10 Most Irritating Subplots In The Marvel Cinematic Universe

10. Tony's Palladium Poisoning - Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 is regarded by most as the worst of the Iron Man trilogy, and that in large part is due to a number of dubious subplots (another of which we'll see in this list later). One introduced early on in the movie is the revelation that the palladium core of Tony Stark's arc reactor is also releasing deadly poison into his bloodstream, which will eventually kill him. This causes Tony to become reckless and, rather than deal with the issue at hand, appoint Pepper Potts as the CEO of Stark Industries, step into a race car for kicks, and get drunk and fight Rhodey. With the help of S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony was eventually able to track down his father's plans for the composition of a new element, which he ends up synthesising with the help of Jarvis to replace the palladium core, ultimately saving his life. The problem with this subplot is the total lack of urgency: something like this should make viewers scared for Tony's life, but due to his own avoidance of it for the majority of the film, it's difficult to really feel like he's in tremendous danger, even though he clearly is. Without being properly fleshed out, this just seemed like an arbitrary way to add more internal conflict to the film.