Iron Man was released on May 2^nd, 2008 and was a surprise smash hit. At the time no one knew how well the movie would do. Optimistic predictions were that it would hit the 200 million range. I remember thinking at the time it would hit around 260 million or so. When all was said and done it wound up with 318 million domestically and 585 million worldwide. It is the second biggest movie of 2008 behind The Dark Knight which made over 500 million. Iron Man came out at a time when superhero movies were hit and miss. X-Men and Spider-Man were hugely popular. Daredevil with Ben Affleck did decently. Elektra bombed. Batman Begins did well and breathed new life in the Bat franchise after the poor reception of Batman and Robin. Superman Returns made 200 million, but it was not well received, and it was expensive to make. The most successful superhero movies of the early 2000s were Spider-Man and X-Men along with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Fantastic Four did well enough and had a sequel Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer which made less than the first one. There were plans for a third one that wound up not happening. Rise of the Silver Surfer came out a year before Iron Man.

Iron Man is both the beginning and the end of two different eras. Iron Man is the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that would go on to change the genre forever. It also marked the end of individual superhero movies before cinematic universes were all the rage. Ghost Rider, Daredevil, The Punisher, The Hulk, X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Blade and numerous others were their own thing. X-Men had its own franchise that led to spinoffs and prequels within its own part of the world to varying degrees of success. There were attempts to have a Spider-verse that never came to fruition until more recently with Venom and Morbius which has also had varying degrees of success. For the most part now, superhero movies are part of a bigger picture. Iron Man was so successful that it ended one era and began a new era.

With Iron Man’s 15^th anniversary also comes the anniversary of the birth of the MCU which will get its own post. Iron Man still holds well today as it did when it opened fifteen years ago. Iron Man not only kicked off the MCU, it also kicked off the popular trend of credit scenes. Some movies prior to Iron Man had credit scenes. X-Men: The Last Stand has a credit scene. The Pirate of the Caribbean movies all had credit scenes. Credit scenes were not as common as they are now, not only with superhero movies but franchises in general. The Super Mario Bros Movie has two credit scenes. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has a mid-credit scene. The recent Fast and Furious movies have had credit scenes. It’s become more common now. Iron Man’s credit scene was game changing because it introduced Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury who also teased The Avengers initiative. Nick Fury went on to appear in Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avengers which all led to The Avengers. The only two Marvel movies not to have a credit scene are The Incredible Hulk who had one that was cut out from the movie and Avengers: Endgame. Even that had a little something at the end. A sound effect that paid homage to Iron Man.

Iron Man breathed new life into Robert Downey Jr.’s career which emulated the journey of Tony Stark. Robert Downey Jr. and Tony Stark became the face of the MCU. Iron Man starred Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark aka Iron Man, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard as Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson, Shaun Taub as Yinsen, Faran Tahir as Raza, and Paul Bettany as J.A.R.V.I.S.

Iron Man introduced a set of key characters besides Iron Man. Pepper Potts went on to be in subsequent movies including The Avengers, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Happy Hogan got a bigger role in later films and moved on to be in the Spider-Man movies. Agent Coulson became a fan favorite and went on to star on his own show Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Paul Bettany who voiced J.A.R.V.I.S. who was Tony Stark’s AI got the opportunity to be in the movies once J.A.R.V.I.S. became Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron. There were bright futures for many of the characters in Iron Man.

There was a casting change with Rhodey. Terrence Howard did not return for Iron Man 2. Don Cheadle took the role over and has kept the role since. He is set to appear in Secret Invasion and Armor Wars which will be his own movie. Terrence Howard did a good job in the role, but I do feel Don Cheadle does a good job as well. It’s hard to really compare since Don Cheadle has been in multiple movies whereas Terrence Howard was only in one.

Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark. He is Iron Man. Tom Cruise was one of many actors rumored to be in the running for the role. After rewatching Iron Man, there were parts I could picture Tome Cruise in, but I think Robert Downey Jr. was the right choice to be Iron Man. There were so many parallels between the character and the actor. Tony Stark went from a playboy billionaire philanthropist to a hero with a family. He had a family within The Avengers team as well as his own family with Pepper Potts. Tony and Pepper have grown as characters throughout the franchise as well as within their own relationship. There was obvious chemistry between Tony and Pepper. They do not become a couple in the first movie, but it happens eventually.

As the franchise has go on, a lot has tied back to Iron Man. The Ten Rings which was the group that kidnapped Tony has been reintroduced in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. There is still more to learn about the Ten Rings, but it does seem that the group that kidnapped Tony was not the real Ten Rings. At the end of Shang-Chi it does say The Ten Rings will return presumably in Shang-Chi 2. There may be more answers in that or whenever we see the Ten Rings again.

Iron Man introduced S.H.I.E.L.D. which got its name at the end of the movie. Agent Coulson mentioned to Pepper that the whole Iron Man situation was not his first rodeo. His first rodeo was the events of Captain Marvel which was set in the 90s while Iron Man was set in present day which was 2008. That also added context to the credit scene with Nick Fury who told Tony that he was not the only one in the universe since Nick Fury was also in Captain Marvel and had met her.

It is funny to see how much has changed since the first Iron Man movie. Iron Man was a fairly grounded superhero movie. Eventually Iron Man would meet The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and many others. He would go on to fight aliens. The showdown at the end of the movie between Iron Man and Iron Monger was fairly mild compared to later showdowns Iron Man would go on to have especially once he faced Thanos (Josh Brolin).

Iron Man also had a game changing ending. The movie ended with Tony Stark revealing that he is Iron Man. By this point all superhero movies typically kept their identities a secret. This was also only the first Iron Man movie. The lid was blown off this from the start. People didn’t start learning Peter Parker was Spider-Man until the second movie of the Toby Maguire films. This also led to a new status quo in future Marvel movies where secret identities were not much of a thing. Only Spider-Man was really the only hero to have his identity a secret but most of his close friends and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) knew he was Spider-Man. That only recently changed after No Way Home where everyone has forgotten that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

Iron Man holds up well and is still a solid movie. It’s a great introduction to popular characters who would go on to be in many more movies. The Iron Man franchise is also the main franchise where Pepper gets to have a substantial role. In non Iron Man films, Pepper became more of a secondary character where she only appeared briefly. Avengers: Endgame was the only one to give her some more screentime which she also got to suit up as Rescue. It is also fun to go back and revisit the first movie especially after watching everything else in the MCU. It adds different context watching it after seeing Infinity War and Endgame and Shang-Chi even just to see the growth the characters have had since the first movie. Tony and Pepper have come a long way since audiences were first introduced to them. Pepper was Tony’s assistant and did everything for him. As time went on Pepper became more of her own person and wound up running Stark Industries. Tony went from being selfish to being selfless which hits differently rewatching Iron Man after seeing Endgame where Tony sacrificed himself to stop Thanos once and for all.

Iron Man achieved the impossible. It gave birth to a new Superhero era and gave birth to the MCU that is still going strong today. It also cemented Iron Man as one of the best heroes of the MCU.