7. Whiplash
Iron Man 2's Whiplash was a strange creation. A mashup of different Iron Man villains (he also shared similarities with Crimson Dynamo), it wasn't until the end of the sequel that Ivan Vanko donned a suit of his own to take on Iron Man and War Machine. Things didn't go his way though, and he was apparently taken out when his armour self-destructed. That might seem like a pretty definitive ending for Whiplash then, but Jeff Bridges recently revealed that the plan was for Obadiah Stane to have survived his equally explosive death scene with a reveal that he escaped from his suit with acid. There's every chance that Vanko could have done the same then, though it would undeniably be a bit of a stretch. The biggest issue here is Mickey Rourke. The difficult actor has had nothing but bad things to say about Marvel Studios since working with them on the so/so sequel, so a recast would be needed here if Marvel for some reason decided to bring the villain back. He's not dead, but one more Iron Man 2 baddie who deserves another chance is Justin Hammer...