With Iron Man 2 going into principal photography today, all eyes are now focused on the story. Clearly the strongest story in the Iron Man books was Tony Stark’s battle with alcoholism in the story arc Demon in a Bottle, which also brings about War Machine.
Will this be the plot of Iron Man 2? According to RDJ, its not.
Robert Downey Jr. brushed off the rumors with a “Not Really” to the MTV Splash Page. “As a matter of fact, I think that’s probably best saved because it’s such its own storyline. We’re going for the interim space [between the origin and Demon] which is more a look behind the mask of someone who says he’s Iron Man and what it really is to become a superhero.”
I am both disappointed and pleased to see Robert Downey Jr address it this way. Yes, the story is huge and it deserves its own stage, so he anticipates that it will be “saved” speculating Iron Man 3.
We already saw that Stark has no problems with cocktails before noon, and always seen with a drink in his hand. The stage is set to lead up to the alcoholism. And the catalyst in Demon that sends him on the downward spiral is the accidental death of a politician when he suit malfunctions. Already friends with the bottle, he consoles his depression and worry in some binge drinking.
Also, we were are being introduced to Justin Hammer in this film, who in the comic turns out to be responsible for the suit malfunction. Also, while Stark is struggling with Alcoholism, Rhodey takes on the Iron Man persona wearing the armour for a while, and eventually becomes War Machine adopting a heavy combat version of the armour called the “Variable Threat Response Battle Suit, Model XVI, Mark I”
Fan speculation is a buzz that since RDJ mentioned War Machine in an interview (though not actually admitting he would be in the movie) that we will see Cheaddle in the War Machine armour.
Personally I would love to see the Demon in a Bottle storyline, but if they are saving it for a third movie, I can wait. I don’t want to see such a sensitive subject just get tossed aside as a subplot resolved in a couple scenes.
