Ten Statements About....IRON MAN 2 (2010)

I'm Robert Downey Jr. and yes, I Am Coo'....

1) Jon Favreau and writer Justin Theroux have their hearts firmly set in the Michiliene/Layton run of the book, from the usage of personal favorite Justin Hammer to the way they mash-up elements of both the 'Demon In The Bottle' and 'Paralyzed' storyline to form the main storyline.

2) I don't care what anyone says...replacing Terrance Howard with one of my favorite actors, Don Cheadle, to portray James Rhodes represents an upgrade. The chemistry between Cheadle and Downey is stronger.

3) As someone who used to live a mile from Flushing Meadow Park, I love how Favreau managed to use all the recognizable landmarks to make up his Stark Expo...and then just as gleefully decimates them.

4) There is something truly eiree about how much Scarlett Johanssen resembled The Black Widow, and I found the scene where she goes all Old Boy on a corridor of Hammer guards fun--especially given how we can gauge her quickness by comparing her progress against Happy. Wish they would have allowed her to use her widow's sting through her gauntlets, though...

Do I even need to justify why I used this
photo?

5) Just as Favreau mashed up two storylines to create Stark's character arc, I like how he mashed up The Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash to create a more low-tech but just as scary menace in our man Vashenko....

6) Yes. I did squeal like a little girl when Tony put on his suitcase armor...why do you ask? It was part of a whole bunch of fan service that didn't seem forced or out of place, unlike with other comic book adaptations (I'm looking at you, Smallville).

7) I can see why so many people complain that this is more of a transitionary piece between the first movie and The Avengers....but since I'm one of those people who liked The Empire Strikes Back (back when I gave a crap about Star Wars) because it was transitionary, I have no problems with that....

8) More Coulson-who-should-be-named-Jasper-Sitwell! Yes!

The most underrated character in the Marvel movies.  Period

9) Admittedly, Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer owes quite a bit to his star turn as Chuck Barris in Confessions of A Dangerous Mind...except that the nature of his arrangement with Vashenko reflects the way Hammer operated in the comic. Given that Hammer is left alive, I can only hope he emerges somewhere down the line being Tony's dark mirror, using his genius to fund villains and miscreants.

10) My only regret in the way the relationship between Stark and Pepper progresses in this film? My hopes to see a Cinematic Universe version of Bethany Cabe is now down to nil.

In short...well, I was predisposed to like this film, and it did not give me a reason not to like it. It made me feel like a little kid coming home with his stash of Marvels from the local candy store, which is something I'm getting less and less these days.