Iron Man Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) refused to hand over the latest technology at a congressional hearing. At the same time, he discovered that the micro arc reactor in his chest was rapidly causing palladium poisoning in the blood. Frustrated, Tony handed the presidency of Stark Corporation to Secretary Pozi (Gwyneth Paltrow), who was solely responsible for the ongoing New York Stark Expo. Pozi transferred assistant Natalie (Scarlett Johansson) from the legal department to take care of Tony. Tony's high-profile appearance in front of the media caused dissatisfaction with Ivan (Mickey Rourke), the son of his father's colleague. In order to retaliate, he inherited his father's business and developed a set of equipment comparable to the iron suit. Ivan's technology attracted the attention of Tony's rival, arms dealer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), who managed to hijack Ivan out of prison and secretly study to replace Iron Man. While Tony was suffering from the frustration caused by palladium metal poisoning, he found that Natalie was originally in a secret mission, and his willfulness also caused a confrontation with his friend, Air Force Colonel Ronnie (Don Cheadle), and the situation seemed to be out of control ...