10. Iron Man
The ultimate match of a leading man with the role he was born to play, Iron Man signaled the return of Robert Downey Jr. to Hollywood's elite actors and its success led directly to the ongoing Avengers series which shows no signs of slowing down. It's difficult to remember just how risky the film was at the time; Iron Man was considered a secondary superhero, Robert Downey Jr. was recovering from a tumultuous personal life, and superhero films as a whole weren't quite the free money that they are now. As often happens in Hollywood, the biggest risk turned into a bigger reward and Marvel has been reaping the benefits ever since. Iron Man benefits from a well-told story featuring a host of memorable characters, with Tony Stark being the obvious standout. The film suffers a bit in the last act as director Jon Favreau has never been one to know how to stage an action sequence but the strength of the rest of the film more than makes up for this defect. In the aftermath of The Avengers, it's more difficult to remember how effective Iron Man was when it came out, Tony Stark is much more human in this than he became in later installments, his suit is still a work in progress and not the unstoppable defier of physics it has since become. Iron Man as a whole is a much fresher, more raw story than many people remember, which is a shame since it is one of the best superhero films, and best blockbusters, of recent years.