Ranking Every Aspect Of The MCU From Worst To Best
3. Iron Man
If Iron Man was a terrible movie, then there would be no Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's that simple. Luckily for audiences around the world (and the money men at Marvel Studios), that turned out not to be the case.
Iron Man still remains one of the studio's very best efforts, carried by Robert Downey Jr's instantly iconic and improv-heavy turn as Tony Stark. Jon Favreau set the template that many of the studio's origin stories would follow, but never with the same level of success. The world-building is there, but it only exists on the fringes. It takes the material seriously, but always remains self-aware. The barrage of one-liners fit the characters and serve the story, they're not just there for a cheap laugh.
Iron Man 2, on the other hand, is the definition of how not to make a sequel. Essentially an advert for Marvel's upcoming projects rather than a decent standalone feature, it creaks under the weight of exposition and ends up as the cinematic equivalent of downloadable content; you don't need it, but it's there if you want to complete the set.
With Downey Jr. showing little interest in a fourth standalone feature, the divisive yet still massively entertaining Iron Man 3 (a typical Shane Black movie wearing superhero clothes) looks set to be the character's solo swansong. Iron Man is the most important figure in the history of the MCU, even if the legacy of the movies doesn't quite reflect the fact.