3. Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2 is without a doubt one of the most universally hated movies in the entire Marvel cinematic universe. This movie gets so much hate that even Robert Downey Jr. himself has been known to throw it under the bus when asked about it. Truth be told I had no idea that this movie was supposedly horrible until I stumbled upon an entire internet worth of backlash years after the first time I saw it. The biggest problem in a post Dark Knight world is that comic book movies get held to an unreachable standard. Being dark, gritty, and grounded in reality worked great for Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy but that doesn't mean every comic book movie after those films should follow suit. Iron Man 2 is a Marvel movie and I'm not sure if you've ever seen one before but they certainly aren't shy when it comes to being campy. I can't deny that Iron Man 2 was a little over the top but that isn't always a bad thing. Tony Stark confronting the supreme court, Iron Man sitting in a giant donut, and War Machine battling Iron Man are all scenes that come to mind as parts of the movie that were so ridiculous they actually worked. Robert Downey Jr. fit Tony Stark like a glove in the first Iron Man movie but in this one he just completely embraces the role. The witty banter from Tony Stark was at an all time high in Iron Man 2 and it resulted in some hilarious dialogue. It seems to be overlooked that this movie actually managed to juggle several different storylines including Tony's alcoholism, Whiplash, Tony's relationship with his father, Tony's relationship with Pepper, Tony's health and aside from all that it almost single handedly set up The Avengers. When it comes to phase one films this is THE one that bridged the gap and it seems to get no credit for that whatsoever. This movie may not have been dark or gritty and the Hero VS Villain storyline was somewhat one dimensional but it succeeded in being a great summer blockbuster. The Iron Man/War Machine battle, the party scenes that came before it, and the Iron Man/Whiplash battle on the racetrack were a lot of fun to watch but they seem to be hated by most people when they look back on this film. I'm truly not sure why this film gets the amount of hate that it does other than people expected it to be something that it never set out to be. The Iron Man films are straight up fun comic book films, nothing more nothing less and when it comes to this trilogy that's more than enough.