Blank Check — Patreon: Iron Man 2

Published 2019-02-01; 2:10:29 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David (Patreon)” and the episode “Iron Man 2”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims. Guests: Ben Hosley.

Subject films: Iron Man 2 (2010).

On the transcript: No speaker labels and heavy mid-sentence confusion; speaker attributions are guesses, mostly low confidence. Transcript ends at 2:12 and the timestamps follow the film only loosely since hosts stop and rewind.

Films that came up

Claims (54)

programming (programming): Iron Man 2 → The Avengers. Feige pushed more cinematic-universe setup after the first film, but held most back; the Fury scene and shield joke are the result.
“Let's build shield outlets, like give them, you know, a little more of what they want.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:12:08 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Iron Man 2 → Hancock. The Demon in a Bottle alcoholism arc was dodged partly because Hancock had already done a drinking superhero two months after the first Iron Man.
“Because Hancock comes out. 2 months after the 1st Iron Man.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:12:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Iron Man 2 → Robert Downey Jr.. Tony's blood toxicity is read as a stand-in for the alcoholism storyline, suggested by Downey's own life.
“It's their way around like the alcoholism thing where it's basically like he's an alcoholic who's on the road to ruin.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:15:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Sam Rockwell → Robert Downey Jr.. Rockwell plays the shadow Tony Stark and is more likable than Downey, who is overdoing it.
“he's kind of more likable in this movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:15:52 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Gary Shandling → Robocop 2. The Shandling scene of failing military machines is likened to Robocop 2's footage of machines not working.
“Shanley is weirdly like Robocop 2, which I've just seen for the 1st time now where they show all these machines not working.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:18:54 · Griffin Newman (0.35 sure it was them)
people (people): Iron Man 2 → Gary Shandling. Shandling plays the senator in both Iron Man 2 and 3; in 3 he's much heavier.
“And when he's in the other one, he's real fat.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:19:37 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Iron Man 2 → Iron Man 3. Iron Man 3 is praised as the one that treats Tony's bravado as cover for PTSD and anxiety, which Iron Man 2 only half-attempts; Shane Black is credited with the Freudian analysis.
“That's why I think Iron Man 3 is so good about being like, oh, all his like hockey is a cover for the fact that he is like a broken man suffering from PTSD and anxiety.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:25:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Mickey Rourke → The Wrestler. After The Wrestler his battered face made casting hard, and a stylized comic-book villain was seen as a smart use of it.
“And this had felt like, okay, we're going to book villain is a good call, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:25:49 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Scarlett Johansson → Keira Knightley. Johansson, Knightley and Natalie Portman are the same age and were sexualized as young teens cast as adults.
“Scarjo is 33.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:27:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Iron Man 2 → Cowboys & Aliens. Leslie Bibb joined Favreau's next film because she wanted to keep working with him; the lead of Cowboys & Aliens was first meant for Downey and Downey backed out.
“Cowboys and Aliens was supposed to be Downey Jr.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:33:54 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Mickey Rourke → Rumble Fish. The ruined Rourke is contrasted with how handsome he was in Rumble Fish.
“It's so sad too, because he is so hot in the motorcycle movie with a rumblefish.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:46:25 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Mickey Rourke → Diner. Rourke's high-pitched youthful voice is compared to Pacino's in the same way.
“He's also one of those guys where when he was young, he had such a high pitched voice.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:46:35 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Mickey Rourke → Wreck-It Ralph. Rourke would suit a live-action Wreck-It Ralph.
“Mickey could do live action record, Ralph.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:46:59 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Iron Man 2 → Captain America: Civil War. Both films go back to Tony's parents and father issues.
“The movie goes back to that well.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:50:50 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Iron Man 2 → Kevin Feige. Feige broke away from Ike Perlmutter at Marvel to answer only to Disney, after fights over budgets and toy-driven decisions like Iron Man 3's villain.
“Kevin Feige now only answers to Disney.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:52:53 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Iron Man 3 → Rebecca Hall. Rebecca Hall was supposed to be the Iron Man 3 villain but Marvel said girl villains don't sell toys.
“boys don't like movies where girls are bad guys and we won't be able to sell toys if it's a girl.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:53:25 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Scarlett Johansson → Emily Blunt. Black Widow was meant for Blunt, who passed because she was contracted to Gulliver's Travels.
“But this was supposed to be Emily Blunt, and she passes because they had her contractually obligated to make golfers travels.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:55:05 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Iron Man 2 → Iron Man. The first film is Tony alone in the lab being weird; this one has a drunken party and fight, the opposite of what people liked.
