Potts can be heard talking on the phone to company lawyers, attempting to do something about the acquisition and use of the Mark II armor by the government but ultimately being unable to. This is a reference to ''ComicBook/ArmorWars''. Further, the person she is talking to on the phone is named Bert, who shares his first name with the lawyer Bert Hindel from ''Armor Wars''.
339** Rhodey's armor is called the Variable Threat Response Battlesuit by Justin Hammer in the film; this was the original name for the War Machine armor in the comics as well.
340** Vanko remotely compromising War Machine's armor and taking control of it is similar to when Justin Hammer did this to Iron Man in the Demon in the Bottle story arc.
341** Black Widow's first appearance in the MCU being an Iron Man story in which she's initially spying ''against'' Stark is a reference to her comics' origin as a recurring Iron Man ''villain''.
342** Senator Stern is likely named after Marvel Comics writer Roger Stern.
343* NearMissGroinAttack: When Whiplash attacks Tony at a race in Monaco, Tony has to dodge several of the villain's whip cracks when he gets knocked to the ground. At one point his legs are spread, the whip hitting mere inches from his groin. Tony's expression indicates that this was too close for comfort.
344* NeverTrustATrailer: As cute/funny as that whole "You Complete Me" scene was in the trailer, it ''never'' showed up in the film. Nor does the scene in which Tony lends Natasha one of the Iron Man gauntlets. And several others. Ironically, they did consistently show up in the film's novelization (albeit loosely interpreted, given the improvisational nature of the film).
345* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Iron Man's previously unmentioned [[spoiler:one-use lasers that he used to finish off the Hammer Drones]]. Justified and generally detailed beforehand as Tony never stops upgrading his suits, and will readily adapt them as the situation demands.
346* NGOSuperpower: By now Tony has privatized world peace. No other company or government can even come close to matching his armor technology, until Vanko comes along...
347* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Justin Hammer's deal with Ivan Vanko turns out to be a mistake from his perspective. Vanko proves impossible to work with, uses Hammer's resources and technology for his own single-minded vendetta, ruins Hammer's Expo showing (while placing thousands of people in immediate danger, we might add) and ultimately leads to Hammer's arrest when it's discovered that he's behind Vanko's escape. The ''real'' kick in the pants? ''It was all totally unnecessary.'' If Hammer had simply waited, Tony Stark would have self-destructed on his own, been discredited in the eyes of the public, probably died from palladium poisoning, and Hammer would have still gotten his hands on the War Machine armor and been allowed to study/weaponize it as the premier US military contractor.
348* NoEndorHolocaust: See OnlyEvilCanDie below. The Hammer Drones, as well as Rhodes, wreak all kinds of explosive havoc during the expo, but nobody seems to come to any harm. This is averted in the novelization where it is mentioned that several people are killed.
349* NoPeekingRequest: While Natasha is changing into her SpyCatsuit in the back of the car, she warns the driver Happy Hogan to keep his eyes on the road after he almost crashes while trying to [[ThePeepingTom sneak a peek]] via the [[WatchingTheReflectionUndress rear-view mirror]].
350* NoSell:
351** Having had time to prepare when and where to attack Tony, Vanko's first set of armor is minimal, as he knows he's going up against Tony outside his own armor. Still, it lets him tank being rammed into a wall multiple times by Happy and is also able to deflect Tony's repulsor blasts when the latter gets into his armor.
352** Hammer tries to intimidate and punish Vanko by taking his bird, his pillows, and his shoes. Instead, Vanko is thoroughly unimpressed, having spent years in prison. ''In Russia''.
353** Iron Man's ShootTheHostageTaker gun system from the first movie makes a re-appearance as he tries to use it against Vanko's armor, targeting both his currently-unarmored head and spots around the shoulders. Being essentially a small-arms system, [[FiveRoundsRapid it's completely ineffective]] when Vanko's helmet snaps up to block the attack.
354* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Despite ComicBook/BlackWidow being born in Russia, the film version speaks without any trace of a Russian accent. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] due to her [[spoiler:being undercover for S.H.I.E.L.D]]. It was stated in the comics that she speaks fluent English (she's fluent in all the languages she speaks), plus being a spy, she'd need to be. You can hear the traces of a Russian accent near the end when she intimidates Justin Hammer into revealing his part in the EvilPlan. In ''Series/AgentCarter'', it is revealed that [[spoiler:learning English in an American accent is par for the course for the Black Widow training facility. The girls in the Red Room speak along with American cartoons as part of their daily routine.]]
355* NotSoDifferentRemark: Tony muses in the film's novelisation that if he had been brought up in Siberia by an angry alcoholic for a father, he would have turned out like Ivan too.
356[[/folder]]
357
358[[folder:Tropes O to Z]]
359* ObfuscatingStupidity: Vanko shows he's both fluent and eloquent in his early face-to-face confrontation with Tony Stark, but speaks to Hammer in broken, barely intelligible English just to dick with the guy. Later on he acts only barely competent at engineering and technology, convincing Hammer that the best he can do with the Hammer suits is to make drones and then later on that the best he can make the drones do is "salute." Hammer naturally underestimates him as a result.
360* OffhandBackhand: Black Widow does this with ''pepper spray''.
361* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome:
362** Tony somehow manages to slip past the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents assigned to keep him inside his house and studying Howard Stark's old notes when he goes to visit Pepper and returns with the Stark Expo model.
363---> '''Agent Coulson:''' How did you break containment?
364** We never see how Vanko escapes (and kills) the Hammer goons sent to watch him, but according to the scene after, it was ''damn'' bloody.
365* OhCrap: Pepper and Tony have one when Happy is taken down during the boxing lesson by "Natalie".
366* OnlyInItForTheMoney: ComicBook/NickFury claims that Vanko's father wanted to get rich off of the arc reactor technology, rather than use it to benefit the world. This is the reason why Howard Stark had him deported back to Russia.
367* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[InvokedTrope "Tony, what are you not telling me?"]]
368* OnlyEvilCanDie:
369** Despite the Hammer Drones going amok amid the crowded Stark Expo and doing untold fortunes in property damage, not a single bystander is ever shown getting so much as a boo-boo. Even the poor {{mook}} in the horrific failed test, whose ''spine'' audibly snaps, is explicitly mentioned to have survived (though not recovered...).
370** The two goons Hammer instructs to watch Vanko are killed (Vanko is later shown with blood all over him as their bodies hang limp in the background), there appears to be a death or two during Vanko's prison escape, and Vanko himself seems to blow up in an explosion of his own doing. Vanko's rampage during the race appeared to claim the lives of one or two racers since their cars explode and no one is seen leaving them.
371* OralFixation: Vanko's toothpick. For only being in one quick scene, Hammer and his lollipop get brought up an awful lot in certain parts of the fandom.
372* OvershadowedByAwesome: Happy does legitimately win in a lengthy fistfight against a {{Mook}}; it just looks pathetic when it's compared to Natalie tearing through an entire hallway full of them without breaking a sweat.
373* ParentalAbandonment: Tony complains that [[DisappearedDad his dad was cold, never around for him]] and he seriously doubted that his father even loved him at all. [[spoiler:[[TearJerker This is eventually shown not to be the case]].]]
374* PedestrianCrushesCar: The revenge-seeking Ivan Vanko rips apart UsefulNotes/FormulaOne cars with high-tech energy whips ''during a race'', just to reach Tony Stark.
375* PeoplePuppets: [[spoiler:Rhodes has his armor remotely hijacked by Vanko.]]
376* PetTheDog: In his only displays of kindness, Ivan shows he likes cockatoos, even the one Hammer gets him in place of Vanko's own back in Russia. He apparently had a few other PetTheDog moments in Russia to help flesh out his character, which were ultimately cut from the film, much to the annoyance of Mickey Rourke.
377* PocketRocketLauncher: Rhodie's War Machine suit is created by upgrading Tony's old Mark II suit with extra weapons provided by Justin Hammer's company. These include a shoulder-launched missile about an inch across which Hammer talks up as a bunker-buster he calls "the Ex-Wife". [[spoiler: It turns out to be a dud.]]
378* PowerDegeneration: Continuing use of the Iron Man suit [[spoiler:accelerates Tony's palladium poisoning.]]
