Iron Man

Iron Man came out on this day in 2008. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is fifteen years old. That’s almost a third of my life, although being the most recent third it still feels like a pretty new phenomenon.

I knew the plan was to make more, with Marvel holding the rights to a pretty classic Avengers lineup and The Incredible Hulk already on the way, but it still seemed risky. Iron Man itself was a low-stakes gamble despite costing 200 million dollars. Another Hulk movie? Thor? Captain America? This chain of “could this really work?” thinking pretty much kept going until Guardians Of The Galaxy. (Not helped, it must be said, by Iron Man 2 being pretty clunky.)

The biggest surprise I remember on the night was the end, not counting the post-credits scene. Having set up the traditional secret identity... Tony just dropped it.

One press group reaction shot and roll credits.

Just like that, it was already a very different superhero story. (Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer had the team in the public eye a year earlier, following their public identities in the comics, but for Stark it was a change.) Whatever came next could be pretty wild.

And it has been.