Iron Man

Iron Man opened in the US on May 2, 2008, directed by Jon Favreau as Marvel Studios' first self-produced film. The casting was the gamble the whole thing rested on: executives resisted Robert Downey Jr., but Favreau argued that Downey's very public fall and rebuild mirrored Tony Stark's redemptive arc, and he was signed in September 2006 — for $500,000. With Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, and Terrence Howard as Rhodey, the set ran on improvisation; Downey's closing line, "I am Iron Man," was ad-libbed, and it detonated the secret-identity convention superhero movies had always leaned on.

It worked beyond anyone's projections: $585.8 million worldwide on a $150 million budget, a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score, and a performance so charismatic it reset what studios thought a superhero lead was for. And after the credits, Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury stepped out of the shadows to mention something called the Avenger Initiative — a thirty-second scene that taught audiences to stay in their seats and taught Hollywood to think in universes.

The same summer, The Dark Knight made superhero films prestigious; Iron Man made them a machine. The Marvel Cinematic Universe it launched went on to dominate the industry, and the film itself entered the National Film Registry in 2022.