379* PowerHigh: When Tony Stark inserts the new element into his arc-reactor, he gets a very sudden high.
380* [[ThePowerOfFriendship The Power Of]] [[strike:Friendship]] [[ThePowerOfFriendship Animosity]]: Played with. [[spoiler:When Rhodes takes the Mk II, his BeamOWar with Tony produces a powerful blast, which is needed in the climax to defeat Whiplash after Rhodey makes up with Tony.]]
381* PoweredArmor: The movie features three main armor suits: Tony's own suit, Rhodey's heavily-armed War Machine armor, and - during the climactic battle - [[spoiler:Vanko's plasma-whip-toting battlesuit]]. Then there's Hammer's armors, which Vanko turns into attack drones.
382* PrecisionFStrike: The senator who [[HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee initiated the hearing]] in the second movie, after seeing that he's been royally pwned by Tony Stark during a live broadcast. Hilariously, the F-word is [[{{Bowdlerize}} replaced]] by a BLEEP. In some circumstances, you're allowed to say it on C-SPAN but pettiness is not among them.
383* ProductPlacement: Oracle, the software company best known for [[IncompetenceInc a database everyone hates to work with]], shows up sooooooo many times in this film, including a cameo by CEO Larry Ellison. When shown on Creator/DisneyPlus, there is a disclaimer at the beginning about the film's product placement.
384* {{Pun}}: "Goldstein! Gimme a phat beat to beat my buddy's ass to." Tony laughs at his own pun, too. Granted, he was drunk out of his mind at the time.
385* PunchclockVillain: Although not really villans; the guards at the Hammer facility do their best to stop Natasha and Happy when they arrive to take down Vanko. They are just doing their job when two unidentified persons show up, break in and start attacking them. And all without identifying the reason, or that Nat and Happy are the good guys.
386* PunctuatedForEmphasis: Hammer devolves to this when he runs out of patience with Vanko.
387-->'''Hammer:''' I don't know if you're aware of this, but I DON'T! ''SPEAK''! '''RUSSIAN!'''
388* TheQuietOne: Vanko is very quiet, especially when compared with Tony or Hammer. In several of his most prominent scenes, Vanko says nothing at all; during the climax, his only words are a simple "You lose." at Tony.
389* RapidFireComedy: Phil shows up to tell Tony he's leaving.
390-->'''Tony:''' I'm busy, what do you want?\
391'''Phil:''' Nothing. Goodbye. I've been reassigned. [[CallForward Director Fury wants me in New Mexico.]]
392-->'''Tony:''' Fantastic. Land of Enchantment.\
393'''Phil:''' So I'm told.\
394'''Tony:''' Secret stuff.\
395'''Phil:''' Something like that. Good luck.\
396'''Tony:''' Bye.\
397'''Phil:''' Yeah. We need you.\
398'''Tony:''' More'n you know.\
399'''Phil:''' Not that much.
400* RealMenWearPink: According to the novelisation, Vanko likes cartoons like ''Animation/NuPogodi''.
401* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Mk II eyes light up blue like all Iron Man suits--as War Machine, they are red.
402* RenegadeRussian: Averted; Ivan Vanko/Whiplash did not do this because all he wants is revenge. He did not sell arc reactor technology to the Russians.
403* {{Retcon}}: In 2017, Creator/KevinFeige and Creator/TomHolland acknowledged a popular fan theory that considered the boy with the Iron Man mask as Peter Parker.
404* RevengeBeforeReason: Vanko could have still had his vengeance by showing that someone else could create the Arc Reactor technology. [[CutLexLuthorACheck He, as Tony stated, could have sold his knowledge about it to any foreign nation, or even the black market, for amounts of money.]] Hell, discounting the fact that Tony was able to save himself, he could have just waited until Stark '''''DIED''''' and become the only game in town, instead of going to so much trouble to kill him (he knew about the palladium poisoning). All of these things he could have done, but he was so bent on screwing Tony personally that he either never realized this, or more likely never cared.
405* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Ivan Vanko's reason for being is revenge for his father.
406* RoomFullOfCrazy / StalkerShrine: Vanko's basement.
