Continuity mistake: When Iron Man's helmet falls to the ocean floor, it is standing straight up. When the shot changes, the face of the helmet is now pointed up. (00:09:46)
Continuity mistake: When Mandarin is shown after Fin Fang Foom calls him a thief, the rings on certain fingers are missing in some shots. (00:11:15)
Continuity mistake: When Century is first seen, the left side of his cape and shoulder pads are colored darker in color than the right side, due to being in shadow. When the shot changes, both sides are colored the same despite him not moving. (00:12:49)
Continuity mistake: When Justin Hammer pulls out the folded map, the outside of it is a solid brown color. When the shot changes, the map is now a lighter shade of brown and also has grid-lines at the top. (00:13:52)
Continuity mistake: When Iron Man arrives to help Rhodey battle Mandarin and the dragons, there is a shot of MODOK and Mandarin in disbelief that Iron Man is still alive. You can see MODOK has pupils on his eyes, and he is grimacing. When the shot changes, his eyes are back to being their usual blank appearance, and his mouth is closed. (00:17:44)
Continuity mistake: When Fin Fang Foom is saying "This planet, my brothers, is ours," the dragons are standing in a circle. When the shot changes, they are all standing directly next to each other and would only be forming a half-circle at most. (00:18:39)
Revealing mistake: When MODOK is fleeing after the dragons have been defeated, the edge of an animation cel is visible on the right side of the screen. (00:19:13)
Continuity mistake: When Iron Man is checking on Rhodey and pulls his helmet off, part of Rhodey's chin turns gray. (00:19:20)
Continuity mistake: When Rhodey knocks Tony down, Rhodey's belt buckle is circular. When Rhodey is picking Tony back up, his belt buckle is now square-shaped. (00:19:29)
Continuity mistake: When Rhodey knocks Tony to the floor for faking his death, the top of Rhodey's pants are visible above his belt. When he leans over, the top of his pants disappear. (00:19:29)
Revealing mistake: When the villagers are bringing Mandarin to the doctor in a stretcher, you can see that the animators only drew the top half of his body, and the size of the stretcher is relative to it. When the shot changes, both the Mandarin's body and the stretcher are now the appropriate sizes. (00:21:05)
Other mistake: When Tony Stark is suiting up to rescue War Machine, the device he wears on his chest to keep the shrapnel out of his heart is missing. (00:01:52)
Continuity mistake: When Tony is standing over an unconscious Rhodey, his shirt has no pocket. After he sits down, a pocket has appeared on his shirt. (00:05:09)
Continuity mistake: After Tony puts the tape in the VCR, he leans forward and rests his hands on the control panel, and you can see no-one is around him on his right. When the shot changes, Tony is standing upright, Rhodey is suddenly on his right. (00:11:20)
Other mistake: Tony Stark has long hair that goes down to about the base of his neck, but when he puts his helmet on after figuring out what Firebrand's plan is, his hair magically goes entirely inside the helmet without him tucking it. (00:13:00)
Continuity mistake: When Iron Man and War Machine are flying away with Firebrand in tow, a power cable linking their two suits together appears when the shot changes. (00:17:57)
Other mistake: When Firebrand is in the back of the police car, his handcuffs are the same yellow-orange color as most of his costume, and half of the front passenger seat is missing. (00:19:19)
Continuity mistake: When Rhodey is telling Tony that he is done being War Machine, large monitors are behind him. When Rhodey is leaving the room, the monitors behind him are significantly smaller. (00:19:44 - 00:20:10)
Continuity mistake: When the slave driver is raising his whip to Mandarin, the ring on his finger has a large red jewel on it. When the shot changes, the entire ring is gold. (00:20:34)
Cell of Iron - S2-E3
Continuity mistake: When Dum Dum Dugan is holding up the documents for Iron Man to see, his right hand is grasping them by the top-center. When the shot changes to the documents reflected in Iron Man's helmet, Dugan's hand is missing from the reflection. The words on the document are also gibberish. (00:03:12)
Answer: Gleaned from the Internet: Some critics criticized the premise of so many one-off battles that were introduced and concluded within one or two episodes. Others felt the first-season plot lines were overly simplistic and never progressed or developed through the season. Also, the rivalry between Iron Man and the Mandarin also failed to capture viewer's attention.
raywest ★