Thread:MaxGoji 2.0/@comment-2058272-20161008231647/@comment-2058272-20161009141830

Here's what I think could work:

Add a back story for Mandarin at the beginning of the film

Replace Scarecrow for a better known villain (or keep him if you want)

In the comic there's a scene where Scarecrow breaks into Stark Industries only to be defeated by Iron Man, instead you could have Scarecrow steal the Ten Rings from Howard Stark's vault (it says Howard found them on the spaceship at the start of the first film), then have him briefly fight Iron Man but escape, so then Mandarin can use the Ten Rings against Iron Man in the final fight

And for the Tony Stark subplot maybe you could explore his relationship with Pepper, or his alcoholism?