RANKING the Iron Man Films / Mark 1 SPEED-ART
After finally completing The Evolution of Iron Man on Tell It Animated, I of course had to rank the Iron Man trilogy from worst to first! Let's get to it, and if you have your own ranking, feel free to comment on this video.
3. Iron Man 3
And easily coming in third place for me is Iron Man 3. That's not to say I think this movie is horrible. I actually had quite a bit of fun with it, but I think that it's a little messy in places and it tonally shifts from comedy to trying to be dark a little too much. But let's first let's go through what's good about the movie: All the iron suit designs are great. The set-up for the movie and everything leading up to his house being destroyed is pretty great. I really like how it deals with Tony Stark’s PTSD and examines how he uses his iron suits as both an armour and as an emotional crux. And him shedding those armours at the end completes his arc through the trilogy...which unfortunately leads to the bad. Him shedding his Iron Man armour feels like such a definitive ending to his arc that when he comes back in Age of Ultron with the armours and little explanation as to why, it hurts this film. It's also bogged down with a middle chunk where he's paired with the kid that feels somewhat out of place when compared to the beginning and the ending. Although the worst offense may be how they treated the character of the Mandarin, or should I say Trevor, which works really well as a twist in the movie but hurts the re-watchability. All of a sudden you go from showcasing this really powerful villain to turning him into a joke, and then we're left with Aldrich Killian and his cronies which didn't feel like as much of a threat as the promise of the Mandarin. With that said, the movie still works. It's just a little bit clunky and is the weakest of the batch.
2. Iron Man 2
Okay, so coming in second place is going to be Iron Man 2, which builds pretty well on the first film and does the typical sequel thing of doubling the villains while also giving Tony his sidekick, War Machine. Rhodey’s armour is pretty sweet in this film as well as an ally in Black Widow, and this is probably my favourite look for her throughout the series. That long red deep red hair is…something. Other positives of the movie are the bookend scenes with Tony being cocky in front of the senators and congressmen who are trying to take his suits away, and at the end, awarded him. I also really like Whiplash, mainly because of Mickey Rourke's performance and I also think that Justin Hammer comes off as a good villain for Tony on the intellectual level and shows how other billionaires wish they had the pull that Tony had. Although that leads into the negatives. You really don't see enough Whiplash throughout the film. You get the opening fight at the race track and the ending fight, but the rest of the time he's cooped up working on his Hammerdrones. This is especially annoying when he's only seen for about 1 minute in the end battle. Also, the parts where Tony is being poisoned by his own Arc Reactor feel a little shoehorned in and he solves it too easily. Although all in all, I really like Iron Man 2. It's more consistent than Iron Man 3 and I think the villains are stronger so that's why it comes in second place.
1. Iron Man 1
But of course, coming in first place is the OG Iron Man. Somehow this film manages to work and function completely on its own while also setting up the seeds of what was to come in the MCU. Robert Downey Jrs. performance as Tony was basically iconic from the opening scene and shot both him and the character of Iron Man to super-stardom once again. The villain in this film, Obadiah Stane, is also the most well-rounded of all the villains in his main film. It works especially since Tony knew Obadiah before he turned evil, whereas the other movie villains seem to come out of nowhere. I also really like the relationship that Tony builds with Yinsen in their time together. And while it has become a trope throughout comic-book movies to have a character who taught and saved the hero’s life, followed by them dying a few minutes after, the scene where he says goodbye to Yinsen still holds up very well. What's a little bit distracting in this film now is obviously Rhodey is played by Terrence Howard instead of Don Cheadle, which isn't a knock on this film. I think Howard does a great performance, it just irks me that they couldn't keep him on board for consistencies sake. But altogether this is one of my favourite MCU films and definitely my favourite of the 3 Iron Man films.
So what do you think? Does my list hit the mark or is it not worth a cheeseburger after being trapped in a cave? Feel free to leave your own ranking on the comments for this video and check out The Evolution of Iron Man. And until next time, I’ve been Aaron and I’ll tell you something later!