How Iron Man launched the MCU and remade Hollywood
15 years ago this month, long before Marvel became the behemoth it is today, a few passionate people brought an unconventional superhero to the big screen
Film Features Iron Man
Marvel Studios’ first solo film, Iron Man, boldly launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe on May 2, 2008. The $200 million production would go on to gross $585 million worldwide and $200 million more on domestic home video sales. The two-hour epic boosted the careers of two of its stars, solidified its director’s cred, and proved that a superhero slugfest could be equally thought-provoking, somewhat plugged into world affairs, and quicken one’s pulse. Critics embraced the film, it landed two Oscar nominations, and last year it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
But when it was being made, many inside Marvel Studios didn’t think it would fly.
“First of all, not too many people were thinking Iron Man was going to have an opening weekend or do much of anything, so we were a little bit left alone,” Downey recalled of the production process during a DGA screening and Q&A in late 2022. “I find out more every day about how that thing was financed. It was basically ready to be written off if it tanked.” He added, “It was the perfect thing where there were not a lot of creatively aggressive eyes on us. And by the time they gave it to us, it was like [artist-owned movie studio] United Artists, like the lunatics took over the asylum.”
The creation of Iron Man sounds like it was controlled chaos. And it’s a little bizarre to look back and think the company that unleashed the popular, armor-clad hero on the world lacked confidence in Ol’ Shellhead’s ability to generate box office revenue. They even had the effects genius of companies like ILM and Stan Winston Studio behind them.
In retrospect, however, the modern superhero movie revolution had not quite kicked into high gear. Since its inception in 1993 (first as Marvel Films), Marvel Studios had been licensing out their well-known properties: Blade to New Line Cinema; X-Men, Daredevil, and Fantastic Four to Fox; and Spider-Man and Ghost Rider to Sony. Most were moderate to big hits, but as sequel budgets increased, box office receipts were not swelling accordingly. (On the DC side, Batman Begins fared well financially but Catwoman bombed and Superman Returns disappointed.)
Fighting for Downey
When director Jon Favreau joined the production in 2006, he had scored a big hit with the Will Ferrell holiday comedy Elf. As Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has recalled, despite being a talented actor and filmmaker, Favreau was not yet the film and TV powerhouse he is today. But Favreau understood character and comedy, two key ingredients to the success of the film. He had appeared as Foggy Nelson in the ill-fated big-screen adaptation of Daredevil, the theatrical cut for which suffered from the removal of many key character scenes featuring him (among other things). He no doubt learned from that error in judgment.
Favreau originally had wanted to cast a lesser-known actor in the titular role of Iron Man, but then it dawned on him that he knew the perfect person for the gig: Robert Downey Jr. The suits at Marvel pushed back against his top pick. While Downey had done a series of critically acclaimed films following his two-year stint in jail on drug and weapons charges, he was not the box office draw he once was. But he had been sober since 2003, and the director fought hard to get his star—whose selection was also supported by co-star Terrence Howard, who played Stark’s close friend and Air Force liaison James “Rhodey” Rhodes—and he ultimately won.
“Everybody knew he was talented,” Favreau told Texas radio station Jack 100.3 back in 2014. “Certainly by studying the Iron Man role and developing that script I realized that the character seemed to line up with Robert in all the good and bad ways. And the story of Iron Man was really the story of Robert’s career.”
It translated for a celebrity addict who battled his demons and won to play a freewheeling arms merchant who had to face down the malevolent consequences of his actions. The opening scene of the movie showcases Tony Stark sipping what looks like bourbon while riding in a “Funvee” with starstruck soldiers following the Jericho missile demonstration to top military brass. Indeed, the opening scenes highlighted a playboy and brilliant scientist who was out of control with women, booze, and zero accountability for the weapons his company sold globally. But after being attacked and kidnapped by Afghan terrorists, who used his own missiles against him and demanded he build a Jericho for them, Stark learned that enemies of world peace, including his treacherous business partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), lay within his own country’s borders. He was contributing to the madness, and his decision to change his ways and reform his corporate model later led to a showdown with the greedy, vindictive Stane as Iron Monger.
