10. Iron Man 3 (2013)
It was almost as if, by default, the third Iron Man movie had to be marketed as a darker chapter in the series, given that the light-hearted nature of the second installment seemed to rub fans up the wrong way. And yet, despite its super-serious trailers, all which seemed to poise this entry as something of an existential Iron Man movie, complete with broody shots of Tony Stark dragging his broken armour through the snow, what we actually got was probably the most outright funny and less serious Marvel movie to date. With
Lethal Weapon writer Shane Black on both script and directorial duties,
Iron Man 3 was infused with a quick wit that felt natural to the world of the movie, and although there were certainly some "darkish" movies,
Iron Man 3 was actually kind of shocking in its farcical ature. Notions of laughter aside, the movie also turned Tony into a kind of spy for much of its runtime, giving us a plot that hinged more on espionage and less on superhero antics. Ultimately, it's entertaining as hell - I for one am glad, in this age of serious-minded superhero flicks, that we didn't go down the dark path for this entry.