Iron Man is the 2008 Marvel Studios live-action movie based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is the first film in the Iron Man film series, the first film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first film produced by Marvel Studios.
Robert Downey Jr. stars as Tony Stark, a millionaire weapons contractor who is taken hostage in Afghanistan and forced to build technology that saves his own life and empowers him to escape. Jeff Bridges co-stars as Obidiah Stane, Stark's scheming business partner who builds a suit of his own. The movie also features Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard as James Rhodes and Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan.
The film was directed by Favreau from a script by Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway.
To say the movie was either successful or a franchise-launcher is a gross understatement in both cases. The movie grossed over a half-billion dollars for the newly-founded Marvel Studios, made Iron Man a top-draw character in the Marvel Universe. It started what would become the most staggering rise of a brand in recent history. It spawned two direct Iron Man sequels and over 20 other movies that make up the fist major story arc of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Iron Man is followed by Iron Man 2.
