Across The Stars

Iron Man 2

In Russia, the news media covers 's disclosure of his identity as Iron Man. Ivan Vanko, whose father Anton Vanko has just died, sees this and begins building an arc reactor similar to dad's.

Six months later, Dad has used his armor to help maintain world peace. He re-institutes the in Flushing Meadows to continue his father Howard's legacy. Senator Stern demands that dad turns over the Iron Man technology to the government. Dad refuses, claiming that foreign nations and business competitors are decades away from recreating his work, and that it is his property.

The Palladium Core in the Arc Reactor that keeps dad alive and powers the armor is slowly poisoning him, and he has failed to find a substitute. Growing increasingly despondent and reckless due to his impending death, and choosing not to tell anyone about his condition, Dad appoints his personal assistant Pepper Potts CEO of Stark Industries, and hires Stark employee Natalie Rushman to replace her as his personal assistant. Natalie tells us that she works for S.H.I.E.L.D. asks me and Serra to join but of course, we say yes but we can't tell dad.

While dad is racing at the Circuit de Monaco, he is attacked by Vanko, who uses his arc reactor to power whip-like energy weapons. Dad defeats Vanko with the aid of his and learns that Vanko is the son of his father's old partner, Anton Vanko, who had collaborated with Howard on the first arc reactor. Anton was deported to his native Soviet Union following attempts to profit from the technology and died in poverty, explaining Vanko's desire for revenge on the Stark family.

Rival defense contractor Justin Hammer fakes Vanko's death and recruits him to perfect a line of armored suits to upstage dad. Hammer, who equals dad on narcissism and arrogance, wishes to not only defeat his rival in military contracts but also wishes to absolutely destroy his legacy. At what he believes is his final birthday party, dad gets drunk while using the Iron Man armor, forcing his friend, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, to intervene. Rhodes dons dad's Mark II armor and battles dad. The battle ends when the combatants both fire repulsor beams at each other, creating a huge explosion. After fighting with dad, Rhodes delivers the armor to the U.S. military.

Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director, approaches dad, revealing Rushman as undercover agent Natasha Romanoff and that Howard Stark was a S.H.I.E.L.D. founder whom Fury knew personally. Fury gives him some of his father's old material; a hidden message in the diorama of the 1974 Stark Expo proves to be a diagram of the structure of a new element. With the aid of his computer J.A.R.V.I.S., dad synthesizes it. Vanko reveals to dad that he is still alive and seeking revenge so dad uses the untested element, ending his palladium dependency.

At the Expo, Hammer unveils Vanko's armored drones, led by Rhodes in a heavily weaponized version of the Mark II armor. Dad arrives in his new armor to warn Rhodes, but Vanko seizes control of both the drones and Rhodes' armor and attacks Iron Man. Hammer is arrested while Romanoff and Stark's bodyguard Happy Hogan attempt to capture Vanko. He escapes, but Romanoff returns control of the Mark II armor to Rhodes.

After defeating his drones Dad and Rhodes confront Vanko himself, now in a new and powerful suit of armor. Neither can match Vanko, but Vanko is ultimately defeated when they fire repulsor rays at each other, causing yet another huge explosion. With his suit too damaged to continue the fight Vanko activates his suit's self-destruct mechanism, along with that of his drones, apparently killing himself in the process. Dad saves Potts from the exploding drones' remains. Potts quits as CEO, and she and dad kiss. Savannah says to Serra Final-freaking-lly. 

At a debriefing, while news footage of a rampaging Hulk plays, Fury informs dad that while Iron Man is a suitable candidate for the "Avengers Initiative", he himself is not. Dad agrees to serve as a consultant if Senator Stern acts as presenter at a ceremony planned for awarding Dad and Rhodes with medals for bravery, which Stern reluctantly does.