"Iron Man 2" is the third chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, i.e. the third Marvel Comics movie produced in-house at Marvel Studios. This second episode of "Iron Man" sees Robert Downey, Jr. turn out a strong performance as Tony Stark, and the cast of the film does a similarly grand job as that of the original.

One notable change in the movie is that Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes is now played by Don Cheadle, as opposed to Terrence Howard who filled the role in the first "Iron Man" film. Both Howard and Cheadle turn out strong performances in this role, and it's hard to say which does a better job, but it is a bit of a glaring change, with Cheadle looking so dissimilar from Howard.

The rest of the cast all do quite well in this movie, including Gwyneth Paltrow, reprising her role as Pepper Potts, and Mickey Rourke who plays the film's villain, Ivan Vanko (a character who features characteristics of both the Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash, villains from the Iron Man comic books).

All in all this film is a strong chapter in the MCU's ongoing Iron Man storyline. The film develops the Tony Stark character, matching it with the classic comic book Tony Stark by introducing us to not just the billionaire playboy, but also to the Stark that struggles with alcoholism and whose own contraption that saved his life is now endangering him with radiation poisoning. Both of those plot features are drawn straight from the 1980's mythology of Iron Man. Likewise, the film goes a step further by introducing us to a larger piece of the MCU puzzle by giving us more information on SHIELD and Howard Stark. Black Widow (aka Natasha Romanov, played by Scarlett Johansson) is also introduced in this movie, and is featured prominently.

While it's probably fair to say that this movie falls just short of being as good as its predecessor, again, it's certainly a great, fun movie from Marvel. I rate it at 8/10 stars.