Just as good as the first, but here is the problem. Now don't get me wrong. I am a comic nerd. In fact I had a total nerdgasim when watching this. But I will be serious. The story was a little rushed. The ending was resolved too quick at the end. You were kind of hoping for more of an epic battle, but you didn't get it. Now all the characters and the visual effects were amazing. So I give credit for that. But I just don't want them to make the same mistake as the Spider-Man movies; having them go slowly downhill. So the nerds out there, the movie had many references to the Avengers which is very exciting. Robert Downey Jr. was still the same quirky Stark. Gwyneth Paltrow seemed a little off as Pepper though. Don Cheadle was an excellent replacement from Terrance Howard for Rhodey. Not that Howard is a bad actor, it just seems like Cheadle wanted it more. Scarlett Johansson was a great Black Widow. She had the looks and the moves. Of course Samuel L. Jackson was good as Nick Fury. Then the two villains were Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke. Rockwell was pretty good. I really wish there was more of Rourke though. He is just 100% creepy and mean looking. Two side characters that were enjoyable were Jon Favreau, the director, and Clark Gregg who played Agent Coulson. So overall the cast was really good. I just wanted more from the story. But that doesn't mean that the movie was bad.