“The 1st one is him alone in the lab being weird. and they get to that eventually in this movie, like eventually.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:58:09 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Beverly Hills Cop → Mickey Rourke. After Stallone dropped out of Beverly Hills Cop, Rourke was offered the part, then Eddie Murphy came in and the film was rebuilt around his riffing.
“Anyway, so Mickey Rourke says no.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:59:41 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Iron Man 2 → Beverly Hills Cop II. Iron Man 1 was a straight movie subverted from within by a loose lead, like Beverly Hills Cop; the sequel was written as comedy from the start, like Beverly Hills Cop II, so nothing is subversive.
“The problem with this movie is they tried to write it from as a comedy from the get go.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:01:16 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Beverly Hills Cop II → Beverly Hills Cop. The first is workaday in the Walter Hill style; the Tony Scott second is overcranked and stylized.
“Walter Hill style, you know?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:01:49 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Beverly Hills Cop III → Eddie Murphy. Murphy wanted serious roles like Denzel and Snipes, so on the Landis-directed third film he refused to tell jokes.
“So they hire John Landis to make a funny movie. And then Eddie Murphy's like, I will not tell jokes in this.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:02:14 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Samuel L. Jackson → Pulp Fiction. Nick Fury's diner scene is described as a try at a Tarantino diner, with Jules-style rhythm.
“I'm trying to do some like fucking Tarantino diner scene.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:05:14 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Scarlett Johansson → The Avengers. Her Iron Man 2 turn is flat with too much affected femme fatale, and she gets it right in the next one.
“Which I only point out just because she gets it so right in the next episode.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:05:33 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Iron Man 2 → Robocop 2. Both feature an opening gag of malfunctioning machines, and a plot about the military trying to make another one.
“this is very similar to Robocob 2 where they're like, the plot is kind of just like, how do we make another one of these?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:09:32 · Griffin Newman (0.35 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Iron Man 2 → Isle of Dogs. A tangent on the Isle of Dogs art book: great design, poor script, and the humans should have spoken in barks.
“Stand by my take, which is that all the humans should speak in barks.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:11:05 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Iron Man 2 → Thor. Nick Fury is shoehorned in here, but Hawkeye in Thor is called the worst of this kind of universe-building cameo.
“I would still argue that Hawkeye and the Crow's Nest in Thor is the worst example of it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:12:42 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Iron Man 2 → The Avengers. Whedon asked to go back to the circular arc reactor rather than the triangle set up in Iron Man 2.
“Number one, we're going back to the circle.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:13:25 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): John Slattery → Dominic Cooper. Slattery and Cooper play Howard Stark with different faces and takes, yet both make sense.
“There is like 0 chance that he and Dominic Cooper are the same person, though.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:17:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): John Slattery → Mad Men. Casting a Mad Men guy as a 1960s mogul was a smart move; same swagger.
“You cast a guy out of Madman to play a guy from the 60s.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:17:39 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Iron Man 2 → Portal 2. A Slattery-as-Walt-Disney-style sponsor figure is likened to J.K. Simmons's voice character in Portal 2.
“J.K. Simmons voice is a character who is also kind of like this in Portal 2,”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:18:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Iron Man 2 → Miami Vice. Unlike Miami Vice, which reeked of a miserable shoot, Iron Man 2 was probably fun to make.
“it's not some movie where, like, Miami Vice, where it reeks of like, oh, everyone was having a miserable time.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:22:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Iron Man 2 → Captain America: The First Avenger. The shield-on-the-desk and Thor hammer tags are called ham-fisted universe building.
“I just feel very ham fisted.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:25:25 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Iron Man 2 → The Avengers. Hosts say Shane Black's remedy and Feige's diagnosis were to return to Tony in the cave, humbled and problem-solving.
“the thing I know we need to do is get back to Tony in the cave.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:28:51 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Joss Whedon → Serenity. Whedon was a correct choice as writer, though as a director his low-budget look (Serenity) was a worry.
“I was such a huge serenity fan.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:30:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Sam Rockwell → Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Rockwell is good in a character that makes no sense, which impresses more than the film does on a second look.
