20 Best Superhero Movies Since The Dark Knight
14. Iron Man 3
Let's deal with the elephant in the room immediately: the Mandarin twist was absolutely hilarious and utterly awesome. In a franchise which can be pretty samey at times, it's lovely when they take risks and break conventions a little, and besides, we got the real Mandarin in 2021's Shang-Chi so, like, seriously, just stop.
And let's not forget, this twist also led to one of the MCU's funniest lines: "His Lear was the toast of Croydon... wherever that is!"
As for the rest of the film... it's absolutely excellent. Once you remove it from the shadow of this absolutely ridiculous controversy, you've got the best picture of the Iron Man trilogy; a hilarious, exhilarating and bewitchingly acted thrill ride that sees writer-director Shane Black merge his buddy-cop roots with the MCU formula to dazzling effect.
It's a bit too long and Rebecca Hall's character was completely mishandled, but the pros far, far outweigh the cons when it comes to Iron Man 3. It stands tall and proud as one of the finest Marvel Cinematic Universe offerings to date.