This week, my brother I will be reposting some of our favorite blog posts that didn’t get enough attention. With the upcoming Iron Man sequel The Avengers I thought this post was a good one to flashback to.
Justin Hammer in the movie Iron Man 2 was an incompetent and awkward rival who was mainly there to provide resources for the real villain, Whiplash. In the comics, Hammer was much, much more.
Ruthless and cunning, Justin Hammer was one of Tony Stark’s greatest enemies, even though he had no powers or weapons of his own. Hammer was a billionaire industrialist who was driven more by the need for profit and power in the business world than any high ideals or desire for world domination. In his first appearance, Hammer was revealed as the man funding and providing technology for many of Iron Man’s greatest enemies, like Whiplash and the Rhino. That gave Hammer an army of powerful super-villains at his command that he frequently launched en masse to attack both Iron Man and Tony Stark. Though Hammer was not a technological genius himself, he had some of the world’s greatest scientists and engineers on his payroll. His labs could do almost anything, including seize control of Iron Man’s armor, causing Stark to fire his repulsor and kill an ambassador. In short, Hammer was both Tony Stark’s rival in business and crime.
I was disappointed that Iron Man 2 didn’t make Hammer the powerhouse that he was in the comics. But I thought Sam Rockwell was hilarious.
What do you think of Justin Hammer? Let us know in the comments!
Originally posted October 2010 by Nigel Mitchell
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="40454 ">2 Comments
I thought he was all right, although I've not read enough of the comics to be able to compare the two. Rockwell was perfect in Galaxy Quest though!
Yeah, I have no problem with Rockwell's performance. He always delivers, and he was fantastic in the role they gave him. I just wish they had made Hammer the genuine threat he was in the comics. The scene where he was threatening Venko was more what I wanted Hammer to be.