I choose to believe that when Tony said he "fixed" Pepper, he meant "made her condition completely controllable, but now she can toast marshmallows with her fingers".

And yes, I was very happy with the Mandarin as well. As with the first movie, the real threat is a white man with American's military-industrial complex behind him, but I think the bluff with Scary Brown People was much more sophisticated this time.

I was a bit eyerolly at Rhodey's adventures in Pakistan, but I liked that the first people he went for got to laugh at his password, and that AIM used his American Saviour fantasies as bait.