2. Iron Man 3
The character that started a phenomenon. The original Iron Man remains as one of the best comic book film iterations to date, while Iron Man 2 failed to live up to the hype. Iron Man 2, while entertaining, involved a convoluted plot including several elements that took away from the movie's main narrative but established the universe-Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). This "tampering" by Marvel left a sour taste with Director Jon Favreau who moved on to other projects. Now the film rests with charismatic star Robert Downey Jr. and writer/director Shane Black. For those of who who may be worried, don't be. It's been revealed that Black was actually consulted in regards to Iron Man for several scenes. Most notably, Shane Black rewrote the scene were Tony Stark admits he is Iron Man. His work went uncredited. In addition, Black was also the writer/director for assuredly Downey's most underrated, under-watched murder mystery movie, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Robert Downey Jr's future with the character is also uncertain. Only signed for Iron Man 3 and The Avengers 2, this will likely be the second to last time we see Downey as Stark. Marvel Studios sees the character as a revolving door almost in the vien of James Bond. Marvel is also notoriously cheap and with Downey's star higher than ever, we will be saying farewell to his version of the character soon. Iron Man 3 brings back Don Cheadle and Gwyneth Paltrow, though Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, and Rebecca Hall are all newcomers to the series. Kingsley plays Iron Man's arch-nemesis, the Mandarin (ala Batman's Joker). Marvel's phase one of the MCU saw origin stories with contextually different tones. Marvel is smart enough to change and challenge their characters. See Tony Stark pushed to his limits April 26th in the UK and a week later, May 3rd, in North America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EjG-1U3wqA