Question: Something that has always bothered me about this movie - Howard Stark discovered a new element when Tony was a child, but did not have the technology to create it. He hid the plans for it in the Expo. I'm fine with that. However, is it just me, or does it seem like an extreme coincidence that the element his father found is the exact element that can replace the Palladium Tony is already using and that is making him sick? It also seems as though Howard knew he wouldn't be around to make it, even though it is only 20 years in the future. Is there implied to be some time travel having happened here, in which Howard Stark learned that at some point, Tony would need an upgraded form of Palladium and that he would not be around long enough to make it?
oldbaldyone
1st May 2019
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Answer: There's no clear answer to these questions. Perhaps Howard had some theoretical ideas of where Arc Reactor technology would have shortcomings. Also Howard possibly expected Tony would follow his father's thinking, despite their clashes. Probably the filmmakers didn't come up with more detail than that and it's just a plot contrivance to keep the story moving and give us a sense of connection without worrying too much about the details.
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Answer: While convenient for the plot, there is no indication Howard Stark has knowledge of the future from time travel, although he was a smart enough man to know technology would advance enough for the element to be synthesized and he knew his son was smart enough to understand what needed to be done to create and use the new element. Howard Stark's Arc Reactor wasn't fully clean running and Howard knew with the new element, the Arc Reactor would be as close as possible to sustaining clean energy similar to the Tesseract. I can not say for certain, but I believe Howard's reactor ran on Palladium as well, so he was aware of the dangers it presented, he was not aware Tony would build a mini-arc reactor to put in his chest. Howard put the blueprint in the 1974 expo with instructions for S.H.I.E.L.D. to give to Tony when ready. However, it should also be noted that Stark Industries shifted from trying to provide sustainable energy to weapons manufacturing which was part of the reason Tony never discovered his father's work earlier.
Bishop73