Everything was in place for this film, but the executives interfered and forced the filmmaker to bloat the film with Shields arc. The first two Marvel films were okay in the villain stakes, but Iron Man 2 was the first showcase of what can go wrong with excluding them. Rourke is essentially a cameo role and it's a shame. You can see all the future world building being done here and it drains the film. Marvel clearly needed an additional film, but wanted The Avengers so they forced Shield into the storyline. This is a disappointing film and showcased the issue with not providing your cast with purpose.