“A $200 million student film”
The story may seem solid now, but during production reportedly much of the original script—first version by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, with a new version written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby—had been tossed out. The story about rewriting while filming proceeded gets muddled. Bridges groused both during the original press junket and in recent interviews that new lines were being written every day. It certainly took a village.
“It drove me absolutely crazy until I made a slight adjustment in my brain,” Bridges told Vanity Fair last year, “and that adjustment was, ‘Jeff, just relax. You’re making a $200 million student film. Just relax and have fun.’ And that kind of did the trick because here I get to play with these two incredible artists and just jam, and that’s what we ended up doing.”
Favreau, Downey, and co-star Gwenyth Paltrow (playing Stark’s personal assistant and love interest Pepper Potts) have acknowledged that some improvisation occurred on set. There was a lot of scripted material as well. But let’s face it, Downey’s biggest improv line of the film—when Stark admits at the end that “I am Iron Man”—completely changed the trajectory of the series and the MCU.
In terms of Bridges’ “student film” comment, Feige acknowledged to Vanity Fair in 2017 that “Marvel didn’t have money on the line. They would have lost the film rights to some of the characters, but it was sort of a great experiment. People forget Iron Man was an independent movie. I had to do a lot. I pitched that movie dozens of times to foreign buyers because we had to get, I don’t remember exactly what the percentage was, but a large percentage of financing it from selling it, pre-selling the foreign. We had a completion bond company.” (They also landed Paramount as the distributor.)
The gamble paid off. Focusing on Southern California locales as opposed to the common New York spots in many other Marvel adaptations, Iron Man was hipper than many other superhero films had been and at times more layered. Tony Stark was a complicated and contradictory character: brilliant and visionary yet also cocky and narcissistic. He listened to Suicidal Tendencies, Ghostface Killah, and AC/DC (who had a big comeback that year which would soon be mirrored by Downey). He treated women as playthings but cared deeply for Pepper Potts. He liked to party it up but could also quote Machiavelli. He claimed to create WMDs to ensure peace, then when he decided that Stark Industries should stop making them he turned himself into a high-powered weapon. (The politics of the film itself are contradictory to many as well, but that’s a whole other discussion.)
Iron Man was also loaded with Easter eggs. There were references to James Bond’s Goldfinger, specific Jackson Pollock art, future Iron Man ally War Machine, a cameo from Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, and the first of many Stan Lee cameos to come. Favreau surreptitiously played Stark’s head of security Happy Hogan, taking on a bigger role in later films. Plus, there was the post-credits Nick Fury stinger that let audiences know Marvel had plans to build up to something greater with the Avengers Initiative.
Fan-first filmmaking
During the film’s NYC junket in April 2008, it was clear that Favreau and Downey were the driving creative forces here and were passionate about the material. When one reporter had brought in the Iron Man issue with the famous “Demon In A Bottle” cover, Downey teased, “You must be loving that.” Then during that roundtable, he began to thumb through that copy while answering someone else’s question. It should be noted that the star said he had a palette of Iron Man comics delivered to him during the making of the first movie to better learn the character and mythos.
Downey also told journalists that day that he battled with some suits over their ideas by saying, “Tony Stark faithful to the fans is the best Tony Stark there will ever be. I just like this idea where there’s so much reference, and then you get new people involved, and they go, ‘We don’t need to look at those comic books. The action sequence with the F-22s …’ I’m like, ‘Wait! Whoa! Hi guys, really smart people and talented artists spent 45 years on this. Don’t you think we can give this 45 minutes? Don’t we have to?’ Artistic license sometimes is the license to not realize that what you need is already there.”
When Favreau saw the “Demon In A Bottle” issue at the junket, he endearingly remarked, “That’s awesome. Oddly, if you sign that, the value goes down. I had Stan Lee sign one. You’re not supposed to sign those things. I did it anyway. I don’t care. I’m going to sell it. Can I see it? Can I pull it out of here? My hands are clean!”
