Iron Man was awesome. We're not debating that. It was funny, the action kicked just enough of our asses, and Robert Downey Jr. owned the role of Tony Stark. And history tells us that the first sequel to a superhero movie usually ends up improving on the first—see X2: X-Men United, Spider-Man 2, Superman II, The Dark Knight, hell, even Blade 2. So all signs point to the Iron Man sequel being a monster success.

But…

If the past year has taught us anything, it's that we should expect the worst at all times. So in the service of being cautiously optimistic, here are five ways that Iron Man 2 could crap the bed.



1. Small Rhodes
Terrence Howard may not have had a lot to do in the first Iron Man, but he seemed poised and ready to hop into the War Machine armor once the sequel arrived ("Next time, baby…). But then, a contract dispute led to him being unceremoniously dumped in favor of Don Cheadle. Now, we love Cheadle. He's a fine actor, but he's tiny. Seriously tiny. Like, "how much padding do they have to put in that War Machine armor" tiny. We just have a hard time seeing him as a potential man of action. He makes Robert Downey Jr. look like Dolph Lundgren. Even in his military uniform, he looks like a kid playing dress up. How is he going to pull off "badass"?



2. Stunt Casting
Mickey Rourke's "comeback" involved him basically playing a version of himself in The Wrestler. What made that role so heartbreaking and convincing was that it was basically Rourke laying his own demons on the table. Let's not go and start thinking this guy is a great actor. Is he really the best choice to play IM2's Russian baddie? Russian accents have felled better actors than Rourke—just check out John Malkovich in Rounders or, hell, watch Chekov in Star Trek. Anton Yelchin is Russian and he can barely pull it off.

3. Bad Casting
Two words: Scarlett Johansson. Look past her blow-up doll-level physique for a second and consider her blow-up doll-level acting ability. We've seen her try and play a badass sex kitten in The Spirit and it was so bad we develop a twitch in our left eye whenever anyone mentions that movie (there it goes again). She also has to wrestle a Russian accent, by the way, seeing as she's playing catsuited assassin Black Widow. Add to this the rumors of on-set friction with Gwenyth Paltrow and this has all the makings of a disaster. Gwenyth seemed more relaxed in the first Iron Man than we've ever seen her, and we actually liked her for once. This may change that. Making matters worse is that the original Black Widow was supposed to be the criminally underrated Emily Blunt. What's Russian for "sigh"?



4. Fanboy Interference
Look, it's great that director Jon Favreau is connected with his fans. He tweets and blogs almost daily, giving people unprecedented access to the inner workings of a blockbuster movie. But when he dared post a…wait for it…BORING PHOTO from the FIRST DAY OF SHOOTING the fanboys went nuts. So what did Favreau do instead of ignore them? He rushed to placate them. This is a dangerous precedent. Clearly anyone who complains about the quality of photos from Day 1 of shooting knows nothing about movies, and should get a healthy STFU rather than an olive branch. If he can't take a stand here, what else will he let these outside hecklers influence?



5. The Avengers
Favreau has insisted that they have taken a "character first" approach to IM2, that the focus is still on Stark and that they aren't just loading up on villains for the heck of it. But Marvel Studios is so into the concept of setting up The Avengers movie that they seem intent on aggressively steering the individual Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Hulk movies so that they can all come together down the line. This could lead to directors like Favreau being handicapped by Movie Mad-Libs: "In Iron Man 2, Stark faces off against _________________ before meeting _____________ so that he can be spun-off into _____________ which we'll get to when The Avengers comes out in 20_________." And can the rumored nine-picture deal Samuel L. Jackson signed (his Nick Fury is integral to all the Avengers-related movies) be tying up so much production money that directors have to go with third and fourth choice actors?

But again, we are all about being proven wrong here.