Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. The first established the genre the second fully established why we care. Fight me.

Agree. Without the success of Iron Man, the MCU never happens. Without the humor and fun of GOTG, the MCU doesn't hit the tipping point.

Iron Man definitely at 1, I might go The Winter Soldier at 2. That film brought in the Russo brothers, who also did Civil War, Infinity War, and Endgame. They redefined what the team-up movies could be. They are almost as important as Feige in the MCU.

The incredible hulk and Thor the dark world.

Iron Man is definitely number 1, but I think you can make an argument for The Avengers at #2.

The only real answers is black panther.

Some good points in this thread. I'd vote for...

• Avengers. The first in-universe crossover event of its kind, and it's changed the industry. Everyone is still trying to do Avengers. DCEU, Dark Universe, Netflix's Defenders, Sony's Marvel universe - everyone still wants their own Avengers, 8 years later, but the MCU has been the only real success so far, both critically and financially.

• Winter Soldier. I think this film was important for three big reasons.

1) It was the first solo film to not exist in its own isolated bubble. Sure, Iron Man 3 chronicled some repercussions from Avengers, but not really. IM3 and Thor 2 were more of the same. Winter Soldier, the world felt connected for the first time. It made sense that Black Widow, Nick Fury and Maria Hill would be around.

2) It was the first MCU genre film, essentially. This started a trend where each film had a pretty distinct style, which has probably prolonged the life expectancy of the genre. Filmmakers have expected superhero films to go the way of the western for years, but when one film is a spy thriller, and the next is a space western, and the next is a heist film, and the next is a coming-of-age high school film, they tend to stand on their own more.

3) This film deviated from the age-old formula of "do it again, but here's a new villain." Successful superhero films were quickly followed up by the announcement of a sequel, and with the tease of "this time he fights Doc Ock." "This time they'll fight Ultron." "This one will have the Joker." Usually the sense of normalcy is shattered by a new villain, usually acting alone, who arrives and stirs things up. And usually it's back to the status quo after. But in Winter Soldier, the villain was Shield - previously a force for good - which had become corrupt. And instead of killing the main antagonist (Bucky), Cap had to try and redeem him. It wasn't a fight that could be won by using superpowers.


I think Iron Man 1 set the tone for phase 1, but Winter Soldier set the tone for everything that came since, and Avengers has set the tone for a lot of the blockbuster film industry. But that's just my two cents!

IM1. If that flopped the whole thing never gets off the ground.

GOTG1. That opened the door for the wider universe character set and Thanos.

1. Ironman 1: This movie still holds up great. If instead of Ironman we had just another ok movie (Like the forgettable Hulk movie that came out around this time), Marvel's growth might have never taken off.

2. Avengers 1: The first team up movie of its kind. I remember reading articles leading up to it and after it came out expressing aw at how effortlessly they balanced the large ensemble cast, introduced conflicts, played personalities against each other, and created a zippy fun movie that wasn't weighed down by the size of its cast.

3. Winter Soldier: Rhutton makes an excellent case for Winter Soldier being right behind the first two.

I'm just saying... Iron Man 2 gave us Black Widow.

gggmann said:

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None of them are important. That being said, GOTG was the most enjoyable, IMO.

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Agree 100%.

RDJ as Iron Man seemed odd to me at the time, but turned out to be a brilliant casting choice. GOTG took a group of characters no one outside of the most hardcore comic nerds knew anything about and made an absolutely fantastic movie with them.