Iron Man and the 5 Marvel Phase One movies ranked from worst to best

1. Iron Man

• Release Year: 2008
• Director: Jon Favreau
• Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, and Shaun Toub

There’s no doubt that Iron Man is the best movie of Marvel’s Phase One movies. It was the movie that kickstarted the Marvel Cinematic Universe, showed what was possible and what the future of the superhero movie could be, and paved the way for a whole new generation of fans to discover the magic of Marvel.

In the film, Tony Stark, a billionaire inventor, is kidnapped by terrorists while on a business trip in Afghanistan. The terrorists demand that he build them a powerful weapon, but instead, Tony uses his knowledge and resources to create a suit of armor that allows him to escape captivity. Back in the United States, Tony perfects the suit, which gives him incredible strength and abilities, and uses it to fight crime and protect the world from harm.

Iron Man grossed about $600 million at the box office, which is a lot less than some of the more recent Marvel movies grossed, but there’s no doubt this is one of the best MCU movies we’ve seen so far. It will be hard for future MCU movies to beat this one. It’s just that good.

After Iron Man, Marvel made two more Iron Man sequels with Robert Downey, Jr. in the lead. The first movie is easily the best of the Iron Man movies. He also played a part in 10 Marvel movies, including the biggest MCU movies we’ve seen, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.