10 Movies Too Bloated For Their Own Good
4. Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2 marked Marvel Studios' first major creative misstep. The success of the original in 2008 (and subsequent post-credits cameo from Nick Fury) showed that audiences were receptive to the idea of an interconnected series of blockbuster movies, but Jon Favreau's sequel made the mistake of putting too many eggs in the one basket, leading to an underwhelming and inferior follow-up.
SHIELD's increased presence in the story is little more than heavy-handed foreshadowing, especially when it comes to the revelation that Tony Stark's father was a founding member of the organization and the subsequent (yet painfully obvious) reveal that Stark's new assistant is actually the undercover Black Widow. Almost a decade later they even retconned the brief appearance of a small child into being a young Peter Parker!
The MCU has since learned from the mistakes of Iron Man 2 and allowed the mythology to develop in a more organic fashion, but at times it seemed like the second installment was nothing more than setup for the movies that lay in the studio's immediate future rather than the continued adventures of Robert Downey Jr's charismatic hero.