Continuity mistake: When Tony is telling the reporter that he has personal business in China, none of the reporters are standing within an arm's reach of him. When the shot changes to Blizzard and Hypnotia watching the report on TV, he suddenly has four microphones in front of his face. (00:06:51)
Continuity mistake: When the four captains of industry have reached the top of the cliff, they are standing next to each other. When the shot changes, two of them are suddenly standing in front of the other two. When the shot changes again to Fin Fang Foom's foot slamming down in front of them, they are once again standing next to each other. (00:06:36)
Continuity mistake: When Tony is working on repairing the torso piece of his armor, it is only the chest. After H.O.M.E.R. tells him he is at risk of paralysis, the piece of armor has the back section attached to it as well. (00:03:26)
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)
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)
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 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)
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: 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)
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)
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'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 War Machine is surveying the wreckage of Tony's jet, he finds one of Iron Man's gauntlets on the floor of the jet, with the palm facing up. When the shot changes, the gauntlet has rotated so that the outside of the thumb is facing up, and is also now on the ocean floor instead of the jet floor. (00:09:39)
Continuity mistake: When Tony's jet sinks to the ocean floor, it is still intact. When War Machine is approaching it, it is suddenly completely split in half, with the front half positioned at a 90° angle respective to the back half. (00:09:23)
Continuity mistake: When Tony is talking to the press before boarding his jet, the handle to seal the door shut is missing in the wide shot. (00:06:48)
Continuity mistake: When Tony is talking to reporters before boarding his jet, the handle of the door is at a horizontal angle. When the shot changes, the handle has rotated counter-clockwise roughly 45°. When he boards the jet and begins to rotate the handle, it is now back to being at almost the original horizontal angle, just tilted down on the right side slightly. The entire mechanism also moves closer to the window. (00:06:58)
Character mistake: When Tony Stark is boarding his private jet, one of the reporters calls him "Mr. Star." (00:07:04)
Continuity mistake: When Tony Stark is departing in his private jet, you can see in the wide shot that most of the press is standing on the left side of the stairway, with only a couple on the ride side. When the shot changes, several reporters are now on the right side. (00:06:48)
Continuity mistake: When the four captains of industry are climbing the cliff and nearing the top, they are more or less the same distance apart from each other. When the shot changes to them reaching the top, the one on the far left in the previous shot is now suddenly several feet away from the man that was next to him. (00:06:32)
Continuity mistake: When Nick Fury picks up the file folder, the folder is brown and the "Top Secret" label is yellow, with the word "Top" being a in a solid black and bold font and aligned to the left so that the "T" in "Top" is directly above the "S" in "Secret." When Tony is telling Fury all the things Justin Hammer has done to him, the folder is now the same yellow color as the label, the word "Top" is written in block lettering, and it is centered above the word "Secret." (00:05:10)
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 ★