Iron Man 2 Pictures

Agreed, Mike, and Whiplash will show up and beat a little humility into Tony Stark.

Frankly, I see the movie progressing like this:

1. Stark refuses Fury's offer to work with S.H.I.E.L.D.

2. Stark refuses to hand over "the Iron Man weapon" to the US government.

3. Whiplash comes out of prison and goes after Tony for what Tony's father did to him (stealing the arc reactor tech and imprisoning him on false charges cooked up by the Soviet government).

4. Either S.H.I.E.L.D. or the US government link up with Justin Hammer to concoct a scheme to infiltrate Stark Industries (Black Widow) and steal the tech. Do NOT put it past Fury to do that if he has been soundly rebuffed.

5. Rhodey goes after Tony on orders of the US government, being told that Stark is trying to either sell the tech to bad guys, or has just gone rogue and has to be reined in. ALTERNATE: Rhodey is told that Tony will use the Iron Man weapon against the US government in retaliation for the theft of his tech. Iron Man shows up at a defense installation looking for his property, and War Machine and the Hammer bots chase him off.

5. Rhodey and the Hammer bots take Tony down.

6. At the same time, Tony and Pepper are having friction as a new love interest has popped up in Tony's life.

7. Tony goes back to the drawing board and creates a new, stronger set of armor and weapons. He creates, and takes, the Extremis serum to reverse the rejection of the arc reactor.

8. Tony goes back after his tech, after haranguing the crap out of Rhodey for following orders without asking questions. He is pressed to the wall by Hammer bots and is about to be taken out, for good.

9. War Machine sets down in the circle of Hammer bots next to Tony, throws the faceplate back, and the two friends drop faceplates into place for the final massive battle.

10. Whiplash also appears in the final battle.

11. Stark finally realizes that he is not going to be able to handle the expectations of a superhero on his own. He returns to Fury, and tells Old Nick that he is ready to discuss the Avenger Initiative. Camera pans back in a lab, and Nick introduces Stark to two young scientists who are working with S.H.I.E.L.D.: Henry Pym and Janet van Dyne.

*roll credits*