The palladium that runs the arc reactor in his chest is gradually poisoning Tony Stark aka Iron Man. Anticipating death, he appoints Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) as CEO of Stark Industries and Natalie Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) as her assistant.

Stark becomes increasingly brazen, even as trouble arrives from other quarters. His friend, Lt. Col. James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) aligns with his military bosses in demanding that Stark share details of the armoured suit technology. Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) has a personal score to settle with Stark. Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), who owns a competitive arms manufacturing company, is hellbent on destroying Stark. All this, while Stark is trying to pull off a year-long exposition of inventions that his father had envisioned.

Finally, Stark gets help from an unexpected source – his dead father. And a man named Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). The climax is a resounding clash of metal against metal as Iron Man battles drones that are programmed to destroy everything in their path.

A must-see for those who enjoyed the previous Iron Man movie.