407* RuleNumberOne: "Never take your eye off your opponent." PlayedForLaughs when Happy thinks he's giving Natalie her first boxing lesson.
408* SadClown: Tony's got a lot of issues, so this has always been part of his character, to some degree, but this movie ramps it up, because the materials of his arc reactor are toxic. The thing keeping him from dying is killing him, and he can't think of a way to fix it, and his partying and drinking and self-destructive behavior go through the roof.
409* ScreamingWarrior: Tony does a screaming jump punch at Vanko[=/=]Whiplash in the climactic fight, getting tossed for his trouble.
410* SecretlyDying: Tony Stark realizes that the Arc Reactor in his chest, which was supposed to keep him alive, is slowly poisoning him. He prepares for his death by handing control of his company to [[GirlFriday Pepper]] and undergoes a public, [[DrowningMySorrows alcohol-fueled]] [[HeroicBSOD breakdown]]. It even turns out the suit James Rhodes managed to "steal" from him had been pre-programmed by Stark to allow Rhodes to pilot it.
411* SensualSlavs: ComicBook/BlackWidow gets undercover in part through her modeling career and some flirtatious eyes she makes at Tony.
412* SequelHook:
413** Nick Fury bringing Tony on as a consultant for the [[Film/TheAvengers2012 Avengers Initiative]] in the denouement.
414** In one scene, Director Fury tells Stark that he has "bigger problems in the southwest region" than Tony. A nod to ''Film/{{Thor}}'', which is set in New Mexico (a.k.a. the Southwest) and is teased in TheStinger as the next film in the Marvel continuity.
415* SheFu: Black Widow's fighting style seems to be "punch, kick, stun grenades.... sexy pose! (And casual mace.)" Not to mention her grappling, which is entirely thigh-based.
416* ShoulderCannon: Rhodey's War Machine upgrades include a shoulder mounted machine gun.
417* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/IronManFilms Collected in a subpage]] for the ''Iron Man'' series.
418* ShownTheirWork: Vanko's tattoos were modeled after real Russian prison tattoos, which have different designs depending on things such as the length of the prison sentence. Except said tattoos show him to be a con man, who did time for theft, disorderly conduct, and rape of a minor. That was never mentioned on his rap sheet, nor is there a tat for his actual crime, which was plutonium smuggling.
419* ShutUpHannibal: Tony when he visits Vanko in his holding cell.
420-->'''Ivan:''' The truth: all I have to do is sit here and watch as the world will consume you.\
421'''Tony:''' Where are you gonna be watching the world consume me from? Oh, right, a prison cell. I'll send you a bar of soap.
422* SignatureStyle: The final battle against the Hammer drones was storyboarded by Creator/GenndyTartakovsky. It has many similarities to fight scenes from ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', such as {{Mecha Mook}}s getting cut in half with oil spurting from their wounds.
423* SinsOfOurFathers: One of Ivan's primary motivations for going after Tony Stark is revenge due to the fact that Tony's father, Howard, had Ivan's father, Anton, deported when he accused him of espionage.
424* SkywardScream: Ivan's reaction to his father's death.
425* SleevesAreForWimps: Element synthesis is ''so'' much cooler when you're [[NerdsAreSexy wearing a tank top.]]
426* SmartPeopleKnowLatin: Natasha speaks multiple languages including Latin, which impresses Tony. Pepper corrects him in saying no one 'speaks' Latin, as it's a dead language.
427* SmugSnake: Justin Hammer is as full of himself as Tony but unlike Tony, he doesn't have the genius to back it up.
428* SmugSuper: Tony is more full of himself than usual because his powered armor enables him to 'privatize world peace'.
429* SoLastSeason: [[spoiler:Tony tries to nail Vanko with the "aimbot" he used to clear out the terrorists in Gulmira in the first film. Though Vanko's head is exposed, his helmet instantly reforms to block the shot.]]
430* SoUnfunnyItsFunny: Justin Hammer's declaration that "the papers will face a new problem. They are going to ''run'' out of '''ink'''!" The only thing missing from the declaration is the ChirpingCrickets.
