1. Thinking More Villains Mean A Better Threat
The first movie in any comic book franchise, even more so for the superhero variety, has an easy out in terms of storytelling. A character's origin offers a dramatic change for the character early in the story with great consequences whether that be in the form of them discovering their powers or putting themselves on the road to the dedication of crime fighting. A superhero's first movie outing is often entertaining but, let's face it, predictable. So once you have the likes of Robert Downy Jr surprise everyone with his best Tony Stark, how do you take things to the next level for the inevitable sequel? If you answered use the character's heroic status against him and essentially ruin his world then you win. Instead, what we often we get is the hero facing multiple villains because we are supposed to assume that more villainous characters means more threat. This is not at all the case. Spider-Man goes through a lot more turmoil facing just Doctor Octopus than he does against The Sandman, Harry Osborne
and Venom. Iron Man 2, despite having Sam Rockwell absolutely, well... rock playing Justin Hammer, proves to be a showcase for Tony Stark's talents as he defeats two people at once and proves himself smarter than his super-computer house butler by inventing a new element to cure his poorly conceived, life threatening illness. Look at almost any sequel and you'll see the villain count increase. Don't get me wrong, multiple villains can work, as long as the threat itself is focused. Captain America has the Red Skull and Arnim Zola, but Zola is clearly the subordinate who acts as a right hand man. The Dark Knight Rises is the best example as no matter how many characters show up, Bane is always the focus. He arrives, defeats Batman, rules Gotham and is then defeated. Talia Al' Ghoul is revealed, but she's just a part of the team
with Bane. Catwoman takes care of herself and who didn't love seeing Jonathan Crane dishing out exiles to the corrupt Gothamites? I just wish characters were treated like this in every comic book sequel.