Synopsis:

The arc reactor has triggered an arms race and is poisoning Tony Stark. Filled with self-doubt and alcohol, Stark must rise above his inner demons to contain the arms race, to overcome his enemies, and to find a cure. Vanko is a determined but minor villain who never rises to Stark's level. Hammer, though naive, is more ruthless in his thirst for power. I imagine him in a future story as enabler for villains. And Pepper mostly stands by her man instead of the angry on-again-off-again relationship. Iron Man 2 introduces Black Widow and War Machine, and sets the stage for the Avengers movie.

Intentions:

Iron Man 2 was one of the weakest installments in the MCU. No focus, too much snarky humor, a teeth-grindingly stupid Justin Hammer. No longer! This edit is a major overhaul of the storyline. Lots of dialog is trimmed, scenes moved around, deleted scenes inserted. Goals: 1) Focus the movie: WHO is the main enemy? Spoiler: Tony's heart condition. 2) Remove most of the anger between Tony and Pepper. 3) Upgrade Justin Hammer.

Change List:

- Keep Vanko opening. - Follow with deleted scene of Tony trying new element combo for his heart, without success. Add Jarvis voice that it's "not a suitable replacement" and it's "killing you". - Title, followed by partial deleted scene of Pepper kissing then throwing his helmet and Tony telling her "you complete me". This way we start with a smiling couple instead of an exasperated Pepper. Plus this was the intended (alternate?) opening considering the music lined up perfectly between the theatrical and deleted shots. Color corrected the light green tone. - Keep Stark Expo, with some trims for dialog. - Rework Senate hearing, add partial deleted scene with Coulson, cut Hammer's dumbest bits. - Vanko makes whips. Tony continues to try and fail to find a cure-element for his heart. - Tony and Pepper argue. She focuses him, he makes her CEO, reaffirms the importance of the Expo, and introduces the Monaco storyline. - Retain Black Window intro. - Trim Monaco pre-race to remove dumb Hammer and to make Tony's driving look planned (plugging the plot hole that Vanko couldn't have known Tony would drive if it was last minute). It also looks like Pepper knew Tony would drive. - Trim Monaco fight to minimize the shots showing Pepper and Happy sitting shell-shocked (pardon the pun) in the car a few steps from the fight. Flipped a shot for continuity. - Trim Tony - Vanko talk in French cell. - Slight trim to Vanko's escape. - Trim Vanko meeting Hammer, then going to warehouse, to remove dumb Hammer lines. - Retain the bird but cut the bird jokes. - Retain Stark pre-party with Natalie, into heavily edited party. Add partial deleted scene with Munn, to play up escalation of Tony's behavior, to better justify Rhodey taking the armor. - Retain donut scene. - Trim Vanko explaining to Hammer that drones are better, making Hammer less a dweeb. - Rhodey brings armor to army. Fury gives Tony house arrest. - Overhaul Tony in Pepper's office scene. Shorter, no Natalie, Pepper doesn't leave. Lots of audio got moved around, down to the small detail of Pepper now saying "What?" when Tony sits down (instead of "No", because the preceding question is cut). - Add partial deleted scene to expand Tony finding the element. - Vanko tells Hammer "no demonstration". Tony has his A-Team moment, building his new machine. Hammer gets armor from the army, then confronts Vanko (trimmed for Hammer's benefit). Tony completes his A-Team moment (mute "that was easy" because the point is that it wasn't). Vanko calls Tony. Juxtaposing Tony's inventing and Hammer's acquiring reinforces that Hammer is no real threat for Tony. Hammer is no buffoon, he's just not in Stark's genius league. - Trim the Expo for pacing and Hammer's benefit. - Many trims to drone battle and Tony-Rhodey dialog. Minimize civilian casualties. Cut dialog of Tony telling Pepper he was dying. - Add unused shot from drone battle into Vanko battle. After Vanko battle, Tony says " that was easy" (telling the audience that he too is surprised it's over already). - Trim rooftop scene. No Rhodey. Pepper doesn't resign. Tony and Pepper get to their kiss much faster. - Insert mid-credit scene of Coulson's "A funny thing happened on the way to Thor's hammer". Retain post-credit scene of Coulson arriving at said hammer. - Replaced last 2+ minutes of music during credits with the unused Danny Elfman "Heroes" from Avengers 2. Sped up credits 3% to make the tune fit. It referred back to Avengers 1, now it refers forward to that. I decided against Iron Man 3 music because this edit leads into Avengers 1. We haven't arrived at IM3 yet. - Added FE logo at beginning and end. - English subtitles.

Additional Notes:

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Other Sources:

Freesound.org (for sounds to use in noise cancelling). The Clash's "Should I stay or should I Go" CD (for noise cancelling). Danny Elfman's unused "Heroes" from Avengers 2 soundtrack on HDTracks.

Special Thanks:

Masirimso17, for lots of great feedback, and TinyBreadMouse, including for improving the title, Zarius, Addiesin.