431* SovietSuperscience: Anton Vanko, a Soviet defector, co-developed the arc reactor technology with Tony's father in the 1960s.
432* SpectacularSpinning:
433** Sickeningly averted by the Hammer weapon test video shown at the Senate.
434** Gloriously played straight with the Death Blossom lasers.
435** Black Widow's twirling takedowns on Hammer security, which look more like lucha libre than anything else.
436* TheSponsor: Nick Fury for Tony. Creator/SamuelLJackson went to AA meetings and talked to various sponsors to make sure his dialogue was right.
437* SpinAttack: [[spoiler:Tony uses this to take out the last of the "Hammeroids".]]
438* SpontaneousSkeetShooting: A very drunk Tony Stark shows off to party guests by blasting thrown plates, wine bottles, and even a watermelon out of the air using his Iron Man suit.
439* SpyCatsuit: When Scarlett Johansson saw her Black Widow outfit, her first thought was "It's really... ''tight''." Her second was "Great, now I've got to diet."
440* StealthPun: If you are acquainted with some of the more advanced notions in physics and have a quick eye, you'll notice that on the last page of Howard Stark's notebook there's a reference to an "Abnormal Zeeman Effect", which any [[GeniusBonus nerd can tell you]] is a magnetic equivalent of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stark_effect Stark]] effect.
441* StealthInsult:
442** The senator's remark to Tony Stark shortly after giving him the medal and "accidentally" pricking him with the pin.
443--->'''Senator:''' Sorry, it's funny how annoying a little ''prick'' can be.
444** Pepper once again proves she is the master of this.
445--->'''Hammer:''' Christine Everhart's actually doing a big spread on me for ''Vanity Fair''. I thought I'd throw her a bone, you know. Right?\
446'''Pepper:''' Right. Well, she did quite a... [[DoubleEntendre spread]] on Tony last year.\
447'''Tony:''' [[LampshadeHanging And she wrote a story as well]].
448* TheStinger: Starting a new tradition of pulling a scene from the next movie instead of SomethingWeForgot:
449--->'''Coulson:''' Sir... we found it. ''[camera cuts to the crater and [[spoiler:[[Film/{{Thor}} Thor's hammer]].]]]''
450* TheStoic: Ivan Vanko is calm and collected even when held in captivity or being scolded by his billionaire employer. When Hammer tells his guards to start taking Ivan's bird and other comforts away, you can see when he stops protesting and when he starts just going with it silently. It's like flicking a switch.
451* SuitUpOfDestiny: Done with the suitcase armor at the race track.
452* TaintedVeins: The palladium poisoning, which covers Tony's torso in a web of blue-black veins.
453* TakeUpMySword: In a movie that starts off with a speech about the importance of legacy, this is going to come up a lot.
454** [[spoiler:Howard Stark reveals that he discovered a new element that would perfect the arc reactor and revolutionize energy. However, he lacks the technology to create it and leaves it up to Tony to solve the problem]].
455** [[spoiler:Rhodey is set up by the dying Tony to take over as armored hero. As Fury points out, the only way Rhodey could have activated the Mk. II was if Tony had already given him clearance to do so]].
456** Pepper takes over Stark Enterprises.
457* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Upon his defeat, Whiplash's armor's chestpiece begins blinking red, as do the ones on all the Hammer Drones. Granted, Tony and Rhodey get out in time but the ensuing explosions destroy most of Flushing Meadows.]]
458* TalentedButTrained: BrokenAce Tony Stark versus veteran pilot Colonel James Rhodes. Because they're friends, it's just a fistfight.
459* TastesLikePurple: When Tony slams in his new, upgraded arc reactor, he tells J.A.R.V.I.S. it tastes like coconut, and metal.
460* TattooedCrook: Ivan Vanko. They implied he's part of the Russian mafia.
461* TerritorialSmurfette: Tony Stark ''expects'' this to happen with Pepper and the new aide Natalie, but the two of them get along fine. Pepper takes it as a sign of Tony's arrogance that he'd assume another LoveTriangle would form over him.
462* ThatPoorCar: During the lead-in to the climactic battle, Iron Man swoops over a carpark and sets off a couple of alarms. [[spoiler:Shortly afterwards, War Machine and a bunch of Hammer Drones, chasing him, set off the rest.]]
