No doubt by now you’ve seen the awesomeness that is the Iron Man 2 – Trailer 2 at least a half-dozen times. Aside from the briefcase suit of armor, the trailer also gives us a possible glimpse at the plot and order of events in the movie. I’ve arranged the images below in order of how I think the events play out in the film. Right or wrong, I think it makes sense. Here is my 100% speculation on the events of Iron Man 2:

I think the movie will start off with the Stark Expo – Tony living the life of a revealed superhero. We’ll quickly go to the Grand Prix race and his first encounter with Whiplash. He’ll use the briefcase armor to defeat Whiplash – who is imprisoned. I don’t think he creates his tech and comparable power source while in prison. Seems unlikely.

Next, Tony begins work on a stronger power source, having almost been defeated by Whiplash. Also noticing Stark’s near defeat is his former competitor and weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer. Springing Whiplash from prison, Hammer offers Whiplash a deal – resources to make his own version of the Iron Man armor. Hammer and Whiplash create the War Machine armor at the behest of the U.S. Military. Due to his ties with Stark, James Rhodes is selected as the wearer of the armor. When he breaks this news to Tony, the two fight it out while Rhodes wears a prototype suit (this is the only part I’m really unsure about, can’t think who else would be in the suit – but the why is hard to imagine).

As all of this is going down, we learn that Tony’s new secretary is really the Black Widow. She infiltrated Stark Industries early in the film and is actually working for Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to keep a close eye on Stark and his tech. Tony parties hard-letting Natasha try the gauntlet-after being deeply affected by Rhodes’ seeming betrayal. At the same time, Rhodes/War Machine is unveiled to the public, flanked by a platoon of mechanical Iron Man based soldiers.

Hammer and/or Whiplash reveal their true motives and the mechanical Iron-Bots are no longer controlled by the army. The evil Iron-bots seek out Tony Stark, who lures them away from his house and on a wild chase. As he makes his last stand against them, Rhodes shows up in the War Machine armor and the two join forces – friends once again – to defeat the true enemy. At the end, Nick fury returns and chats once again with Stark about the Avengers. Having gone through his recent ordeal and near defeat, Stark sees how useful a team of allies could be.

Again, this is 100% speculation on my part, based on the trailer (and original trailer) and a good bit of knowledge of the original Justin Hammer storyline in the comics. I think it’s perfect fit for the film. It continues Tony’s exploration of who he is and let’s him explore the consequences of his actions when he revealed himself to the public. It organically adds War Machine quickly to the mix and leaves the players in place for the 2012 Avengers movie.

Take a look and see what you think.