Over the weekend, I went to catch Iron Man 2 with the girls and with it, a new obsession with the Avengers was developed. Before I go into that though, allow me to admit now that I don’t know if I enjoyed Iron Man 2 more than the first. I definitely liked it and am eager to watch it again in the cinemas. But I was bothered by a few factors:

1. Don Cheadle as Rhodey
While I personally think Don Cheadle is a very good actor, I missed Terrence Howard. I thought he came into his own and he did a pretty good job in the last movie. He also brought more fun to the character and was a good complement to Tony Stark. Cheadle was way too serious. Also, no thanks to 30 Rock, I’m no longer able to see Don Cheadle without thinking about “Don Cheadle on a bed of rice”. (reference) LOL.

2. The romance between Tony & Pepper
I could probably count the number of lines Gwyneth Paltrow had in this movie. Okay, so their budding romance was already established in the first, but because it was sooo lacking in the second, it almost seems forced for them to kiss at the end.

3. Scarlett Johansson in the first half vs Scarlett Johansson in the second half
I really didn’t care much for Natalie when she was first introduced. She seemed like an unnecessary character who was simply thrown in to increase the babe quotient. Then the second half kicked in, we find out her true identity and I was in awe throughout that kick-ass scene. Now, I’m very pleased and excited by her casting.

4. Tony Stark vs James Rhodes
I think this entire scene that played out during Tony’s birthday party was merely for fanboy/fangirl pleasure and ended up slightly more silly than impressive.

There were still plenty of fun and enjoyable moments throughout the movie: Mickey Rourke was a great villain. Sam Rockwell was at his annoying finest and Robert Downey Jr… What can I say other than OH WHAT SEXY ARROGANCE. Ahem. But after the movie, instead of being excited about Iron Man 3, I was more eager over the release of the Avengers film slated for a 2012 release. If Marvel Studios had every intention of using Iron Man 2 to help pave the way for the Avengers, it certainly did a great job cos it has gotten me very, very excited about the whole series. :D My enthusiasm in “preparing” myself for the Avengers prompted me to buy Volume 1 of the Essential Avengers so I could get reacquainted with the characters and catch up on the many, many stories that I’d missed. And guess what I’ve been doing in my spare time since? :) Naturally, all this has gotten me very excited about Thor and Captain America as well, to a point that I’m now quite enamoured by Thor, no thanks to the Wasp who keeps talking about how good-looking he is, and the fact that he is a Norse god, so he’s more powerful than all the other superheroes, so yes I’m becoming a fangirl DON’T JUDGE ME

Um so yeah. The next couple of years are going to be comic book awesome.