Iron Man began the MCU. It effectively ended with Iron Man. And effectively is being continued with ‘Iron Man’ coming back. Every movie, every show exists because Iron Man performed well beyond expectation when it debuted. Because of what he accomplished and stood for in the MCU, many fans have hold Iron Man near and dear. For many MCU fans, he is their favorite. For fans of the superhero genre, he is still their favorite. No denying that he has been popular…for nearly twenty years. What a large portion of modern audiences forget is that Iron Man only rose to fame over the last twenty years. Before that, it was hard for Iron Man to get any fame. It may be difficult for many of his fans to hear that Iron Man was not on Marvel’s priority list, other heroes were. Iron Man fell to the back of the group. He was someone who was just there. Of course, that changed when Iron Man became the focus of the MCU. However, it was not all glory prior to 2008.
Now, that’s not to say Iron Man didn’t receive any claim. In fact, in the first issue of The Avengers, back in the early 1960’s , Iron Man was put on the team because the publishers at Marvel wanted a team of popular heroes. With Iron Man on the team, that would mean that he was near the top of Marvel at the time. He also got some spark when he received an animated show that didn’t last long on the air but has lasted long in the hearts of fans. Iron Man (1994-1996) has become a cult classic. Then in the early 2000s, Marvel began the Civil War storyline line which has Iron Man standing as the face of one of the opposing sides. The other would be Captain America. So, Iron Man did see some claims to fame prior to his film debut.
However, despite those flashes of fame, Iron Man still fell by the wayside to some of his fellow compatriots like the Hulk, the X-Men, even the Fantastic 4 and of course Spider-Man. Even though Iron Man does have a connection to them, those other characters still shined much brighter. Even DC characters greatly outshined Iron Man. Those characters are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and many of the other Justice League members. When people would name off random superheroes at random times, it was rare, super rare, to hear someone mention Iron Man. The aforementioned characters would be the first ones named, particularly Batman, Superman and Spider-Man. To put it boldly, Iron Man didn’t have a seat at the table. His name was lightly familiar. At this time of superhero history, when people were asked who their favorite superhero was, it would be Batman, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Superman. Again, it would be astronomical to hear someone mention it was Iron Man. In the presence of all these other characters, Iron Man stood very short.
When it was announced that Disney would be backing up Marvel films that were outside of Spider-Man, X-Men and the Fantastic Four, many were questioning the move. Because most of the characters that fell under the Disney umbrella, were B-Listers, C-Listers, and D-Listers a lot of concerns were raised. Even doubts. One of those characters was in fact Iron Man. If Iron Man came within the same ballpark as Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man, perhaps some of those groans wouldn’t have been that many. But since Iron Man was down the barrel of Marvel’s roster, even he couldn’t restore some faith or even bring in some anticipation from a larger audience. At the time, Iron Man wasn’t and couldn’t be that big draw. Due to the fact that his name was hard to find among the more popular superheroes. Some die-hard Marvel fans even believed it was a big stretch to adapt these characters into film. Even Iron Man. Not because he wasn’t a good character. He did have his fans. But because at the time, Iron Man could be viewed as an obscure character. If Iron Man had just half of the popularity that Spider-Man had, doubts would have been minimal. It was considered a gamble to start a universe with such a virtually unknown character such as Iron Man. Iron Man was facing a steep uphill climb, a spot that was familiar for the character in a business flooded with Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man.
And in a weird way, that continues a bit today. No doubt that Iron Man is mega popular on the big screen. Yet, that popularity seems to be only on the big screen. While other major popular characters are seen in other forms of media like animated shows, video games or serving as the center of a large event in the comic books, Iron Man hasn’t received that treatment. A game is on the way but it feels overdue. There is not a show or animated show that stars only him. And there hasn’t really been a recent major event where the story revolves around him. He did serve as a big piece in Civil War II in the comic books but he shared the spotlight with Captain Marvel. For a character that quickly shot up the rankings in popularity, Marvel hasn’t used that momentum to capitalize on the success. Other characters have or continue to do so. So, it may come as another shock to Iron Man fans to know his popularity is limited to the movies. He still feels like he’s sidelined compared to the other major superheroes. Even though his star is bright, others shine a bit brighter at times.
With the help from films, Iron Man was able to quickly ascend the ranks of popular superheroes. It brought in a lot of new fans and they came in large groups. However, prior to 2008, Iron Man was not much in the conversation. He was in the background to many. Only in the hearts of a few. For people that grew up with Iron Man being the face of the MCU, they may find that hard to believe but it is a mostly unanimous acknowledgement among comic book fans that Iron Man did not receive much attention prior to his movie. It’s an absurd thing to think about. But Iron Man was finding it hard to step in the conversation.
