Iron Man 2 is an Action-Adventure video game published by Sega, meant to tie-in with the 2010 film of the same name starring the eponymous Marvel superhero. The game takes place after the events of the movie, but is not considered canon with the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The story was written by Matt Fraction and features Don Cheadle and Samuel L. Jackson reprising their roles as Lt. Col. James Rhodes and Nick Fury respectively.
During an attack at Stark Archives, the Roxxon Energy Corporation steals an archived copy of Tony Stark's A.I. assistant, J.A.R.V.I.S.. Fearing what Roxxon might have in store, Tony and Rhodey contact Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., who reveals that the attack was orchestrated by Valentin Shalatov, a rogue Russian general working with Advanced Idea Mechanics. With the help of Natasha Romanoff, Tony and Rhodey soon discover that A.I.M. has far more insidious plans thanks the data they stole from Stark, including using some secret tech from Tony's past.
The game is divided into chapters, with the player taking control of either Iron Man or War Machine depending on the mission. The two have slightly different play-styles: Tony being more agile and focusing on energy weapons, whereas Rhodey has bulkier armour and prefers More Dakka. The various suits can be upgraded and customized before each mission by accumulating bonus points to help build new weapon systems. Armor based on Tony's numerous suits from the comics can be unlocked sporadically throughout the game.
This game contains examples of:
- Action Commands: There are plenty of moments throughout the game where the player to either button mash or tilt the control stick to achieve various commands. These range from taking down enemies, breaking out of attacks, or hacking into computer terminals.
- Adaptational Origin Connection: In the comics, Ultimo was created by an alien race and first sent against Iron Man by the Mandarin. Here, he's a duplicate of J.A.R.V.I.S. programming modified by Kearson DeWitt.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: DeWitt reprograms the back-up copy of J.A.R.V.I.S.'s to create Ultimo, which soon takes control of his body, turns A.I.M.'s soldiers into PROTEAN Hybrids, and attempts to weaponize Project Greengrid to cause massive storms and typhoons.
- Airborne Aircraft Carrier: The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier is used as Fury's base of operations throughout the game, predating its canon debut in The Avengers (2012) by two years. It's the main setting for chapters six and seven, and plays a pivotal role in taking out Ultimo during the final boss battle.
- Attack Its Weak Point: During the final boss fight, Rhodey has to target the numerous arc reactors powering Ultimo's battle chassis, disabling them one by one.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Kearson DeWitt is behind the attack of Stark Archives, wanting revenge against Tony after he shut down his Theoretical Weapons Division. DeWitt helped finance Shatalov's insurrection in exchange for energy supplied by the Roxxon Corporation. However, Ultimo soon takes centre-stage after DeWitt uses his PROTEAN tech to merge with him. It's left ambiguous how much control DeWitt still has afterwards, but Ultimo plans weaponize Project Greengrid and destroy Tony once and for all.
- Book Ends: Before the first mission in the game, Tony is recording a video diary admitting that he really doesn't know how to save the world. At the end of the game, Tony makes a second entry and admits that he still doesn't know how, but he is pretty good at guessing.
- Catch and Return: Just like in the first game, Tony and Rhodey are capable of deflecting missiles launched at them and sending them back at their opponents.
- Continuity Nod:
- It's mentioned that the Roxxon Corporation ended up buying out Hammer Industries following Justin Hammer's arrest at the end of the film.
- J.A.R.V.I.S. helps prevent Rhodey's armour being taken over the PROTEAN tech while storming A.I.M.'s headquarters. Rhodey is relieved that he doesn't have to worry about his suit getting hijacked again, referencing Vanko doing just that in the climax of the movie.
- Create Your Own Villain: Tony learns that DeWitt actually used to work for him at Stark Industries. After Stark shut down his Theoritical Weapons Division, DeWitt continued on his work on Project PROTEAN in private and was fired once the danger of his work came out. This lead to DeWitt ultimately working for A.I.M. and dedicating his life to getting his revenge against Tony.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Once DeWitt merges with Ultimo, he loses all shred of humanity left within him and goes into full supervillain mode. He starts turning his own men into PROTEAN Hybrids, leaving them little more but feral, cybernetic monsters.
- Escort Mission: There's a few scattered throughout the game. The second chapter involves Tony escorting a squad of S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopters to help storm a facility helmed by Shatalov's forces. The penultimate chapter also has Stark escorting an Arc Armiger towards an A.I.M. base in Malaysia, where he can sporadically repair the tank should it take too much damage.
- Evil Twin: Ultimo, being based on a back-up copy of J.A.R.V.I.S., is capable of copying his voice and even fools Tony at one point. J.A.R.V.I.S. himself lampshades this, admitting to Tony that he really doesn't like the idea of having an evil twin.
- Humongous Mecha: Ultimo's battle chassis at the end of the game is stated to weigh over two hundred thousands tons, and is easily over a hundred feet tall. Ultimo's core body is actually hidden deep with its chest, but the inside is more than large enough to given Tony enough room to fight him.
