It is months after Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) has revealed his identity as Iron Man and the world loves him. The U.S. government however resents him for denying them the specs to his robot technology. The government has been trying to duplicate the technology with the help of Stark's tech rival Hammer (Sam Rockwell), but hasn't succeeded. Tony's health starts failing, with his reactor's palladium leaking into his system. He hands the reins of the company to Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) and hires a new assistant, Natalie (Scarlett Johansson). When Tony goes to Monaco to watch a Formula 1 race, the event is attacked by a Russian madman, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who fashioned a reactor of his own and deadly power whips. Iron Man detains him, but Hammer breaks Ivan out of captivity and hires him to re-work the reactor. Later, Tony and his close Col. friend Rhodes get into an argument, and Rhodes turns over the Iron Man suit to the military, and Hammer is given access to it. Meanwhile, Ivan goes off-book and works the suits to his liking and not Hammer's. Tony meets Nick Fury who helps him find a temporary solution to his disease. Fury reveals that Natalie is really a SHIELD agent, assigned to protect Tony. After tweaks, Tony works on his reactor, and finds a cure. His suit is now better than ever. At the Stark expo, Hammer debuts his suits, which are controlled by Ivan. They wreak havoc and hurt people so Tony and Rhodes (in his own Iron Suit) start fighting the robots and defeat them. Tony, after rescuing Pepper at the expo, kiss. Tony meets Nick Fury again, and is offered a position in SHIELD.
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Best part of story, including ending:
I like how the story slowly introduces us to SHIELD, which becomes a stepping stone to the Avengers movie.
Best scene in story:
When Tony gets drunk in his Iron Man suit, it's funny to see a superhero behave badly.
Opinion about the main character:
Iron Man is probably the only superhero who has no secret identity, so he is fully responsible for what his two personas end up doing.