The enthusiastic reception to press screenings and the junket easily stoked the creative talent behind the film. When asked if alcoholism might play a factor in the next Iron Man movie, Downey replied, “Seeing as I will be entirely calling the shots for the storyline for Iron Man 2, 3, and 7 … I don’t know. I think an interesting way to address it would not be an obvious way.” Someone was cocky about Iron Man’s success. But it wasn’t unwarranted.
“We ended up landing a tone with Iron Man that became the formula moving forward,” Favreau told Vanity Fair in 2017. “You want to mix great casting, stay true to the characters, a combined universe that would allow cross-pollination. And having humor and adherence to canon.”
The blockbuster success also revitalized both Robert Downey Jr.’s and Jeff Bridges’ careers. (The latter had been doing acclaimed but not necessarily high-grossing work then.) Over the next decade, Downey would portray Iron Man onscreen nine more times, including his Hulk movie cameo. He also found success in two movies with his brainy and brawling version of Sherlock Holmes. Over the next three years, Bridges would go on to win the Oscar for Best Actor for the musical drama Crazy Heart, head up the big-budget sequel Tron: Legacy, and blast his way to another Best Actor nom and big box office in the Coen Brothers’ remake of True Grit. And Bridges’ self-titled country solo album went Top 30 and sold around 350,000 copies.
Favreau’s star also rose. He would go on to direct Iron Man 2, live-action remakes of The Lion King and The Jungle Book, executive produce numerous Marvel movies, and create the Star Wars series The Mandalorian and The Book Of Boba Fett. The movie was also a nice blockbuster boost for Paltrow as Pepper would appear in six more MCU films. On the flip side, Terrence Howard was edged out of the MCU after he made larger salary demands that Marvel rejected.
Thanks to the success of Iron Man, nearly all of the subsequent Marvel movies would not only grow the franchise but continue to grow their box office. The 20-movie arc of the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe led up to the epic Infinity War and Endgame movies for the Avengers. Tragically and yet fittingly, this would lead to the death of Tony Stark and Iron Man. But it makes sense that after playing that hero for a decade the accomplished actor would want to go on to other roles.
Even for those who don’t like superhero movies, Iron Man still resonates because it finds the right balance between fantasy and a sense of connection to the modern world. It’s witty and smart escapism. Fifteen years later, it remains one of the crown jewels of Marvel Studios. Not bad for a $200 million “independent movie.”
89 Comments
I was already feeling pretty jaded with movies in general when this came out so I missed them all at the time until The Avengers came out.I figured the team up movie was a good time to jump in and I could fill in the blanks as well as catch up with the previous films later.It’s possible a lot of people were like that if the respective box offices were anything to go by. The rest, as they say, was history.
I remember seeing this and being blown away, but for some reason, I completely ignored the rest of the films until the Avengers came out. Then I was hooked and I dont think I missed a Marvel movies in theaters until after Endgame came out
Same. I went from starting with The Avengers and then working backwards and forwards to fill in the blanks until by Phase 3 where I saw them all at the cinema except Spider-Man: Homecoming which I had to rent along with Ant-Man from one of the last ever Blockbusters in Australia and globally back in 2018.Since Endgame, the totally of what I’ve seen is only the following: I’ve seen all the subsequent Spider-Man films which were good and Black Widow and Doctor Strange 2: The Multiverse and Madness which were not. Increasingly looking like Endgame was the natural off ramp for a lot of people +/- the Spider-Men films being the coda to that.
was the natural off ramp for a lot of peopleShang Chi was pretty good, but I might be biased because I’m a huge fan of Simu Liu and the Hong Kong cinema that inspired the film.
Shang Chi is the only standout post-Endgame for me. It’s a lot of fun and I want to spend time with the characters again.
i remember that summer having iron man, hulk, the dark knight and hellboy 2 and thinking ‘wow, superhero movies have finally made it’
That was a hell of a summer. While not all amazing, there was just so much shit to see. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, Tropic Thunder, Wall-E, Speed Racer, Hellboy 2, Iron Man, Dark Knight, Hulk, Wanted, Hancock, and probably more. My dad and I still talk about it being the summer we basically lived in the theater, and he still remembers it as the watershed moment in his life when good geek stuff really felt mainstream.