“I think his performance is mostly impressive because no one should be able to play that character.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:33:02 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Sam Rockwell → Galaxy Quest. Rockwell deserved his Oscar for Galaxy Quest rather than Three Billboards; 1999 was a tough year.
“I wish he'd won for Galaxy Quest.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:33:59 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Alan Rickman → Galaxy Quest. Rickman's never give up never surrender moment is a highlight, and a sequel or series was reportedly close before he died.
“Do you know that they were apparently really close to making a 2nd one before Rickman died?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:34:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Iron Man 2 → Men in Black. Setting the climax at a World's Fair site worked in Men in Black because it was thematic with the flying saucers; here it is arbitrary and the drones are generic.
“A movie already did this and got away with it too. The film called Men in Black.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:37:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Iron Man 2 → Iron Man 3. Iron Man 3's robot suits and extremis stuff are more varied than Iron Man 2's copy-paste drones.
“Iron Man 3 does this too, but at least an Iron Man 3. They're a little different looking, and also the extremist stuff is its own thing.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:37:27 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Jon Favreau → The Avengers. If Iron Man 2 had been good, Favreau would have been handed The Avengers; instead Marvel wanted someone with strong story sense who knew the comics.
“He would have directed it if this movie had been good.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:38:50 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Magic Kingdom (unmade Disney film) → Night at the Museum. The unmade Magic Kingdom was described as Night at the Museum at Disney World.
“That was like night at the museum, but at Disney World.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:39:55 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Magic Kingdom (unmade Disney film) → Jungle Cruise. Disney found more value in rebooting each property separately than in one mega-movie.
“That movie never got made because I think they realized there was more value in rebooting every property separately.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:40:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Jon Favreau → Magic Kingdom (unmade Disney film). After Iron Man 2 Favreau said he was leaving the MCU to make his own things; Ronald D. Moore's Magic Kingdom script got him in the door at Disney, leading to the CGI-animal remakes.
“but that got him in the door at Disney and now he's decided he just wants to be the CGI animal guy.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:40:43 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Andrew Bujalski → Lady and the Tramp. The indie director of Support the Girls wrote the Disney streaming Lady and the Tramp.
“Andrew Bajowski.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:41:13 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): Genndy Tartakovsky → Iron Man 2. Favreau brought in Tartakovsky to design the Expo action sequence, which is the one exceptional visual idea in the film.
“And that whole sequence was designed by Gandhi Tartakovsky.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:43:33 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Genndy Tartakovsky → Samurai Jack. The petal-strewn garden drone sequence reads as Samurai Jack and Clone Wars style.
“And that's so Samurai Jack, the like the fucking flower petals, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:50:04 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Genndy Tartakovsky → Mickey Rourke. A live-action Tartakovsky film with people who look like cartoon characters, like Rourke.
“Imagine what he would do with Mickey Rourke.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:50:45 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Jack White → Iron Man 2. While reading the credits, a host notes that Jack White is credited on Iron Man 2 and jokes that he played the element.
“Iron Man Jack White is credited?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 2:00:42 · David Sims (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Iron Man 2 → Toy Story 3. Iron Man 2 was expected to be the summer's biggest film but Toy Story 3 beat it as the year's highest grosser.
“T. S. Trois.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 2:00:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Iron Man 2 → The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight came out the same year as the first Iron Man and changed everything.
“And then obviously Dark Knight, which comes out the same year as Iron Man, and they change everything forever.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 2:02:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Iron Man 2 → A Nightmare on Elm Street. In week two, Iron Man 2 sat at number two while the Elm Street remake held opening.
“The Nightmare on Elm Street.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 2:06:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Iron Man 2 → Thor. Its post-credit scene is called the weakest, existing only to announce Thor's film, much like the Captain Marvel tag after Infinity War.
“Because essentially it's just like Thor, Thor, will be the star of a new movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 2:07:38 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Rick Baker → Mickey Rourke. The speaker jokes that makeup artist Rick Baker was handed an Academy Award for Rourke's look, when Rourke simply showed up on set that way.
“Rick Baker, an Academy Award for Mickey Rourke in this movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 2:09:08 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items (24)

