Every Marvel Comic Book Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

14. Iron Man

The story of Iron Man feels almost like it was too good to be true. Caught in development quagmire for years - with Tom Cruise circling the role - it eventually burst into life when Jon Favreau was hired and insisted that Robert Downey Jr was the best man for the job. Initially, Marvel balked and required serious assurances that Hollywood's bad boy could be depended upon, but they relented and the rest is perfect casting history.

Looking back, there can't have been anyone else: perhaps because of his own demons, Downey Jr is perfectly cast as Stark, combining a douche-bag factor with an irresistible, twinkle-eyed charm that the entire MCU has been built on since.

Even without an origin as emotionally devastating as Spider-Man, Batman or Superman, his Stark is completely compelling, and it has been a remarkably tight decision to have his arc develop throughout the MCU. That story approach effectively means that him becoming Iron Man was his origin, as opposed to the end point, and that's allowed for lots of space for the actor to add complexity and depth.

The original film knew not to get in the way of the actor's central performance: sure, the rest of the cast is good - particularly Jeff Bridges' conventional villain Obediah Stane - but there isn't the same eye for spectacle or stuffing that we'd see in later MCU movies, and that is absolutely to its credit.