Without a doubt, the tone of Iron Man was behind its successful launch of the MCU. I saw it with my wife, who is not a comic book aficionado in any way, and she really enjoyed it. We subsequently went to see the first Thor film, and she was totally over the whole superhero movie thing. If Thor had come out first, I doubt that the MCU would have taken off like it did.
despite the 30 other movies, iron man is still in my top 5 and thor is still in my bottom 5.
The first Thor is one of the best solo films in the franchise wierdo. The mixture of Shakespearean drama and fish-out-of-water is perfect.
Same, girlfriend at the time knew absolutely nothing about Iron Man or comics really unless there had been a movie (Batman). I was uper hyped and had recorded the trailer on my DVR (ACDC track with Tony in the Funvee one) and kept watching it. We snagged a afternoon Thursday opening day show, because they kept selling out theaters for the midnight showing. That should have been a sign. I was loving it and worried how she felt. On the way out of the theater, she almost went back to try and get in the next showing. It killed.Still love it, sure it has lesser graphics than newer movies, but they nailed the tone and Tony’s smart/smarm.
It was Tony’s smart/smarm that made the difference. My wife had seen various Superman and Batman movies, and was only mildly interested in those. But IM was so much more of a personal journey for Stark that it really piqued her interest.
It’s a complete story, which usually has the effect of rendering genre irrelevant. Well-drawn characters with lived-in chemistry, solid performances up and down the line, humor that never feels forced or out of place, compelling action and real consequences to the outcome. Good movie, full-stop.
The only thing I strongly disliked was the moment between the two women when Pepper tells the ‘overnight guest’ that it was her job to “take out the trash.”
A mean statement for sure, but revealing of Pepper’s feelings for Stark that she keeps stashed away. I also feel like it’s a bit of a game he played with her because he feels the same way, seeing if she’d object.
I wonder if I’m the only one who felt uncomfortable with the Tony/Pepper relationship. I’ve never read the comics, but I’m sure these two were shipped pretty consistently. They don’t seem to really understand the other’s needs, Stark is a playboy and it’s hard to see what Pepper gets out of the relationship emotionally. But since the comic first appeared in the early 60s, maybe the film’s writers didn’t feel it necessary to make Stark a more contemporary lover. He does seem stuck in another era, in that respect.
I haven’t read the comics either, but based on the films I felt he was a playboy who wanted something more but maintained a facade to keep others at arm’s length, and Pepper knew it.
I loved Ragnarock. Of course, it’s success it entirely owing to Waititi.
I loved Iron Man, but I was also a fan of the comics (and mecha) so it was up my alley. One thing that this article touches on and I think was critical for the success, was the tone that the movie struck. It was “grounded” (as much as a movie like this can be grounded) but also had moments of fun and levity. Hellboy 2 was pure fantasy and TDK was such a grim version of a grounded crime fighter (though both great movies I love). Iron Man managed to strike a really good balance that certainly informed the MCU for a good portion of its foundation. That is of course in addition to the action, the character development, the story, etc.
So much of that is courtesy of Downey. Completely believable as a playboy genius at the beginning, and as a person discovering greater depth while still maintaining bravado and smartass swagger as a front (partially).
Did you like Helloboy 2? I won’t try to compare it to MCU but, in its own way, it’s my favorite summer movie (and del Toro calls it has anti-summer, summer movie).
I actually loved (and still love) Hellboy 2 to the point where I went and read the comics after seeing it, and still watch it when it pops up on TNT or whatever on Sundays In addition to del Toro’s imagination and unique visual sense being on display, that movie did a great job with the characters and building deep believable bonds between them as well as motivations for each. I also think he handled the world-building deftly, by letting the audience know there was more out there without blowing his wad on showing everything from BPRD.I think that if del Toro was tapped to do Doctor Strange 3 or something in the darker corners of the MCU (where it seems to be heading) he would be interested and that would be a good fit, though he would have to get one of those house style exceptions like Waititi or Raimi. I doubt he would want to be constrained like that, but he could do it.
