For all the flak Jon Favreau and company received for Iron Man 2, there’s little question that they created something special with the first Iron Man in 2008. This one was a relative surprise when it came out; we were all expecting huge things from The Dark Knight which would be released later that summer, and Iron Man seemed like an appetizer for the main course of summer movies that would come out after.
Instead, we were treated to one of the most tightly constructed and original-feeling comic adaptations ever put on screen, and one of the first of such adaptations to really feel contemporary and cool. Christopher Nolan may have moved past some of the cartoonishness with Batman Begins, but Iron Man took it further, making the broodiness and technological fancifulness of Nolan’s Gotham seem just slightly outdated, just a teensy bit unhip. Much of this was due to the charisma of Robert Downey Jr., the most perfect work of casting there could ever be, but also because the character of Tony Stark, a cynical defense contractor turned self-congratulatory hero, felt like someone out of our fame-driven world. On top of that, the crowning “I am Iron Man” moment was the ultimate answer to everyone who expresses skepticism over the superhero secret identity trope.
Others likely have a completely different ordering of these titles, and one of the interesting things about this current Marvel series is that the different shades and tones of movies will appeal to different people. I know lots of people who really dug the way the first Thor movie handled its weird characters and story, and critics have been quite positive toward the first Captain America in hindsight. I suspect comic books are similar, composed by different authors that speak to various audiences in their own individual ways. With the studio seeming to begin to hit its stride with this current Cinematic Universe, Marvel is changing our concept of the ways movies can relate to one another and the way audiences consume stories. And if nothing else, it’s fascinating to observe, and damn fun to watch.