When I first saw the movie Iron Man 2, a lot of things were not clear to me. I could not connect to the villain Ivan Vanko. It felt like he did not seem like a strong villain. The first time he attacked Tony he didn’t even have any armor. He just had a pair of whiplashes. How was he planning to win against the Iron Man? But rewatching the movie made a lot of things clear to me. He did not ever plan to defeat Iron Man. He just wanted Tony Stark to suffer like he and his father did. The best way to clear everything out is to revisit the movie or keep reading. If you plan to watch the movies then please be warned, because there are spoilers ahead.

In Moscow, Russia, before leaving his last breath, Anton Vanko gives the blueprint of the arc reactor to his son Ivan Venko. Using it he builds his own miniature version of the arc reactor.

6 months later,  in Flushing, New York, Tony Stark makes his grand entrance at the Stark Expo wearing his Iron Man suit. He announces that the Expo will continue for all year long where the world’s bright men and women will pull their resources and share their collective vision for a brighter future. The expo was originally initiated in 1974 by his father Haward Stark. 

Although Tony appears joyful in front of the public, backstage he checks for his blood toxicity level (19%). The palladium core in the arc reactor on his chest is poisoning him. The very thing that’s keeping him alive is also poisoning him toward a slow death. But he hides the fact from the whole world.

While leaving the expo he receives a subpoena stating that he is ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington DC.

At the Senate hearing, the committee tried to force Tony to hand over the Iron Man suit to the government. They display satellite images indicating that there are attempts worldwide to copy the technology that endangers national security.

Tony hacks into the display and shows video footage that shows all those attempts are failures. He says that it would take most countries five to ten years to catch up to his technology. He leaves the hearing saying that he has successfully privatized world peace.

Back in Russia Ivan makes a pair of whiplashes powered by his version of the mini arc reactor and slashes the TV that was broadcasting the hearing.

Back at home in Malibu, California, Tony needs to drink a lot of chlorophyll regularly to counteract the symptoms of palladium poisoning. His blood toxicity level reads 24%. His continuous usage of the Iron Man suit causes the condition to accelerate. He replaces the palladium core. His assistant, Pepper Potts walks in. She is upset with the way Tony is managing everything at his company, The Stark Industries. They start arguing about the recent activities of Tony. At a point in their conversation, Tony decides to make her the CEO of the company.

In Russia, Ivan tracks down that Tony is going to be in Monaco. And manages a fake passport and ticket to the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique.

At the home gym, Tony was practicing boxing with Happy Hogan, the head of securities of Stark Industries. Pepper asks Tony to sign the paperwork to transfer the position of CEO to her. Natalie Rushman, a new employee of Stark Industries, walks in with the paperwork. She catches Tony’s eyes and he asks Pepper to make her his new assistant but Pepper refuses. 

Next, they all go to the Grand Prix in Monaco for vacation. Tony owns a car in the race. There Pepper finds out that Tony has made Natalie his assistant behind her back. (Elaon Massk also appears there as a cameo). There he meets with his corporate rival Justin Hammer who also has a car in the race. Justin tries to kick off a conversation but Tony tries to avoid it. Going to the washroom he checks his blood toxicity level which is now 53%. Realizing that he doesn’t have much time to live decides to do something crazy and goes on to drive the f1 car he owns.

Seeing this on TV, Pepper realizes that he is about to put his life in danger. She instructs Natalie to get Happy. Ivan Vanko also reaches the race in disguise and enters the racetrack. He unleashes his whiplashes and slices a racing car. Assessing the situation Happy and Pepper take their Rolls Royce and get into the racetrack to help Tony. The second car Ivan cuts happens to be Tony’s car. The pieces of the car crash but Tony survives and gets out of the car. Tony and Ivan start to fight. But without his suit, Tony couldn’t do much.

Happy gets to the scene and crashes the car into Ivan. But Ivan is not defeated. He starts to slice the Rolls Roice as well. Pepper tosses the Iron Man Mark V briefcase suit to Tony. He suits up and defeats Ivan by ripping out the arc reactor from his whiplash prototype.

While Special Forces are dragging him out of the scene Ivan laughs at Tony and says that he lost. Tony scans Ivan’s arc reactor in his hand and then crashes it.

Seeing all that on TV Justin Hammer smiles.