Did hellboy 2 bomb or something? It was an unexpectedly great sequel to an obscure franchise that I liked, and I remember it being critically received at the time as well. Why wasn’t there a part 3? Instead we got the more recent reboot that literally nobody saw.
My understanding is that GdT was working on The Hobbit, so couldn’t commit to Hellboy 3 and then other stuff popped up once he rolled off the Hobbit. GdT does seem to have a habit of biting off a bit more than he can chew (for better or worse). He did Pacific Rim and the Shape of Water somewhere in there. My guess is he intended to get around to Hellboy 3, had a ton on his plate and then when the studio saw that this was not going to happen, they pivoted and rebooted the franchise with the weirdo Hellboy 2019, which was bad and probably cooled whatever interest was out there for more Hellboy movies. Given Perlman’s age and the fact that I think Selma Blair is retired from acting, I doubt we’ll ever get a Hellboy 3, which is a shame.
Yea there’s no way they can re-reboot a franchise like that.
I would love to see del Toro do Dr. Strange!If you like HB2 that much you have got to get the DVD so that you can listen to del Toro’s commentary. It’s one of the best director’s commentaries out there. Just absolutely brilliant, especially for anyone interested in making movies.
Iron Man remains a top 5 MCU film. It’s eminently watchable even 15 years later. So many pieces came together, and we should be thankful Favreau pushed for Downey’s involvement. He was the perfect Stark. And I love how much Downey became a champion for the MCU going forward. (I think of that entire MCU cast photo Marvel released prior to Endgame, with Downey sitting in the center front, right next to Feige.) In many ways, Downey WAS the MCU, and I have to wonder if the meandering in the wilderness of Phases 4 and now 5 is partially related to Downey’s exit. We lost the center.
worth noting that the major reason they didn’t want to hire him was because he was (and probably still is) VERRRRY expensive to insure. he was getting fired from movies because they couldn’t afford it.
I really think without Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, he wouldn’t have been cast as Tony Stark.
I admire him sticking up for the quality of work from the artists who made Iron Man an enduring character in the first place.
I’d maybe add that losing BOTH Chris Evans and RDJr. was akin to losing the yin and the yang of the “original” MCU. Unlike many, I like more films than I dislike from the post-Endgame films, but I really can’t tell you who the anchors of this post-Endgame MCU are anymore.
I’d put a fair bit of money behind the proposition that T’Challa was supposed to be one of them.
Yeah, they were clearly setting up Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange and Black Panther as the new head trio, but after Boseman’s death, I have no idea what the plan is.
Precisely. I’ve enjoyed some of the recent content, including Disney+ shows. But thus far, we’re getting deeper into the “Multiverse Saga” and it lacks the intrigue and anticipation of the Infinity Saga. The latter was pretty much lightning in a bottle, it seems.
For example, at this stage, there would at least be a Shang Chi cameo somewhere just to keep the character fresh in our minds. I’d assume we might have some Eternals references, too, but other than a few Easter eggs I’ve noticed, I think Marvel is trying to forget it ever happened. It was little things that made the early films so fun, like Loki briefly turning into Steve Rogers in The Dark World, subtle teases of Thanos instead of HERE IS SOON-TO-BE-RECAST-KANG-HE-IS-THE-FUTURE-SO-BE-HERE-NOW, the fact that Ant-Man ever existed. Lots to love.
He’s the one Avenger who’s been tangentially related to movies outside his own, so Doctor Strange, I think. Although maybe I should be saying Wong?