463* ThatWasntARequest:
464-->'''Rhodes:''' Listen, my car got taken out in the explosion so I'm going to have to hang on to your suit for a minute. Okay?\
465'''Tony:''' Not okay. Not okay with that.\
466'''Rhodes:''' Wasn't a question. ''[blasts off]''
467* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Rhodey upon Vanko's reappearance in his suit:
468-->'''Rhodey:''' Oh, ''this'' ain't gonna be good.
469* ToiletHumour: Tony gives a live demonstration of his waste reclaimer in his suit.
470-->'''Tony:''' The question I get asked the most often is, 'how do you go to the bathroom in this suit?' ''[{{beat}}]'' ...that's how.
471* TooDumbToLive:
472** Yes, Justin. Let the brilliant, vindictive Russian physicist, who you've known only for a few hours, change the design and software of your massive army of {{Mecha Mook}}s. {{What could possibly go wrong}}? [[spoiler:Ironically, he's not one of Vanko's targets in the climax, although it would have been simple to kill him if it were.]]
473** Pepper of all things, despite obviously being a highly capable and intelligent person, veers into this during the finale. [[spoiler:So the BigBad EvilGenius just sicced an army of {{Mecha Mook}}s on you and shot everything around you to hell. One of those mechs is lying disabled only a few steps away. That disabled mech's torso suddenly starts flashing a big red light, combined with [[ActionBomb a very audible accelerating countdown]]. What do you do? Why yes, of course you stay put and stare at the damn thing instead of hightailing it out of there.]] It's likely she realized there was little chance of outrunning the explosion on foot (in heels, with no time to ditch them), but it's played for drama so Tony can pull off another awesome rescue stunt.
474* TookALevelInBadass:
475** Happy Hogan, of all people. After Ivan Vanko makes his grand DynamicEntry during the race that Tony forces himself into, and is about to make his finishing blow on Tony, the bodyguard, in Tony's custom limo, [[DynamicEntry comes out of nowhere]], rams ''into Vanko full force'', and keeps him effectively pinned against the chain-link fence for several minutes. He's shown to be decent in a fist fight but not on Black Widow's level.
476** The Mk II goes from a flight test beta to the embodiment of MoreDakka. As discussed by Rhodey, this was the point.
477* TookALevelInJerkass: Tony Stark allows the fame to get to his head ''again'', and it screws him over worse than his playboy tendencies did in the first film. It's at least justified, in that [[spoiler:he's dying, and doesn't know what to do about it]].
478* ToxicPhlebotinum: The palladium that runs Tony's pacemaker is now poisoning him.
479* TragicVillain: All Ivan's disdain for Tony's family is well-founded (save for the fact that his own father was a crook). His father was cut off from the project he helped start, was deported to a winter wasteland to die in a bitter swill of alcoholism and disgrace, and he himself got wrapped up in organized crime to make a living. Beneath his cold exterior is a genius mind that even Tony Stark is impressed by.
480** Mickey Rourke wanted to play up more on this aspect of the villain, but due to Executive Meddling from Marvel, his ideas ended up on the cutting room floor. This caused Rourke to hate his experience at Marvel.
481* TransformationIsAFreeAction: Ivan allows Tony to finish putting on his armor, despite having energy whips that could reach and kill him if he so inclined. Justified on two accounts: 1.) Ivan's legs were pinned between a wall and a car 2.) when he saw Tony putting on the suit, he decided he could do even better and show that Iron Man wasn't all that invincible.
482* TransformationSequence: All of the equipping sequences count, but the standout one has to be the suitcase suit.
483* TransformationTrinket: The aforementioned suitcase folds out into his armor (which is distinctly much thinner and less protective than his standard suit, and can't fly).
484* TrashTheSet: In the first movie, Tony's Malibu house suffered some damage from his suit testing. In the second movie, it's destructively remodeled during his fight with Rhodes, and subsequently repurposed into housing [[spoiler:a prismatic accelerator]]. It's really not much of a house any more. Probably why [[spoiler:he's living in New York City in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''.]] ''Film/IronMan3'' shows it got fixed up - just in time [[spoiler:''for Aldrich Killian to have it blown off the side of the cliff and into the sea''. Oh, and we see Tony's old suits blowing up one-by-one.]]
