10 Movies Way Better Than They Have Any Right To Be

Springing off the end of a run of pretty abominable superhero films - including Ghost Rider, Spider-Man 3, and Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer - Iron Man should have helped put an end to superhero cinema once and for all.

Jon Favreau was a strange choice to direct, as his most recent credits were Jumanji-in-space flick Zathura (2005) and the beloved yet decidedly un-superheroic Will Ferrell vehicle Elf (2003). And his unpreparedness showed. Favreau, Robert Downey Jr (Tony Stark) and Jeff Bridges (Obadiah Stane) often went to set with no material, adlibbed their way through scenes and rewrote sections on the fly, as if they were making a post-university indie flick, not the cornerstone of a new cinematic dynasty.

Downey was also still stagnating in the remnants of a once-bright career that had come crashing down in the mid-'90s. Minor hits like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) may have signalled that he was on the right path again, but nothing could have prepared us for his era-defining turn as billionaire playboy philanthropist Tony Stark.

Underpinned by the dual talents of Downey and Bridges, Iron Man is filmic gold, bowing neither to the superhero films of yore nor the homogeneous style of later MCU flicks. It's funny, it's down to earth, it looks great, it sounds great (with an actual, distinctive score), and every scene is permeated by the feeling of something anti-establishment, exciting and new. This is the garage rock album of superhero movies.