50 free Iron Man 2 trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Iron Man 2 is the 2010 sequel that opened Marvel's second year of films, with Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark dying slowly from the palladium in his chest while Mickey Rourke's Ivan Vanko builds his own arc reactor and a pair of whips. It introduced Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, swapped Terrence Howard for Don Cheadle as Rhodey, gave Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer a dance, and ended with a hammer in the New Mexico desert. This quiz covers the story and the production: the villains who were combined and cut, the actress who nearly played Black Widow, Rourke's self-funded cockatoo, the tattoo Feige erased, the working title, the Monaco shoot that Bernie Ecclestone vetoed, the green screen made of shipping containers, the Sherman Brothers' Expo theme, the AC/DC album, the $4 billion Disney deal that arrived mid-production, the box office and the Oscar nomination. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone or print it for a quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed Iron Man 2?
Jonathan Favreau
He also returned as Happy Hogan, and conceived the story with Robert Downey Jr. before Justin Theroux wrote the script.
Q 02Iron Man 2 is which numbered film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Third
It followed Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, and was released in May 2010 as part of Phase One.
Q 03Which element in Stark's arc reactor is slowly poisoning him?
Palladium
He eventually synthesises a new element from a diagram hidden in his father's 1974 Expo diorama.
Q 04Who plays Ivan Vanko, the Russian physicist with electrified whips?
Mickey Rourke
He visited Moscow's Butyrka prison to research the role and suggested half his dialogue be in Russian.
Q 05Vanko is an amalgamation of Whiplash and which other comics villain?
Crimson Dynamo
Crimson Dynamo turned up separately as a villain in the Sega tie-in game.
Q 06Which pet did Rourke pay for out of his own pocket to give Vanko?
A cockatoo
He also paid for the character's gold teeth and suggested the tattoos.
Q 07Which tattoo on Rourke did Kevin Feige have digitally removed?
'Loki', his late dog's name
Feige worried it would confuse audiences ahead of Loki's debut in Thor the following year.
Q 08Who replaced Terrence Howard as James Rhodes?
Don Cheadle
He had only a few hours to accept the role and signed a six-picture deal.
Q 09Howard later claimed Downey 'took the money that was supposed to go to me' and did what?
Pushed him out
Howard had been the first actor hired on Iron Man and its highest paid.
Q 10What name does Natasha Romanoff use while posing as Stark's new assistant?
Natalie Rushman
Nick Fury unmasks her as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent at Randy's Donuts.
Q 11Which actress was in early talks to play Black Widow before Johansson?
Emily Blunt
Her commitment to Gulliver's Travels got in the way.
Q 12What did Johansson do before landing the part to convince Favreau she was right for it?
Dyed her hair red
She had also researched other Marvel characters she might play, including the Blonde Phantom and the Wasp.
Q 13Who plays rival arms dealer Justin Hammer?
Sam Rockwell
He had been considered for Tony Stark in the first film, and took the Hammer role without reading the script.
Q 21Which comics storyline about Stark's drinking did the film deliberately NOT adapt?
Demon in a Bottle
Executives feared an alcoholic Iron Man would hurt marketing and toy sales, so the thread was downplayed.
Q 22Which scientist was Stark modelled on, at the suggestion of Lethal Weapon's writer?
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Black, who later directed Iron Man 3, pointed to Oppenheimer's depression at being 'the destroyer of worlds'.
Q 23Which villain cut from early drafts later debuted in Ant-Man and the Wasp?
Ghost
Early drafts had Justin Hammer creating several villains alongside Whiplash.
Q 14In the comics, Justin Hammer is what, to the actor's surprise?
An old Englishman
Rockwell described his version as 'plucky comic relief' with a bit of an edge.
Q 15How many films did Samuel L. Jackson sign up for as Nick Fury?
Nine
Contract disputes nearly scuppered the deal; Jackson joked 'Maybe I won't be Nick Fury'.
Q 16Garry Shandling's senator character was named after which radio host?
Howard Stern
The senator wants Stark to hand the armour to the government.
Q 17In his cameo, Stan Lee is mistaken for which TV personality?
Larry King
In the first film he had been mistaken for Hugh Hefner.
Q 18Which tech CEO appears as himself at the Monaco restaurant?
Elon Musk
Oracle's Larry Ellison, Bill O'Reilly and Christiane Amanpour also appear as themselves.
Q 19Who played the little boy in an Iron Man mask whom Stark saves from a drone?
The director's son
Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts later suggested the boy was a young Peter Parker, and Feige agreed it was plausible.
Q 20To whose memory is the film dedicated?
DJ AM
He appears as himself and died before the film was released.
Q 24Which comedy, starring Downey, had writer Justin Theroux co-written?
Tropic Thunder
Downey recommended him to Marvel; Theroux's back later gave out from rewriting around the on-set improvisation.
Q 25Which animator, creator of Samurai Jack, storyboarded the film?
Genndy Tartakovsky
Adi Granov returned to supervise the armour designs.
Q 26What was the film's working title?
Rasputin
Principal photography began on April 6, 2009, at the Pasadena Masonic Temple.
Q 27Where was the bulk of the film shot?
Raleigh Studios
Marvel had agreed to make this and its next three films at the Manhattan Beach facility.
Q 28Which Formula One boss retracted permission to film at the Monaco Grand Prix?
Bernie Ecclestone
The crew shipped one Rolls-Royce Phantom to Monaco and shot the race itself in a Downey Studios car park.
Q 29Who drove Stark's racing car in the Monaco sequence?
Tanner Foust
The race cars were later added digitally to a track sequence.
Q 30A massive green screen for the Expo exterior was built at which Los Angeles landmark?
The Sepulveda Dam
Hundreds of shipping containers were stacked, plastered and painted green.