485* {{Unobtainium}}:
486** [[spoiler:Stark needs a non-toxic replacement for palladium for his reactor. Eventually, he builds a prismatic accelerator to produce a new element previously only discovered by his father. According to his computer screens, it's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ununoctium Ununoctium]], which is not a metal though theorized to be part of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability island of stability]] if the configuration of protons and neutrons is correct. In the novelization, it's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibranium Vibranium]], an element that has appeared in the comics (in two distinct varieties) since the '60s, though it has different properties from those two varieties. Other MCU movies suggest that it's the same material, perhaps Asgardian in origin, that makes up the Tesseract]].
487** In the ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengersPreludeFurysBigWeek Fury's Big Week]]'' tie-in to ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', which strings together these films' continuities with each other and the rest of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, Fury says that Stark went on to try and patent this new element as "badassium", but bureaucracy was getting in the way.
488* {{Unperson}}: Happened to Anton Vanko, which was why Tony didn't know about his involvement in the creation of the Arc Reactor.
489* UnreliableNarrator: Nick Fury feeds Tony a story about Anton Vanko where Howard got Anton deported. Doesn't quite square with Howard naming his son after Anton.
490* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: After the glowing description of the Ex-Wife's effects, did anybody expect it to ''work''? [[spoiler:It doesn't work, although it does in the novelization.]]
491* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted.]] It looks like Natalie Rushman gave Tony some very bad advice that led directly to the mess his birthday party turned into, because she had no idea he was dying. Turns out she's with S.H.I.E.L.D., though, and presumably knew all along and this was all part of the plan.
492* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Justin Hammer to Vanko. He gave Vanko use of his labs to upstage Tony and Vanko decided to use it for his revenge plot.]]
493* UpgradeVsPrototypeFight: Rhodey puts on the Mark II and faces off against a drunken Tony in his Mark IV, but doesn't do too well initially because it's his first time using it and Tony's more experienced. However, he improves, while Tony is still drunk and they end up battling each other into a stalemate.
494* UrineTrouble: Lampshaded and played straight in the same scene, during Tony's drinking binge:
495-->'''Tony:''' ''[fully decked in his armor]'' You know, the question I get asked most often is: "Tony, how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?"\
496''[beat; Tony closes his eyes and the look in his face grows steadily... relieved]''\
497'''Tony:''' ...Just like that.
498* UsefulBook: Tony uses a prototype (?) of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's shield to level part of the prismatic accelerator he's built. He also uses a number of stacked books to hold it up. Judging from the [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Captain America movie]], Howard Stark probably started working on a prototype shield based on how the all vibranium one was being used but had to put it aside.
499* UseYourHead: Used in the climactic battle of the film.
500* USMarshal: Tony and Happy find an attractive woman standing by his new car. When Tony asks who she is, she replies "Marshall". It's only when she informs Tony he's being HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee that we realise it's not her name.
501* VerbThis: During Tony's fight against James Rhodes:
502-->'''Tony:''' Sorry, pal, but... Iron Man doesn't have a sidekick.\
503'''Rhodes:''' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Side! Kick! This!]] ''[[[PunctuatedPounding blasts Tony with boxing ring turnbuckle on each word]]]''
504* VictimizedBystander: A test pilot for Hammer has his spine snapped by a test armor.
505* VictoryByEndurance: Ivan uses this strategy against Tony and Rhodes. By the time he engages the two in battle, they've already burned a lot of energy and ammunition on the army of drones Vanko sent against them. Furthermore, Tony has used up his OneHitKill ace-in-the-hole. Vanko still loses because of a ChekhovsGun that the heroes can use.
506* VodkaDrunkenski: Ivan Vanko greatly enjoys a [[ProductPlacement famous real-life brand]] of Russian vodka. As does his "[[FunetikAksent burd]]".
507* WaifFu: Black Widow's is able to take out several larger security guards with an acrobatic fighting style.
