Trivia / Iron Man 2

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • The dance Sam Rockwell does before presenting the drones at the Expo is improvised and something he does to help him get into character.
  • Mickey Rourke suggested half of Vanko's dialogue be in Russian. He also suggested the addition of tattoos, gold teeth and a fondness for a pet cockatoo, paying for the teeth and bird with his own money.
• Actor-Shared Background: The U.S. Marshal in the beginning who serves Tony his subpoena says she's from Bedford, New York, just like her actress Kate Mara.
• Ascended Fanon: Ever since the Marvel-Sony deal was announced back in 2015, people had speculated that the masked little boy at the Stark Expo was actually a young Peter Parker. Shortly before the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tom Holland, Kevin Feige, and Jon Watts all confirmed that this was an actual revision.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Sam Rockwell signed on without having read the script, as he enjoyed working with Jon Favreau on Made.
• Banned in China: Curiously, every instance of the word "Russian" was made inaudible in the China version. No explanation was given for why, although theories abound in the comments ranging from China thinking viewers would be distressed by a Russian villain, trying to lend courtesy to the country due to being their longtime (if intermittent) ally, or instead trying to distance themselves from Russia by obscuring all mention of it.
• Cast the Runner-Up:
  • Sam Rockwell was previously considered to play Tony Stark.
  • Olivia Munn originally appeared as an unnamed character who was subsequently cut from the film. Jon Favreau then gave her the role of Chess Roberts, a reporter covering the Stark expo.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: A ridiculous number of reviews refer to Scarlett Johansson's character as "Natalie Rushman," the false identity Natasha Romanoff uses when she first appears in the film. Understandable if the reviewer is attempting to avoid spoiling the character's true identity (though neither the movie's advertising campaign nor the movie itself are particularly subtle about it) but clueless in reviews that go on to identify her as the Black Widow. Moviefone calling her "Natasha Rushman" didn't help.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Mickey Rourke wanted to play Vanko as a complete human being, but says Marvel didn't want an Anti-Villain and thus cut his sympathetic scenes, which amounted apparently to a lot of his scenes overall. Rourke wasn't happy with so much of his work being discarded, and has proceeded to spew vitriol at Marvel, the director, and even the other actors in every interview he gave since.
  • Jon Favreau hated what the Marvel higher-ups forced him into pushing out so much he made a whole film as an analogy of his creative struggle. Though he returned to produce Iron Man 3, and continued playing Happy in future films, he turned down directing it due to his experiences on this film.
  • While she still has fond memories of the film, Scarlett Johansson admitted that she didn't care for her performance in this film, as she felt that Black Widow's sexualization made her feel more like a possession than a full fledged human being. Her behind-the-scenes interviews for later installments in the MCU (culminating in the one for Black Widow (2021)) shows her more increasingly invested in how the character grew with her input.
• Creator Couple: Sam Rockwell and Leslie Bibb are a couple in Real Life. Her presence in this film is a bit of an ironic coincidence. First Bibb was cast in the small but pivotal role of Christine Everhart in Iron Man, then she began dating Rockwell, then Rockwell was cast as Justin Hammer for this film, and when the producers found out he was dating the actress who played Christine in the first film, they decided to have Christine be Hammer's uninterested date.
• Deleted Scene: See here.
• Disowned Adaptation: In an interview, Bob Layton made it clear he despises what the film did to Justin Hammer, viewing the film version's Adaptational Comic Relief as a black mark on the character.
• Dyeing for Your Art:
  • Robert Downey Jr. gained twenty pounds of muscle to reprise his role of Tony Stark.
  • Scarlett Johansson dyed her hair red before auditioning for the part of Black Widow because she wanted the part so badly. Now she really is Scarlett Johansson.
• Executive Meddling:
  • Jon Favreau had a lot of friction with the Marvel higher-ups due to their constant intervention, to the point that they were having him rewrite the script as the film was still shooting. In particular, elements such as the increased prominence of the S.H.I.E.L.D subplot were the result of a need to establish the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe in preparation for The Avengers, at the expense of the coherence of the main Iron Man 2 plot. These disputes got so bad that Favreau turned down directing Iron Man 3.
  • Word of God says the original script delved deeper into Tony's alcoholism, a la the infamous "Demon in a Bottle" arc, but was left out due to studio interference.
  • Terrence Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle due to a number of disagreements between the studio and Howard's agents.
  • Scenes that fleshed out Ivan Vanko and portrayed him as a more sympathetic figure were cut from the final film, resulting in him appearing to be a more generic villain. This may be a reason why Rourke has stated he is not fond of his experience working on the film.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Most of the French spoken in the film is grammatically accurate but noticeably spoken by non-Francophone actors playing characters from either Monaco or the southeast of France (with the exception of the corrupt prison guard who delivers Vanko to Hammer and says "I'm not leaving him with you, he's batshit").
  • The Russian Black Widow and Whiplash are portrayed by American actors Scarlett Johansson and Mickey Rourke respectively. The former in particular didn't even try to put on a Russian accent.
• First Appearance: Of Black Widow.
• In Memoriam: Adam Goldstein, aka DJ AM, who played himself as the DJ at Tony's birthday party, passed away from a drug overdose on August 28, 2009, a little more than eight months before the film's release.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Not being tech literate, Mickey Rourke found the most challenging part about playing Whiplash was pretending to know his way around a computer.
• Missing Trailer Scene: Several. Most notably, Tony saying "you complete me" as Pepper kisses his helmet then throws it out an airborne plane for him to catch—it was decided during editing that it disrupted the movie's flow—and Tony letting "Natalie" try out his repulsor. (All can be seen on the DVD).