- In Medias Res: The game starts off with Tony and Rhodey right in the middle of fending off Roxxon's forces at Stark Archives before Tony is knocked out. The game than cuts to three hours ago when Tony was busy recording a video diary before learning about the attack.
- Justified Tutorial: Tony's armour is damaged during the opening cutscene, so J.A.R.V.I.S. has to guide Tony with recalibrating its systems. This helps teach the player the basic controls of the game and allows them to get used to each mechanic before moving on to the next one.
- Hypocritical Humor: Tony briefly wonders why A.I.M. hired Kearson DeWitt, snarking that a name that evil-sounding should've raised some red flags. Pepper chimes in that it didn't raise any red flags for Tony, and reveals that DeWitt used to work for him.
- Layman's Terms: During Rhodey's fight against a PROTEAN Hybrid, he has trouble putting it down thanks to its Healing Factor. Tony is able to find a solution, but is a bit long-winded in explaining to Rhodey while he's busy fighting for his life:Tony: See those pylon tower-things you keep flying around? They can harness shock-point energy—
Rhodey: 'Kay, try to say less. Less! Less!
Tony: Turn thingies on! Thingies will blow stuff up! - Lock-and-Load Montage: The beginning of each mission starts with either Tony or Rhodey donning their suits, as mechanical arms and pistons help put on their armour.
- Mecha-Mooks: Both the Roxxon Corporation and A.I.M. have managed to create humanoid robotic soldiers, along witht the various drones and vehicles at their disposal. The only human mooks that are actually fought are the PROTEAN Hybrids, who don't even resemble human beings anymore.
- Nanomachines: Project PROTEAN involves self-replicating nanomachines capable of bonding with organic tissue at a molecular level, creating self-repairing weapons. This is what allows Kearson DeWitt to merge with Ultimo, and eventually upgrade his own soldiers.
- Nothing Personal: When Tony first confronts General Shatalov, the latter simply states that it was "only business" as he orders his men to open fire.
- Protection Mission: There a lot of moments where the player has to protect a character or an object at certain points. The fourth chapter features a section where Tony has to protect Natasha from incoming enemies as she mounts a turret gun. Chapters six and seven both involve protecting the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier from A.I.M.'s forces.
- Ramming Always Works: Ultimo is able to adapt and control the energy shots fired by the Helicarrier, so simply shooting him won't work. After Rhodey disables Ultimo's arc reactors, Fury is able to finally take him out by ramming the Helicarrier straight into him, destroying him for good.
- Renegade Russian: General Shatalov (aka, the Crimson Dynamo) is a rogue Russian general who allies himself with A.I.M. and starts an insurrection to make himself the President of Russia. It certainly makes it a lot easier for Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. to enter Russian territory without causing a diplomatic crisis.
- Spider Tank: The Armiger Tanks are tanks with spider-like limbs that come in two modes. The Roxxon Armiger is less mobile and relies on ballistic weapons, while the Arc Armiger is larger, has more legs, and primarily utilizes energy-based weapons. Tony is able to reprogram an Arc Armiger and uses to storm A.I.M.'s base in Malaysia.
- The Starscream: General Shatalov proves to be too impatient to launch his insurrection and betrays A.I.M., launching his attack earlier than planned and executing an A.I.M. soldier who's trying to evacuate Shatalov's base.
- Timed Mission: There are a few select points where Tony or Rhodey have to evacuate or complete a task before an imminent meltdown, such as Tony escape Shatlov's exploding base in mission three or him deactivating Project Greengrid before the core melts down in mission eight.
- Two Beings, One Body: Kearson DeWitt uses PROTEAN technology to fuse his consciousness with Ultimo's, in the hopes of launching a new stage in human evolution. The process seems to work too well, as Ultimo asserts control and begins taking control over his facility. It's unclear how much of DeWitt managed to survive the process, but Ultimo needs his body to serve as a focal point for his consciousness.
- Unwilling Roboticization: Once DeWitt merges with Ultimo, he decides to implant the rest of his men with PROTEAN tech to turn them into cyborgs like himself. A few of them refuse to take the implants, and are seen fighting off DeWitt's drones and hybrids before they have the implants forced on them.
- Weather-Control Machine: Project Greengrid was an experimental power transmitter created by Stark to harness and transfer the power from the upper atmosphere. While Tony claimed it was primarily created to transfer energy (albeit while part of a weapons contract), it had the side-effect of creating massive storms and typhoons. Tony shut the project down, but Ultimo ends up revitalizing the project and tries to turn it into a weapon of mass destruction.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After getting the technology he needs from A.I.M., General Shatalov breaks off his partnership with DeWitt and attempts to launch his coup ahead of schedule. When a soldier attempts to evacuate the area to avoid implicating A.I.M., Shatalov offers to "help" with that and has a drone execute him.
