6. Messy Plot (Iron Man 2)
We've already established that Iron Man 2 was a disappointment, and apart from the boring villains, a lot of the reason was that it was just so simplistically plotted; it girds along the typical three act structure with exactly the beats you expect, with a cursory attempt made to start tying it to the MCU as well. Jon Favreau even admitted that Marvel Studios wanted him to force MCU elements into the film, which was essentially why he didn't return for IM3 or direct The Avengers, and stars Downey Jr. and Rourke also came out admitting that it's the weak link in the series. It just never felt like it had a clear direction - it wanted to introduce MCU characters like Black Widow, but the standalone story suffered as a result, feeling piecemeal and ineffective. The worst thing I can about IM2 is that, aside from its final set-piece, there's just not a whole lot about it that's particularly memorable.