Later Tony goes to the prison cell to talk to Ivan. He says that Ivan could have made a fortune selling the knockoff. Ivan calls Tony and his family thieves and butchers. He wants to destroy the legacy of the Stark family. Tony asks him where he got the design for the arc reactor. Ivan says his father Anton Vanko gave it to him and he is the reason Tony is still alive. Tony says that he is alive because Ivan missed his shot. Ivan says that he didn’t miss it. The world now knows that Iron Man is vulnerable and they will come for him. Ivan will just have to watch from afar. Tony says that anything he will be watching will be from a prison cell and goes to leave the cell. As Tony is about to leave Ivan points out that palladium poisoning in the chest is a painful way to die and laughs after Tony leaves.

Justin Hammer gets Ivan out of prison and fakes his death. Justin tells Ivan that he also wants the same thing, to destroy Tony Stark’s legacy. Ivan agrees. He also asks Justin to bring Ivan his bird back from Russia.

At home, while Peppr and Natalie are dealing with the negative press, Rhosy comes to meet Tony. Tony was querying online about Anton Vanko and Ivan Vanko. Rhody says that the National Guard will take away the suites if he doesn’t handle the situation quickly. Tony’s condition being worse, he almost falls to the ground. Rhody helps him to his desk. He replaces a smoking palladium core. Seeing this Rhody expresses his concern. Tony says he knows what he is doing and he will handle the situation alone. 

Justin takes Ivan to the headquarters of Hammer Industries and shows him the prototypes Justin has previously made. Ivan walks up to a PC and gets through the firewall and into the system like a breeze. He also takes apart the head of one suit. Justin tells him that he wants to make Iron Man look like an antique and present his suits at the Stark Expo which will eventually get him into the Pentagon. Ivan says that he can do it without any problem.

At his home, while Tony is getting ready for his birthday party the reading shows that his palladium toxicity level reached 89%. Presuming this is his last birthday party, Tony shows up in his Mark IV suit and gets drunk. Seeing that he is making a fool out of himself, Pepper tries to stop him. But things quickly get out of hand. Rhody puts on the Mark II suit and warns Tony to stop. Being drunk Tony takes it as a joke and starts fighting Rhody. In their fight, they start to break down the house. They both shoot plasma beams through their hand that cause a big explosion. Tony gets knocked down. Rhody takes the Mark II suit and flies away in it. 

Rhody takes the suit to Edwards Air Force Base in Mojave, California. 

The next morning Nick Fury goes to meet Tony while he is having donuts as breakfast inside a donut structure on the donut shop’s roof. Fury asks him to exit the donut and they get inside. There Natalie walks in suited as a shield agent. Fury tells Tony that she is Shield agent Natasha Romanoff. She was tasked to keep an eye on Tony when they knew he was ill. She hits him with a dose of lithium dioxide to reduce the symptoms of palladium toxicity. They tell him that he needs to go back to work as lithium dioxide is not a permanent cure. 

Back at Hammer Industries Justin brings Ivan a bird just like the one back in Russia. But Ivan gets upset as it’s not his bird. Justin tells him to not get attached to things. Taking a look at the prototype Ivan is working Justin points out that it doesn’t look like a pilot can get into the suit. Ivan says that he is making drones. As people cause problems, drones are a better solution Hearing this Justin gets upset. This time, Ivan tells Justing not to get too attached to things. 

At the Air Force base,  Seeing the Iron Man Mark II suit the general orders Rhody to contact Justin Hammer and weaponize it. 

Fury and Tony go to Tony’s house and Fury says that his arc reactor is based on unfinished technology. His father Haward Stark said that when finished, the arc reactor technology will make the nuclear reactor look like a AAA battery. Tony asks him about Anton Vanko. Fury says that Anton Vanko wanted to get reach using the technology. When Haward Stark found out about that he got Anton deported. Hayward Stark also said that Tony is the only one with the means and knowledge to complete the Arc Reactor technology. Fury gives Tony a case that belonged to his father to start working. He tasks agent Phill Colson to keep Tony from leaving the house. Agent Romanoff disables all communication from the outside world.

At the Air Force base, Rhody gets Justin Hammer and weaponizes the Mark II suit.

Tony Takes the case Fury gave him. There he finds the original blueprint of the arc reactor,  video recordings of his father, and a notebook along with some other stuff. He starts playing the video recordings in the background and studies the notebook. he finds out that the notebook is unfinished.  At one point in the video, his father starts to talk directly to him. It was a message to older Tony. He points towards a model of Stark Expo Park and says that it’s his life’s work and the key to the future. He was limited by the technology of his time.

