In light of the many fabulous Marvel Universe movies that have been released since 2010, "Iron Man 2" is part of the bottom half. Still, it's quite a good movie, even though it can be hard to follow. There are a lot of plot lines: the Whiplash line, the obligatory evil capitalist line, the relationship with Pepper Potts line, the impending mortality line, the unresolved father issues line, the battle with Congress and the military line, and the Nick Fury agent of S. H. I. E. L. D. line. Whew! A slightly simpler plot might've made this a better film, but I understand you need a richer tapestry once the foundations of the characters have been set. The biggest improvement they could've made was giving Mickey Rourke a bigger part. He's squeezed tightly by the rest of the story, but "Iron Man 2" is much better than 95% of the sequels out there.