Nearly 15 years in, the MCU is populated by more superheroes than we can count, which means the saga has had to tell a ton of origins stories for these superpowered protectors over the years. Superhero origin movies are notoriously difficult to get right. If you drop the ball, audiences might turn their noses up at a character and a franchise dies on the vine. Marvel Studios, however, has pretty much got it down to an artform by this point. But which is the best MCU origins story of them all?
That’s the question Marvel lovers have been debating on Twitter today, as prompted by user @MCUPerfectGifs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, one film has earned more votes than any other, making it clear that the House of Ideas got it right straight off the bat and has yet to beat themselves. Yes, it seems most fans think 2008’s Iron Man is the MCU’s best introduction to a hero.
Iron Man came top of pretty much everyone’s rankings (with Thor reliably in second).
Another character yapping at Tony Stark’s heels was Doctor Strange, as a lot of fans think that Benedict Cumberbatch’s 2016 flick is almost as good as the Robert Downey Jr. vehicle.
Meanwhile, the Captains received some love, too — for 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger and 2019’s Captain Marvel, respectively.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings got a surprising number of votes, as well.
Elsewhere, there was some division over whether Black Panther actually counts as an origins movie, considering T’Challa was previously introduced in Captain America: Civil War. The same goes for Spider-Man: Homecoming.
It might not be thought of as a god-tier MCU film by many, but Ant-Man still earned its fair share of shout-outs.
There’s some variation, then, but there’s no doubt the majority appear to agree that Iron Man sits at the top of the pack. It definitely deserves that honor, seeing as Jon Favreau’s effort also acted as the origins story for the whole MCU and we wouldn’t be sitting here today discussing its successors if it had flopped in the first place.