The next morning Tony goes to the office to meet and apologize to Pepper. There he sees that his personal belongings were put up in a corner. The meeting doesn’t go according to his plan and Pepper still being upset with him leaves. On his way out among his personal belongings, the model of the Stark Expo Park catches his eye. Realizing there is a hidden message he takes it home. He scans the model and finds out there is a model of a new element hidden in there that doesn’t exist in the periodic table yet. His AI Jervis tells him that it could work as a viable replacement for palladium. 

He starts breaking down the walls and floors of his house to create the structure needed to synthesize the element. Phil Colcon walks in to inform him that he has been reassigned to another secret task in New Mexico and says goodbye to Tony. Tony goes back to work and successfully synthesizes the new element.  He puts it in a new modified arc reactor core. 

At Hammer Industries while Ivan is working, Justin calls him saying he and Senator Sturn would like to check on the drone designs. Ivan tells him that the drones are not ready. Hearing this Justin gets down to Ivan’s workstation at once. He enters Ivan’s quarter with two guards and starts taking away his personal belongings. Justin says that he saved Ivan’s life in exchange for suits, and then he settled for drones. But he failed to deliver either. If it wasn’t for Iron Man’s Mark II suit that he weaponized he wouldn’t be able to save his reputation in the stark Expo. He says after returning from the expo they are going to renegotiate the terms of their agreement and if he fails to deliver, he will be a dead man.

While Tony is running a diagnosis on the new reactor, he receives a call from Ivan. He says that he will do the same thing to Tony in 40 minutes as his father did to Ivan’s family 40 years ago. Tracing the call partially, Tony realizes that Ivan is working with Justin Hammer. He skips the diagnosis, puts the new reactor in his chest, and tells Jervis to assemble the new suit.

At the expo, Justin Hammer makes his presentation showing off the drone prototypes along with the weaponized Mark II prototype worn by Rhody. While he is in the middle of his presentation, Tony flies in his new Mark VI suit and tells Rhody that the audience present at the expo is in danger and Justin is working with Ivan Venko. Tony asks Justin on stage where Venko is. Suddenly Rhody’s suit gets hacked remotely. Rhody’s suit and all the drones on stage start to shoot at Tony. He flies away to take the fight away from the general people. 

Justin goes to the control panel and asks his engineer what’s happening. He says that Ivan has taken control of the drones and locked him out of the mainframe. Pepper and Natasha also reach there and force Justin to talk about Ivan. Natasha sets off to Hammer Industries with Happy to get Ivan and Pepper calls the cops. 

The drones also start to destroy the compound. 

By the time Natasha and Happy reach Hammer Industries and take down all the guards Ivan is already gone.

Tony manages to take down the drones following him but Rhody’s Mark II catches up to him and they crash into a greenhouse modeled as a Japanese garden. 

Natasha gets into the system and reboots Rhody’s suit. She informs Tony that he got his friend back. She also points out that Tony’s new chest piece is providing significantly higher output and his vitals look promising. Tony agrees and says that he is not dying for the moment. 

Being on the same line Pepper hears that. This is the first time she becomes aware that Tony was dying. She gets very upset that she didn’t know about that earlier and they start to argue like a couple. Natasha interrupts them and says that the remaining drones are headed towards Tony.  

Rhody gains consciousness and they try to formulate a defense plan. But the drones start to fly in and land around them. They engage the drones and destroy them like badasses. 

The cops reach the expo and arrest Justin. Instead of leaving with the cops, Pepper decides to stay there until the park is clear. 

Natasha tells Tony and Rhody that they have one more drone incoming. It looked different than the other ones. 

It was Ivan in his whiplash armor. Tony and Rhody try to defeat him together but he grabs them both with his whiplashes. Tony has an idea and tells Rhody to put his hand up. They both fire their hand repulsers and make an explosion just like they did at Tony’s birthday party. 

Lying on the ground defeated Ivan says to Tony, “You lose”. All the cores of the drones around them start to blink red. They realize that all of those are about to blow up. Tony realizes that Pepper is in danger. He flies toward her as fast as he can and flies her out there to a nearby roof. 

There they share a kiss. Already being there Rhory sees that and says that it was weird. He flies out of there saying that he needs to hold on to the suit a bit longer as his car was destroyed in the expo. 

Tony goes to a shield facility to meet Fury. He says that according to agent Natasha Romanof’s assessment report of him at this time they are only going to let Tony in on the Avanger Initiative as an advisor. 

In a post-credit scene in New Mexico USA, Agent Phill Colson finds the spot where Thor’s hammer had landed on Earth.