In an alternate universe, Marvel Studios was hesitant to cast Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man due to his past struggles with substance abuse and legal issues. Instead, they decided to cast a golden agouti gerbil in the role.The gerbil, whose name was Gizmo, quickly became a sensation. Audiences were amazed at how lifelike he looked in the Iron Man suit, despite his small size. Gizmo was a natural in front of the camera, and his charisma and charm quickly won over fans all over the world.As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continued to expand, Gizmo remained at the center of it all, starring in multiple Iron Man films as well as several Avengers movies. Despite his success, however, there were some who felt that the decision to cast a gerbil in such an important role was a mistake.Critics pointed out that Gizmo lacked the depth and complexity of a human actor like Robert Downey Jr. They argued that his performances were wooden and one-dimensional, and that he simply couldn’t convey the emotional range that the role demanded.Despite these criticisms, Gizmo remained a beloved figure in the MCU. Fans dressed up in Iron Man suits adorned with gerbil ears and whiskers, and children everywhere begged their parents for pet gerbils of their own.Years passed, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe continued to grow and evolve. New heroes were introduced, new villains emerged, and new storylines were explored. Through it all, Gizmo remained a constant, his tiny frame filling the screen with a charisma that defied all logic.In the end, it was Gizmo’s longevity that cemented his place in cinematic history. He outlasted countless human actors, remaining a beloved figure long after others had faded from memory. And while some may have argued that he was a questionable choice to play such an iconic role, there was no denying that Gizmo had left an indelible mark on the world of entertainment.
Iron Man and Captain America had by far the most developed story arcs in the MCU, and in many ways, the Avengers franchise was about them, their relationship, and how they approach their role. Having them leave at the same time (with Black Widow, the more natural leader of the other members) and presenting Thanos’ replacement before establishing the new MCU center feels like a big mistake from Marvel.
Another would be to that they’re taking too much time to establish the Fantastic Four. A Big Three with Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange and Reed Richards has some potential, IMO.
Yeah, when you think about how Thanos was teased out, how we were deep into Phase 2 before we even heard the words “Infinity Stones,” and how smart Marvel was at slowly revealing everything, I’m stunned they just up and announced The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars many years before the fact, without an Avengers film or two in between to build to the big climax. It’d be like skipping the first Avengers and Ultron and going straight to Infinity War.
I have no issue with the studio mixing up the release and creative cadence, but it does seem like a mistake at this point. The hype doesn’t seem to be there like it once was. It was FUN watching the Infinity Saga gradually come about.
Only reason the we bought tickets to it was to see RDJ as a superhero. I’ve only seen, like, five MCUs in all.
Let’s see:Iron Man 1
Guardians 1
Deadpool 1
the animated Spider-Man, does that count?
So, four total, maybe.
Iron Man’s still Top 3 for me, even. It’s ability to work as a true stand alone goes a long way in my eyes. But I think even if Tony Stark was still around, current Marvel would tarnish him. They still have a bunch a heroes from the very same era that are a far cry from who they’d been established as. It doesn’t seem like they know what to do with any of their characters anymore.
Downey’s absence is a VERY large reason.Time may dull perspectives a bit, but Downey’s attachement was a big deal at the time. As time has gone on, outside of Paul Rudd there just haven’t been many casting choices that are comparable.I’m not saying anything about actor quality here, but entirely on name recognition when you go through Liu, Boseman, Ali, etc., they’re not pulling the same A list style name to anchor it. Sam Jackson and Downey? Big freakin’ deal.
Part of this may also be Marvel’s own problem. Marvel created a scenario where only Marvel was selling blockbusters, so Hollywood kind of stopped making A list stars and directors, those that could sell their own movie in those generations. It’s like the last real stars that could bankroll a movie were solidly Gen X (Depp, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, etc.). The Tweeners between Gen X (Evans and his equivalent), Millennials, and Gen Z have actors we can name. But they don’t have anyone that could sell a tentpole film on their name alone. So Marvel may have exhausted the fuel that helped super charge and legitimized their characters.
I understand why they went to the nanobot suit, but I did really enjoy those early entries with the clunkier, physical pieces of armor.
I think the old suits look cooler, but they are also a personality/character thing. Tony Stark isn’t some expert level athlete and fighter – he needs that armor because he is *going* to get shot at and he is *going* to get hit. And he has the money to repair the suit every time it gets dinged up and damaged.
I also enjoy the journey in the first of evolving the suit over the course of the film
Word. I felt the various armors got worse over time. I didn’t care for the remote armor from part 3, and really disliked the “magic” nano crap. Especially how Spiderman and just about every other character suddenly adopted costumes that just magically appeared.