• The Original Darrin: In the Latin American Spanish dub, Idzi Dutkiewicz reprises his role as Tony Stark after being replaced by Andrés García for his appearance in The Incredible Hulk.
• Orphaned Reference: The Viral Marketing included a fake commercial for the Stark-Fujikawa subsidiary, which made little sense in the overall context of the film. This is because the character Rumiko Fujikawa (a Japanese businesswoman and one of Tony's love interests from the comics) was supposed to appear in the film, but was cut when the script was rewritten.
• The Other Darrin:
  • James Rhodes was played by Terrence Howard in Iron Man. From this movie onwards, he's played by Don Cheadle. His first scene is framed in such a way that his face isn't visible until after Tony greets him, so that the audience is clear on who he is. As an added bonus, Cheadle and Robert Downey Jr. are the same height, meaning that the production team wouldn't have to deal with nitpicking over how Rhodey would have fit into the Iron Man suit if he was still played by Howard (who's significantly taller than Downey).
    Tony: I didn't expect to see you here.
    Rhodes: It's me, I'm here, deal with it, let's move on. Drop it.
    • Applies for the Latin dub as well, as from this film on, Óscar Flores replaces Javier Rivero, who originally dubbed Rhodes in the first film.
  • In the first Iron Man, Howard Stark (as seen in a photo) is played by Gerard Sanders. From this film onwards, the role of (the older) Howard Stark goes to John Slattery (as opposed to Dominic Cooper, who plays a younger Howard in The '40s).
  • In the French dub of the first film, Paul Borne voiced Nick Fury. Samuel L. Jackson's usual dub voice since Pulp Fiction, Thierry Desroses, took over with this film.
• Real-Life Relative: Jon Favreau's son Max makes a cameo as the kid, later retconned as Peter Parker, at the Stark Expo who stands up to a Hammer drone.
• Throw It In!: "Gimme a phat beat to beat my buddy's ass to." Robert Downey Jr.. is clearly cracking up after saying that, but it's perfectly in character as Tony is extremely drunk.
• Wag the Director: Mickey Rourke improvised a lot of Vanko's characteristics, such as his toothpick habit, his fondness for cockatoos, and his tattoos. He paid for the cockatoo with his own money, learned to speak Russian, and visited the infamous Butyrka prison to interview the prisoners there, who he described as very polite.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Emily Blunt was the first choice for the role of Natasha Romanoff before Scarlett Johansson was cast, but turned down the offer due to prior contractual obligations with Gulliver's Travels.
    • Jessica Biel, Gemma Arterton, Jessica Alba, Natalie Portman, Brie Larson and Angelina Jolie were considered for the part of Black Widow as well before the casting of Johansson. Biel had previously portrayed Abigail Whistler in Blade: Trinity, while Alba previously portrayed Susan Storm in Fantastic Four. Portman, Larson and Jolie would eventually go on to play Jane Foster, Carol Danvers and Thena in Thor, Captain Marvel and Eternals respectively.
  • Al Pacino was considered for the role of Justin Hammer before the casting of Sam Rockwell.
  • Tim Robbins was considered for the part of Howard Stark before John Slattery was cast. Robbins had previously portrayed Phil Blumburtt in Howard the Duck.
  • Edward Norton was rumored to reprise his role as Bruce Banner, in a cameo for this film, as a foreshadowing of The Avengers.
  • Rumiko Fujikawa was initially going to appear, with Marvel wanting Zhang Ziyi for the role. Her part was cut due to the film already having too much going on, but Viral Marketing showcasing her Stark-Fujikawa subsidiary was still used to promote the movie.
  • There were plans for Paul Bettany to appear in a flashback scene that would have explained the origin of JARVIS. Presumably, he would have played the original Edwin Jarvis, a role that eventually went to James D'Arcy in Agent Carter.
  • According to rumors, the film was originally meant to be Darker and Edgier, and would've dealt with Tony's alcoholism and self-destructive behavior in a much more serious manner. However, Marvel's Creative Committee got upset about certain scenes (including one where a drunken Tony would've verbally abused Pepper), leading to this subplot being nixed.
  • An alternate ending was shot where Vanko is revealed to have survived his apparent self-destruction, only to be killed by War Machine. The studio went with the more ambiguous Never Found the Body exit because they wanted to make it possible for Vanko to return in future MCU movies. However, due to the great deal of Creator Backlash from Rourke, it's really unlikely we'll be seeing Vanko again anytime soon.
  • Ivan Vanko originally had a tattoo of Loki on his neck. The film's producers feared it would cause confused fans to believe that Vanko would have a connection to this other villain from the same Marvel Cinematic Universe, so the tattoo was removed in post-production using CGI.
  • The earliest concepts for the movie served as an Immediate Sequel, opening with Tony and Pepper on the car ride home after the press conference at the end of first film.
  • Another early idea was to show Tony building the Hall of Armor, which would have been located in a SHIELD facility.
• Word of God: According to Jon Favreau, the Asian man who hands Vanko false papers in order to get to Monaco, is a member of the Ten Rings.
• Word of Saint Paul: Shortly before the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, both Tom Holland and Jon Watts claimed Kevin Feige had told him the little kid who tries to assist Tony in the climax is Peter Parker. However, when asked, Feige was more ambiguous with his answer. Apparently this is because officially confirming that kid to be Spider-Man would require Disney/Marvel to pay additional money to Sony for an appearance of a character in a non-Sony project.

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