Marvel's Iron Man (Earth-113599)

Marvel's Iron Man is a 2008 live-action film produced by Touchstone Pictures and Marvel Studios, based off of the superhero Iron Man. It takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Earth-113599, being the first film of Phase 1. It was released worldwide on May 2nd 2008 to strong critical acclaim and box office success.

Production
The rights to Iron Man were originally owned by Paramount Pictures, being sold off in the 1990s by Marvel Entertainment. However, the rights to the franchise reverted to Marvel Studios control in early 2005, a couple months later it was announced an Iron Man film was being made as part of a shared universe for multiple Marvel superheroes. It was considered a risky property to center a movie around, as Iron Man was considered a B-List superhero.

Because of that the movie was followed up by the more popular franchise The Incredible Hulk, to possibly help the movie if it didn't live up to Studio expectations. Despite it's risky nature however it still received a large budget and an A-List cast of stars. Including Robert Downey Jr, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Don Cheadle.

Jon Favreau was hired by Marvel Studios as the director, wanting to work on a superhero movie again after the lackluster Daredevil by 20th Century Fox. Marvel Studios and Avi Arad in particular had desires for the film to be a spy or heist film with The Mandarin as the arch-enemy. Jon Favreau and Kevin Feige, though, were opposed to this idea. Both wanting a more simple, grounded and realistic story for the film. Favreau believing the Mandarin was too fantastical to be introduced so early. He also made the film a lot more based around Tony Stark's inner-struggle of going from a war-mongering businessman to a superhero, thinking that would be more interesting and nuance as well.

Later, Iron Monger was changed to the primary antagonist. With the Mandarin's terrorist organization, the Ten Rings making an appearance in the film as well. Marvel, before the movie created multiple comic book and animated series on Iron Man to try and raise public awareness of the hero. These proved to be successful as test groups actually did respond well to Iron Man as a hero, with the film being released on May 2nd 2008 around the world.