Ivan Vanko, also known by the criminal alias as the Whiplash, is the primary main antagonist of Iron Man 2. A brilliant physicist and mechanical engineer, he embarked on a mission of revenge against Tony Stark and his company whom he blamed for ruining his father's reputation.
He was portrayed by Mickey Rourke.
History[]
Iron Man 2[]
Ivan Vanko was the son of Russian physicist Anton Vanko. Anton had originally worked with Howard Stark in developing the arc reactor, but had been deported from the United States when it was discovered that he was merely attempting to sell the technology rather than use it to benefit mankind. Through most of his childhood, Ivan suffered abuse at the hands of his disgraced father who had turned to alcoholism. Over the years, Ivan became highly knowledgeable in the fields of physics and mechanical sciences, while adopting his father's hatred for the Stark family. At some point he was caught selling Soviet grade plutonium to Pakistan and served 15 years in prison. This would be the only recorded knowledge of his existence.
After the death of his father, Ivan immediately began work on a replica of the arc reactor. Ivan constructed an exoskeleton, powered by a miniature arc reactor, to use against Tony Stark in an effort to discredit him. Ivan attacked Tony during the Monaco Grand Prix, using his Whiplash harness to destroy several cars in the race, but Tony ultimately defeated him using a portable Iron Man suit, and Ivan was sent to prison. While in custody, Ivan was asked by Tony why he didn't sell his technology to make money. Ivan replied that he wanted to remove Tony's awe from the people and demonstrate that Iron Man could be defeated. Ivan also deduced that Tony was being poisoned by the palladium in his arc reactor saying, "Palladium in the chest, painful way to die".
Later, Ivan escaped from prison with the help of Tony's rival Justin Hammer, who also orchestrated the faking of Ivan's death in the prison break. Ivan and Justin then made a deal, in which Ivan was to build armoured suits like the Iron Man armour in exchange for Hammer Industries resources. Ivan changed the terms of the deal however, when he retrofitted Justin's existing armour technology from wearable suits into unmanned drones.
Ivan was then locked up in the Hammer Industries New York factory, having enraged Justin with the unexpected change. In the meantime, Justin's plan to unveil the drones during the World Stark Expo went ahead, although Ivan again surprised his benefactor when the drones powered up and altered the simple unveiling to a full-blown demonstration. Ivan had killed his guards and remotely assumed control of the drones, as well as the War Machine armour worn by James Rhodes.
Death[]
As a lengthy dogfight involving both Iron Man armours and the Hammerdrones progressed, Ivan abandoned the factory and got personally involved in an armoured suit of his own. The superior bulk and capabilities of his suit initially outmatched the combined efforts of Tony and Rhodes, but working together they soon found a way to beat him. As he lay wounded in the remains of his armour, Ivan revealed that he had concealed self-destruct devices in his suit as well as all of the Hammerdrones. His dying words were, "You lose". Both Tony and Rhodes were able to fly away before Ivan's armour and his robots exploded.