Despite there being 19 further entries, 'Iron Man' is still one of the best MCU efforts.

Rating: 8/10 (12 July 2018)

With a career-defining performance by Robert Downey Jr. and an excellent character-driven story, 'Iron Man' is a first-rate superhero film that puts character development and plot over spectacle and visual effects (although that is good here, too). It also kickstarted the MCU in spectacular fashion, setting the ground-work for what was to come but also being great in its own right (something that 'cinematic universes' are forgetting to do now). It might not be the best film to come out of the MCU, but the fact that it is better than the majority of them is a real testament to its success. 8/10