I was disappointed when spider man got one of those suits. It doesn’t seem to align with his character and it also seems to diminish his own aquired abiities. Does this even happen in the original comics or was it added for the sake of the films?
Peter’s “Iron Spider” costume predates the films, and was indeed gifted to him by Tony. But while No Way Home did adopt the appendages, for whatever reason, they didn’t do the color scheme, so the movie version is never as cool as its supposed to look:
I’ve never seen this before (I gave NWH a miss). That looks diabolical. A spider with claws….. Or a scorpion.
Yea. Stark made an iron spider suit a couple of times. A black & silver one in the 80s, and a red and gold one in the 2000’s They where just temporary gimmicks that obviously never stuck bc, like you mentioned, it actually diminished spidermans abilities.
Very interesting! Thanks for the info.
A little bit icky to read that Howard stumped for Downey’s involvement in 1 but then got pushed out of 2.
Howard is a douche. It is known.
Cheadle’s one of my favorite actors but Howard has a bit more looseness to him that played better as Rhodes.
I felt like he was too loose for Rhodes and didn’t seem like he would have fit Warmachine, but he did have good chemistry with Downey that made them seem like real, believable friends. While obviously what we know about Howard makes me not really miss him, at the time I still felt like it was a raw deal and that he would still have been a good fit for the MCU. I can’t remember now, but I know I used to think there was some character he would have been a better fit for (in my mind) than Rhodes.
That’s a fair point. I was thinking mostly about the first film, for instance the scene where he covers for Stark during the F22 encounter.
Next time baby!
By ‘asking for too much money’, wasn’t it just asking for what was originally promised to Terrence Howard fot the sequel which Marvel decided to renege on after the success of the first film and drastically cut their offer? (Rumour has it Perlmutter was behind this.)
Knowing what we know about Perlmutter, it wouldn’t shock me in the least if he had lowballed Howard.
Also, Howard was the highest paid actor in the first movie, he got more than Downey or Bridges.
Obligatory The Onion article (that, gloriously, was included as a bonus feature on the Iron Man DVD):
I want to know more about the punching spree. Was that guy ever caught?
It still holds up really well and Downey perfectly understood the assignment. The What Ifs around that role are mind-boggling. We know the Cruise story, but I think Sam Rockwell got pretty far down the road.
It is just hard to imagine, as good as Rockwell is, the MCU having the same success. (I also read that Timothy Olyphant auditioned. Now that is someone who belongs in the MCU. If we ever need another Stark variant and RDJ refuses, go there.)
I second this. I don’t care if Timothy Olyphant plays Mary Jane, I want him in the MCU
Still think the Stark variant is the best choice. He’s a shade old now for Reed Richards. I’d hate to see him burned as a one-off villain, but he’d make a pretty good one.
It’s only a matter of time!
Rockwell’s a tremendous actor with more range than Downey, but the latter’s personal history just played so well in the Stark role. Absolute serendipity.
Rockwell would have been an amazing Tony Stark – pre-Afghanistan capture.
(The same way Val Kilmer is arguably the perfect Bruce Wayne, if Wayne’s parents weren’t killed and he grew up as a well-meaning, but somewhat out-of-touch billionaire playboy philanthropist)
It’s the heroic bits where he loses me. I just can’t see him playing those notes. By the same token, it’s hard for me to see Olyphant as the spoiled rich genius…
It really is RDJ or bust.
The only other actor I can think of who might have been good besides those named would be Jason Bateman, especially after his more recent dramatic stuff.Of course, like Rockwell and Olyphant, you’re talking then, not now.
It should be noted that the star said he had a palette of Iron Man comics delivered to him during the making of the first movie to better learn the character and mythos.I think you mean pallet.
I think ‘palette’ is probably correct. Definition #8 (from dictionary.com) reads “the range or scope of something”. So a cross-section of various Iron Man comics, from the 1960s through the 2000s, could be referred to as a palette. It’s representative of the character, without burying the reader in minutiae.
