MCU: 11 Things You Learn Rewatching Iron Man 2

8. It Cemented The MCU's Villain Problem

While the first two MCU movies, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, don't exactly tout some of the franchise's strongest villains to date, they were still leagues ahead of Iron Man 2's rather underwhelming antagonists.

More to the point, it's clear on reflection years later that this is the point where the MCU developed its so-called "villain problem", that the majority of these films fail to generate villains as intriguing as their heroes.

With Justin Hammer being a wet blanket - but an amusing one - and Whiplash ending up colossally under-used, Iron Man 2 was the first MCU film to really suffer pointedly from antagonists that failed to deliver. Looking back, it evidently kick-started the trend.