Iron Man 2 is one of Marvel's more divisive movies, and the crammed screenplay is perhaps the reason for that. Introducing new characters, villains, an arc about Tony Stark dying, and lots of nods to The Avengers, there was just way too much going on. That's something screenwriter Justin Theroux seems to agree with as he acknowledged in a recent interview that things on the sequel didn't quite go the way they were hoping.
"You know, as happens very often, it is not easy to live up to expectations," he said. "And after the first ‘Iron Man,’ those for the sequel were extremely high. [You] go to see [the film] with a wealth of expectations…and the film had a release date even before we started working on it so we had to work fast. And I will not complain about anything or anyone, mind you…It was a team effort and I really love people like [Iron Man 2 director] Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. We tried to please the fans and to give shape to something spectacular…But sometimes things end up not going in the right direction, although there are parts of the movie that I’m really proud [of]."
Interestingly, Theroux then went on to explain why he initially had his doubts about the decision to make The Avengers, though he was thankfully proven wrong about that! "I remember at that time talking about The Avengers with [Marvel Studios president] Kevin [Feige]. I remember that I told him, “I do not know if this is going to work, having Iron Man and all these characters together.” But then he ended up doing something really special."
What do you guys think of these comments?