A pallet of comics, on the other hand, would be a massive amount of paper. Every Iron Man appearance (not just his own comic, but The Avengers and all its spinoffs, every one-shot and limited run, every guest appearance and crossover) might fill a small pallet. Far too much material to be read during the downtime between filming scenes.
Yea a literal pallet of comic books would weigh hundreds of pounds and take years to read.
That’s why Robert was in so many Marvel movies. He wasn’t allowed to stop appearing in them until he finished reading all those comics.
Douglas Wolk read ALL the Marvel Comics and documented it in his book “All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told.” I’m not going to lie, it’s a bit of a slog although I do like Douglas Wolk.
Ive spent close to 400 hrs over 3 seperate playthroughs of Persona 5, so I can relate.
I guess it’s possible, but I’ve never heard palette used in that manner.
My exposure to Marvel had been confined to just my love of X-Men comics when this movie came out. I think I saw it like 3x in the theater and then gods know how many times at home. It was really my MCU gateway drug.
the first of many Stan Lee cameos to comeActually Stan Lee had been making acting cameos in Marvel fare beginning with The Trial of the Incredible Hulk TV movie and most of the pre-MCU Marvel movies from Sony, Universal, and Fox.
The other gamble was that Iron Man was firmly a middle tier superhero in general pop culture, in that people had probably heard the name, but couldn’t name the alter ego or general gist of the character unless they were actually a fan. But coming out of the gate with him when they didn’t have X-Men, F4, Spidey, etc. was a monumental strength, being to catch people by pleasant surprise with this character and world that weren’t familiar by osmosis.It holds up tremendously well to this day, ironically because when it came out, it was unlike any superhero film before it, and since, is unlike the MCU films that followed. That freewheeling improvisational spirit and comfort in not hurrying to put him in the suit often gives the film an organic, lived-in sense that stands out against the more calculated elements of the eventual Marvel Studios formula.
I’d actually say that it was just like a lot of other superhero movies but not the ones that were around in 2009. A superhero origin story with a handsome, charismatic lead and a sweet romantic subplot was more or less a throwback to Superman or the first Spider-Man. But in 2009 it was competing was Hellboy 2 and The Dark Knight.
This is the scene with Garry’s cameo.
Anyone who thought that Iron Man wasn’t going to be huge wasn’t around when they premiered the first teaser (I think it was at Comic-Con but don’t quote me on that).All they showed was the early footage with the jury-rigged cave suit and Black Sabbath pounding from the speakers. The audience went insane.There are very few roles in Hollywood where you know before you see a single frame of film that an actor was born to play a particular role, and even fewer where that impulse is confirmed a thousand-fold with every subsequent scene. Marvel got very lucky with their cast overall, but Robert Downey as Tony Stark is arguably the beating heart of the entire MCU, and I would contend that part of the reason why the post-Endgame swoon in Marvel’s fortunes is in no small part due to Tony Stark no longer being part of the equation.
I was hooked from the very first commercially-released trailer. Watching him fly with those jets in pursuit was amazing.
I thought it would be wildly successful, but still saw it at a not-full small theater in SF like the week after it opened.I still remember what a success it was, as a movie: my wife never got into comics (I did), my kids -high schoolers at the time- really had no idea who Iron Man was but what the heck, a movie. We all loved it – I still don’t remember whose idea (besides mine) it was to stay to the end credits, but my kids said “oh good that means they’re making more of these!”
My wife and I had never read the Marvel Comics, but we knew RDJ from other movies. My wife’s first comment was, “He was born to play this role,” and her second was, “Did Jeff Bridges burn his tongue?” Yeah, it was an interesting first watch.
Iron Man is out of the MCU? Did he get canceled or something?
I think RDJ did a fabulous job but he never sat well with me as Tony Stark who I see with a more 70s kind of lens. Suave, cool, playboy with a pencil moustache. Not quippy. Not manic. I’m not sure who that would have been but not RDJ to me.
Comic Con hype is infamous for being it’s own bubble, though.
Oh, absolutely. I guess I was just astounded at how the superfans absolutely lost their shit at that teaser. It felt different, you know?