fun, about Mickey Rourke: Rourke's Chihuahua died right before filming; he allegedly made PAs hold up pictures of the dog and its belongings for the crying and screaming scenes.
“And he apparently would make PAs hold up pictures of his dog and like his dog's belongings for all these scenes where he's like crying and screaming.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:05:40 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Mickey Rourke: Rumor of Rourke and Rockwell as the two villains played well, then Rourke trashed Marvel on the red carpet; the trailer was built around the Monte Carlo reveal of him.
“Maybe if those skinflints at Marvel open up their wallets a little bit.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:07:03 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man 2: Opening press conference, around 0:08 to 0:10: Tony jumps from a cargo plane and the film calls its own shot; the hosts call it too into itself.
“Yeah, I mean, like, this movie seems like a little too into itself.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:10:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man 2: See the Gary Shandling Senate hearing scene around 0:14: Tony blows kisses and sunglasses at the Senate, and the hosts find the bravado too much.
“I can't quite parse the subtlety of this scene where he's putting on sunglasses blowing kisses to the Senate and being like, kiss my ass.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:20:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Justin Hammer: See Rockwell's Hammer: the bad spray tan leaves the palms of his hands white, a character detail hinted at around 0:30 and visible at the dinner (0:47).
“The palms of his hands are white.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:30:49 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man 2: See the Monte Carlo track: Whiplash's coveralls burn away to leave him in what looks like genie pants.
“It flames off of his body, and now it looks like he's wearing genie pants.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:36:45 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man 2: The suitcase armor around 0:38 was the trailer's money shot, then Whiplash immediately beats the suit with whips.
“And then the suitcase is immediately followed by whiplash, a man with no shirt immediately beating the stupid suit by using his whips.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:39:12 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Tick: Griffin's background-actor tale from The Tick: an extra twirling like Sound of Music in a happy crowd scene, and a recurring extra he called extra extra.
“And we called her extra extra because she did so much.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:41:12 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Mickey Rourke: See Rourke's scene with Rockwell around 0:47 to 0:49: Rourke's bird; the hosts say the salary meeting was moved to a hangar and Rourke asked for his boy.
“Rourke's agent was like, he'll only meet you in an airplane hangar.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:50:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about DJ AM: DJ AM is in the drunken party scene around 0:56 to 0:59, and died before the film came out, which the hosts call morbid.
“he died before this movie came out.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 0:57:09 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man 2: Drunk party fight in the Tony suit around 0:58: the hosts say nobody wants to see drunk friends fight.
“I don't want to see drunken friends punch each other.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:00:03 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F: Griffin once listed himself on IMDb as Axel Foley Jr. in Beverly Hills Cop 4 and got traction online.
“I listed myself in IMDb as playing Axl Foley Jr. in Beverly Hills Cup 4 and I got some traction online.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:02:25 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Samuel L. Jackson: See the donut-shop Nick Fury scene at Randy's around 1:04: the hosts say it grinds the movie to a halt and criticizes the plot of the film you're watching.
“the other problem is he's literally criticizing the plot of the movie you're watching.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:06:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man 2: The tentative best joke: the perpetual motion machine on Pepper's desk, which she won't let him move, at about 1:20.
