As said elsewhere, it is truly amazing that Marvel just took DC's mid 2000s JUSTICE LEAGUE idea and subbed A-Listers Batman, Superman, Joker, and Luthor for D-Listers Iron Man, Captain America, Loki, and Thanos & came out way ahead.

The feat is equally pathetic on WB's end for failing to capitalize on characters who were clearly much more popular to begin with. Captain America now clearly bigger than Superman for the first time ever despite being far less appealing on paper.

Granted, the era of late 2000s and onward saw a rush to new property with more established ones taking a backseat, Marvel capitalized on it perfectly.

So, reminder, in a 2 year span, I called

10/06: transformers over $250m
1/2007: pirates 3 under $300m
7/07: American gangster opening $45m
7/07: I am Legend $250m
7/07: Iron Man over $250m
1/2008: Narnia 2 below $225m

Prob the best run in history

I would be interested to know if they had a plan from the beginning to build a Marvel universe to have an Iron Man style of tone, humour, etc. or if Favreau and company came up with it and then everything else was modelled after it succeeding. It certainly seems to be one of the most influential films of all time. IMO the Marvel Comic Universe is a masterclass in branding, building the audience's familiarity with the product, and knowing every time they make a movie they're at least going to get on base, but while still making each movie different enough to not drive it into the ground

I also think in some ways Pirates of the Caribbean was partly responsible for Iron Man and therefore the MCU. They never figured out how to recreate the fantasy adventure blockbuster with films like Lone Ranger or Pan, but casting Downey, Jr. as Iron Man at that point in his career was closest things to getting Depp as Sparrow, and it set a model for how to do a blockbuster with comedy. However Tony is easier to build a franchise around as a protagonist than Sparrow, who really needed to be a wild card in a story that's Will's.

Well just look at their first 5 films... IM1 and IM2 smoked TIH, CA1, and Thor1. So the Avengers had no choice but to go the Iron Man route.

I still remember seeing the post credits scene of Iron Man where Nick Fury visits him to discuss the "Avengers Initiative". Just awesome.