Say what you will about Iron Man 2 -- and truth be told, it was at least as good, if not better, than the first -- one thing is borderline undeniable: As bad guys, the bad guys sucked. This is not to say that Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer wasn't the best part, by far of the entire movie (forget Thor; can Hammer have a Marvel spin-off?), but rather that his nefarious intentions were surprisingly low on the nefariousness. And while Mickey Rourke's Ivan Drago Vanko looked pretty tough, in the end -- SPOILER ALERT -- he was ultimately no match for Iron Man either. And that's a big problem for Marvel and their Avenger-based comic book movies: It's too easy for these superheroes.
I'll readily admit my knowledge of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Avenger Initiative is severely lacking past the surface level, but: Where are the villains here? If you can name the heavies portrayed by Tim Roth in The Incredible Hulk and Jeff Bridges in the first Iron Man, you're probably unique. Hell, ask any of the millions who saw Iron Man 2 this weekend what the super-villain name of Rourke's character was and they probably won't have a clue. Though, to be fair, Iron Man 2 couldn't even bother to give him a proper alternate identity: Was he Whiplash or Crimson Dynamo? More important: Does it matter?
Part of the reason why The Dark Knight was so successful was because the Joker created a threat for Batman that felt legitimate and overwhelming. And that drove audiences to embrace the film simply because Heath Ledger's iconic performance gave them someone to root against. I understand Iron Man 2 is a different beast -- and didn't have that added (and, of course, posthumous) Ledger gottasee factor for audiences to latch on to -- but that doesn't mean it couldn't have some stakes. Was Tony Stark faced with one credible threat at any point during Iron Man 2? No, he wasn't.
And that's why Marvel should be at least a little bit concerned for The Avengers. Eventually, moviegoers are going to realize that these stories have no real conflict at all. It's one thing to pile a bunch of superheros into one movie; it's another to give them an actual villain that can strike fear into the hearts of ticket buyers. They don't necessarily need a Heath Ledger-like Joker, but they have to do better than Ivan Vanko.