“This is actually the best joke in the movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:20:15 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man 2: Tony synthesizes the new element in his father's Expo model scene around 1:24, which the hosts say they cannot parse; a teen audience groaned at it opening weekend.
“There were some sort of snarky teens behind me.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:24:42 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man 2: See Hammer's half-Captain America shield used as a coil part around 1:27, which the hosts call contempt for universe building.
“The joke is like, ha ha, who cares about your stupid universe building shit?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:28:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Stark Expo: Running bit: every time the Stark Expo comes up someone says the Expo is an element, a gag on the film's nonsense geometry.
“Stark Expo is an element.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:36:25 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Marvel Cinematic Universe: The Marvel Marathon at the theaters skips Iron Man 2, Winter Soldier, Ragnarok, and others; Dark World is called the best American film ever made, as a joke.
“Yeah, I mean, Dark World, of course, is the best American film ever made.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:45:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Ben Hosley: Griffin posted a photo of Ben vaping; the replies ran from Colin Gossel to a good lounge-singer jazz album cover; it became a running gag.
“A good lounge singer jazz album cover shot.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:47:00 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Stark Expo: A Stark Expo is being built at Disneyland Paris, per the hosts; a Griffin search later says both Hong Kong and Paris have the Iron Man experience.
“They got a Disneyland Stark Expo.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:47:53 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man 2: The drone attack garden sequence about 1:49 to 1:51, designed by Tartakovsky: twinning spinning laser, staggered ejections; the hosts' favorite part and shot like Samurai Jack.
“That's great. The twinning, the spinning laser thing is so great.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:50:54 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man 2: See the Whiplash ex-wife robot fight around 1:52 to 1:54: a Chekhov's bird joke is pitched; they wish the bird were used in the climax.
“Chehov's bird.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 1:53:43 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man 2: Box office game: the film opened to about $128 million and finished near $312 million domestic, behind Toy Story 3; the hosts guess Date Night and The Backup Plan from clues.
“Is it the backup plan?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 2:06:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man 2: Hosts joke that the Academy gave Rick Baker an Oscar for Rourke's look and Baker said he didn't make that.
“And he was like, I didn't make that.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 2 · 2:09:14 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Griffin Newman (host): Loves comic-book lore (Crimson Dynamo, Demon in a Bottle) and Iron Man 3, Galaxy Quest, Garry Shandling. Cannot stand a movie that pads out its middle with self-impressed banter. A sucker for Tartakovsky action.
David Sims (host): Film-history minded and well versed in studio politics (Feige, Perlmutter); likes Wes Anderson books but not Isle of Dogs. Dislikes hollow universe-building. Loves Galaxy Quest and Rickman.
Ben Hosley (guest): Producer who is newest to these films; he gamely watches, is disappointed, and likes only Mickey Rourke's strangeness. Not a fan of Iron Man 2.

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong

John Favreose/John Favreau = Jon Favreau
Justin Thoreau/Justin Throwe = Justin Theroux
Mickey Ross/Mickey Rook = Mickey Rourke
Gary Chandling/Shanley/Sandley = Garry Shandling
Tartakovsky rendered as Gandhi Tartakovsky/Gandy Target/Taratoski = Genndy Tartakovsky
Carrie Shanling = Garry Shandling
Crimson Animo = Crimson Dynamo
Joss Weed = Joss Whedon
Bajowski = Andrew Bujalski
Pavro = Favreau
Foggy/Fogge/Pike = Feige
T.S. Trois/TS Twa = Toy Story 3
golfers travels = Gulliver's Travels
Ike Perlmoter = Ike Perlmutter
Rickman = Alan Rickman
Jack White credited is likely a misread of credits

Blank Check — Patreon: Iron Man 2

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Films that came up

passing (37)

subject (1)

compared (23)

anecdote (11)

recommended (4)

dismissed (1)

Claims (54)

Fun items (24)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong