Every MCU Movie & TV Show Ranked Worst To Best

This was it: The movie that, back in 2008, started it all, giving birth to an entire moviemaking phenomenon, and was executed so brilliantly it remains one of the MCU's finest achievements.

The intimate story of successful arms dealer Tony Stark, who witnesses first-hand the horrors of his weaponry and takes on a heroic new persona to help combat the violence he's helped create, Iron Man is first and foremost a character study of one man who refuses to sacrifice his ego, but still strives to do the right thing.

It's a simple film, especially compared to what would soon follow, but that's its trick. By being so small-scale and unrelated to things to come, Iron Man stands on its own. No wonder it holds up so well.