Redeemed #4: Iron Man
Superhero films have always been a motley crew. For every X-Men, there are at least a half dozen Dolph Lundgren Punishers. Even with the promise of Kenneth Branagh & Michael Fassbender there is always the potential for yet another Jonah Hex. As such, you would be forgiven for being skeptical of 2008's Iron Man. Despite 2000's X-Men proving the comic book film as a viable intellectual property for development, the post-X-Men years were rife with mediocre offerings like 2003's Hulk and 2005's Fantastic Four. It is during this period we would see the genesis of the Christopher Nolan Batman films with 2005's Batman Begins and V For Vendetta. But it is also here we would scrape the bottom of the barrel with 2004's Catwoman. 2006 would see Superman return with Superman Returns but those returns would be well below expectations. Though Jon Favreau had been working on films for years, Robert Downey Jr.'s extensive history of drug and alcohol abuse led many to speculate on the project. Would it be awful? How awful would it be? How drunk would Robert Downey Jr. be? Would Iron Man ever see the light of day? Internet message boards flared with heated discussion, demanding to know who was behind this awful casting decision. But as the movie was released, keyboards were silenced. Iron Man was a critical and commercial success, grossing $585 million worldwide. Iron Man 2 was simply an inevitability. And so jubilation gave way to disappointment as the Iron Man sequel was released. Hardly reaching the lofty standards of its precursor, Iron Man 2 was a confusing mess of a film. Hardly as satisfying as its predecessor, it still managed to gross $623 million. Though that may sound impressive in comparison to Iron Man's 585 million gross, when taking the budgets of each film into consideration, Iron Man actually managed to profit 22 million dollars more than its sequel. To witness the film was to witness the hubris of Hollywood. Expounding on the bigger-louder-faster philosophy, Iron Man 2 lost focus of what made the first film work. Instead of character development we got asinine robot battles. Explosions happening for no reason. What is a War Machine and what does it do? Ivan Drago appears to take revenge on Tony Stark for no reason whatsoever. There are things that occur within the continuity of the film but fail to elevate it. Would Iron Man continue its path of decline, both artistic and financial? Absolutely not. Iron Man 3 was released in 2013 and as of writing, it was the 5th highest grossing movie of all time with a box office of 1.2 billion dollars. But more importantly critics hailed it as a striking return to form largely due to Lethal Weapon screenwriter, Shane Black.