508* WatchingTheReflectionUndress: Natasha/Black Widow changes out of her evening gown into her SpyCatsuit in the back of Happy Hogan's car. Hogan spies on her with the rear view mirror and nearly crashes the car. She catches him and tells him to keep his eyes on the road.
509* WellDoneSonGuy: Explored, as Tony has some shades of this. [[spoiler:[[SoProudOfYou He finally gets his "well done" from Howard in the video he left behind]]... even as he begins to realize just how brilliant his dad was.]]
510* WeUsedToBeFriends: Tony is alone after he disappointed all of his friends. [[spoiler:He makes up for it in the end.]]
511* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Ivan attempts to get his bird from Russia but has to make do with a substitute. We never find out what happens to it [[spoiler:until ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengersFurysBigWeek Fury's Big Week]]'']].
512* WhatTheHellHero:
513** Rhodey loses all his patience with Tony after Tony parties while wearing his Iron Man armor and using the suit's weaponry to amuse the guests. [[spoiler:He decides Tony doesn't deserve the suit and hijacks the Mk.II suit to prove his point]]. Depending on how you look at it, there's [[spoiler:Stern and all the people who aren't happy that Tony isn't sharing the Iron Man tech with the military (or, in Stern's case, with HYDRA).]]
514** When War Machine was introduced, Pepper was just about to give this trope to Rhodey, but Tony beat her to it in order to warn Rhodey about [[spoiler:Hammer and Vanko's collaboration.]]
515* WhatYouAreInTheDark: When confronted with his poisoning and seemingly imminent death, Tony asks [[SpyFiction Natasha Romanoff]] what she would do if she had only a brief time to live. Natasha, evaluating him for ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}, told him that she would do whatever she wanted. [[spoiler:As a result, he decides to have a wild party at his house in Malibu in ''full armor'', get drunk, and thereby endangering everyone around him. For that reason, ComicBook/NickFury allows the [[PoweredArmor Iron Man suit]] to be a full Avenger, while Tony would be a consultant for failing his test.]]
516* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Ivan's harness [[spoiler:and later his PoweredArmor]] aren't shown to have any on-board weapons like the Iron Man or War Machine armor, except for the whips. He still overpowers both of them because the whips are just that effective. [[FridgeBrilliance It makes sense]]. The Iron Man and War Machine armors are filled to the brim with ''[[LongRangeFighter ranged weaponry]]'', most of which is explosive. Up close, they either miss, or hit and damage both Vanko and themselves. The whips bring the attacker in close and immobilize them while delivering an electric discharge to fry and mangle the armor.
517* WorthyOpponent: Ivan believes Tony to be the only one worthy enough to talk straight to. Other times he is either silent or in Hammer's case pretending to be an incompetent, broken English speaking CloudCuckooLander. With Tony, he makes his intentions clear and even follows Tony's sarcastic advice when upgrading his weaponry.
518* WrestlerInAllOfUs: Natasha's fight style is based around martial arts and ''lucha libre'', with plenty of hurricanranas and headscissors takedowns.
519* WronskiFeint: Tony uses this to dispose of several hacked Hammer droids.
520* XanatosGambit: Ivan Vanko's attack in Monaco didn't need to kill Tony: it only needed to reveal to the world that Tony wasn't the only one with the knowledge to create arc reactors and armoured suit technology, and that he could be physically challenged. He even says "You lose" as he's dragged away.
521* YouKilledMyFather: The main reason Vanko has a beef with Stark Industries - though technically, it's "your father had my father deported and left to rot in Siberia." Being deported is what caused Anton Vanko to develop a destructive drinking habit, which eventually killed him. Unusually for this trope, his DynamicEntry doesn't include the traditional "[[MyNameIsInigoMontoya My name is Ivan Vanko]]. You drove my father to alcohol poisoning. Prepare to die," announcement, and he [[NoNonsenseNemesis immediately starts using lethal attacks]]. Had they been successful, Tony would have died without having any idea who his killer was or why he killed him. This rather unconventional approach underlines Vanko's role as TheQuietOne.
522[[/folder]]
523----
524->''"[[Film/{{Thor}} Sir. We've found it.]]"''

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