Iron Man 2 lags behind it's prequel only in the Music Department and the Antagonist. John Debney's score doesn't have the uniqueness of Ramin Djawadi tracks. Djawadi's 'Driving with the Top Down' is an unforgettable score while nothing of Debney's is noticeable. U can hear the BGM here but it won't register in ur mind.

But that's not a big deal. The problem here is that neither of the three enemy's of Stark (Ivan Vanko, Justin Hammer & Tony's Palladium core) make an impact. The impending death of Tony due to his Palladium dependent Arc-Reactor does make up for an interesting plot but it always seems like Tony will find a replacement somehow. Whereas both Vanko & Hammer are more annoying than menacing. Neither of them match up to Obadiah Stane.

Apart from these two, the sequel is much better than the prequel. The first Iron Man movie has already set the bars high. The sequel takes it even further up. Especially the action sequences which are much better than the prequel. The CGI is so good that the suits look real enough. Even after a decade, the visual effects don't look dated. The story has so many plots going on. Yet Director Jon Favreau has successfully kept the focus on Tony throughout the film. Every plot is centered around tony. And RDJ, the face of MCU's Infinity Saga, just nailed it. Only if the Antagonists have been more impactful, the Sequel would have beaten the prequel.