

Downey and Favreau, who had been handed a script and worked from it on the first movie, conceived part of the film's story themselves. as Tony Stark / Iron Man:Ī billionaire who escaped captivity in Afghanistan with a suit of armor he created, he now struggles to keep his technology out of the government's hands.

Air Force.ĭowney, Johansson and Rockwell promoting the film at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International. The fight ends in a stalemate, and Rhodes confiscates the armor for the U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes dons Stark's prototype armor and tries to restrain him. During what he believes is his final birthday party, Stark gets drunk while wearing the Iron Man suit. Impressed by Vanko's performance, Stark's rival, Justin Hammer, fakes Vanko's death while breaking him out of prison and asks him to build a line of armored suits to upstage Stark. Vanko explains his intention was to prove to the world that Iron Man is not invincible. Stark dons his armor and defeats Vanko, but the suit is severely damaged. Stark competes in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, where he is attacked in the middle of the race by Vanko, wielding electrified whips. Growing increasingly reckless and despondent about his impending death, and choosing not to tell anyone about his condition, Stark appoints his personal assistant Pepper Potts as CEO of Stark Industries, and hires Stark employee Natalie Rushman to replace her as his personal assistant.

Later, Stark learns that the palladium core in the arc reactor that keeps him alive and powers the armor is slowly poisoning him, and he cannot find a substitute.
