#1 YEARS WERE SPENT IN ITS DEVELOPMENT.
Iron Man was initially in line when Marvel Studios began its now-famous quest to create a common universe of heroes, but he was really in production for many years at more than one studio before he was released. The character was acquired by Fox in the 1990s (which would later produce movies based on Marvel superheroes The X-Men and The Fantastic Four), and by 2000 it had been acquired by New Line Pictures. There, the script changed hands several times between writers, and the studio even had a director in mind (Nick Cassavetes, fresh off his success with The Notebook in 2004).
Unfortunately, Bob Shaye, an executive at New Line, did not like the idea. He stated that the idea that a bulky steel suit could make a man fly was absurd and expressed doubt about the character's box office appeal. Marvel executives let New Line's option on the character expire in 2005 (something New Line was reportedly very upset about as they had planned to renew it), believing they could do a better job with the character when they launched their new studio plan. Marvel executives then started creating their own version of what would become Iron Man.
#2 DUE TO KIDS, IT WAS THE FIRST MARVEL STUDIOS MOVIE.
Even more so than selling the films themselves, one of the primary reasons Marvel established its own film studio was to sell products based on its characters. Captain America was supposed to open the slate of movies, but by the time Marvel acquired the rights to Iron Man and Hulk (whose prior picture was produced at Universal Pictures), the crew had additional possibilities. This allowed the business to put together a focus group of kids, which was a very specific kind. The children received a crash education in the Marvel characters with movie rights, including their likenesses and abilities.
#3 TOM CRUISE WASN'T THE ONLY ONE WHO WAS ONCE CONSIDERED FOR TONY STARK.
Several other celebrities competed for the part before Robert Downey Jr. wore the iconic armor of the Armored Avenger. Tom Cruise, who expressed interest in Tony Stark when the project was still at New Line, is the most well-known of these. Nicolas Cage, a lifelong comics enthusiast who nearly played Superman for Tim Burton in the 1990s, was another possibility from those pre-Marvel Studios days, but he too ultimately lost out.
When the character returned to Marvel, the studio gave Colin Farrell and Patrick Dempsey some consideration for the part, but producer Kevin Feige and director Jon Favreau thought Robert Downey Jr. was the best choice. Sam Rockwell, who later played fellow billionaire industrialist and Iron Man antagonist Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2, was Favreau's backup plan in case Downey didn't work out for the role.
#4 ROBERT DOWNEY JR. WORE A TUXEDO WHEN HE ARRIVED FOR HIS SCREEN TEST.
Before the release of Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. was a renowned film and television actor whose career had significantly declined as a result of his very public battles with addiction. Due to his talent and the potential for his own issues to reflect those of Tony Stark, Feige and Favreau lobbied for Downey to be given the opportunity to play the role of Tony Stark (who, in the comics, is an alcoholic). At the studio, Downey's relatively cool career meant that he could be cast for what was effectively a discount compared to any of the megastars of the day. However, because of his addiction troubles, it might be challenging to get the Oscar nominee insured for the movie.
In order to get the part, Downey agreed to a screen test (something famous celebrities with decades of experience frequently get to skip in the casting process), and he arrived in typical Tony Stark fashion by donning a tuxedo. The Marvel execs were impressed by Downey, and they recruited him for $2.5 million with a potential bonus if the movie went well. That sounds like a lot of money, but it pales in comparison to what Downey made when he renegotiated his deal with Marvel following the success of Iron Man (an estimated $50 million for just The Avengers).
#5 DOWNEY DID NOT JOIN THE ACT AS THE FIRST ACTOR.
Iron Man and Marvel Studios were both unproven products at the time of its production, and the strategy within Marvel was to use the movies to make money on toys rather than rely on the movies themselves to create significant revenue. This meant that Iron Man was produced on a relatively little budget for a movie of its scale and scope, which prompted certain crucial choices that would increase the movie's visibility while keeping costs to a minimum. One of them was choosing Terrence Howard to play Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Tony Stark's best friend, as the project's first actor.
Howard was in a good mood after receiving an Oscar nomination for his role in Hustle & Flow. Although he wasn't yet a megastar, this brought him respect. Marvel could get another huge name on the movie's poster and save a little money if they could use that prestige by casting Howard in a supporting part. Howard agreed to star in the movie for a $3.5 million pay, making him the highest-paid actor. But he didn't stay at Marvel for very long. He was replaced by Don Cheadle, who is still a co-star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe eight years after his debut, after he asked a raise in pay for Iron Man 2.
#6 THE MANDARIN WAS THE ORIGINAL INTENDED VILLAIN.
The Mandarin, a scientist and megalomaniac who wields 10 potent rings produced from alien technology, was the first adversary the Marvel Comics studio thought Tony Stark may face in his debut adventure. When Marvel Studios unveiled its slate at San Diego Comic-Con in 2006, it appeared so apparent that the character would be the antagonist of the first movie that Favreau announced him as such. Later, Favreau explained this excitement as being a result of the studio's discussions on its slate being more "generic" than specific.
By the time the cameras started rolling, Jeff Bridges' character Obadiah Stane—a rival arms dealer who attempted to take over Stark Industries after Tony's father Howard died in the comics—was the bad guy. The character was changed for the movie to represent Stark's corporate steward while Tony was away, who ultimately attempted to take over the business from within as the comic book villain Iron Monger. The Mandarin eventually made an appearance in Iron Man 3 but was drastically altered from the comics.
#7 THE FILM WAS HEAVILY EDITED.
More than just a strong box office performance and the potential to produce sequel after sequel, Iron Man gave Marvel Studios a boost. Additionally, it established a certain tone of lightheartedness that has persisted throughout practically all of the company's films, including the saddest ones. That can be attributed in part to the improvisation that occurred on set. Particularly Downey seemed to like incorporating humor into the heroic drama, and Favreau encouraged this.
Bridges claimed that this was partly because the Iron Man script was never finished when he looked back on the movie years later. Before the filming began, he, Downey, and Favreau would effectively hold impromptu rehearsals, which Bridges initially found problematic before changing his perspective on the picture.
Jon handled it very beautifully, Bridges remarked. "I was terrified. I was quite worried. I prefer to plan ahead. Man, my school requires me to memorize my lines. very organized That was extremely annoying, so I quickly adjusted. A lot of times in movies, something will brush on your fur and it won't feel right, but that's simply how it is. You may waste a lot of time whining about it, or you can decide how you're going to handle it and play the cards you've been dealt. What you can influence is how you see things and how you think about them. So I explained, "Oh, this is how we're making $200 million movie made by students. Everyone here is simply playing around. We're having fun. Oh, good! That completely relieved the burden. Oh, guy, just play; just jam. And it worked out wonderfully!
#8 TOY COMPANIES WERE RELUCTANT TO LAUNCH THEIR PRODUCTS.
Iron Man's creation was primarily motivated by Marvel's desire to use the movie as a gigantic toy marketing with A-list actors. But that turned out to be somewhat of a problem as the movie got closer to its release. Marvel Studios had not yet produced a successful film (or any film under its new agreement, for that matter), and toy companies were not confident their flying man in an armored suit would sell (despite those prior focus groups that encouraged Marvel to make the film in the first place). The company hoped to simply make back its money on the films, and then turn the real profit in toys.
By combining toy arrangements for 2007's Spider-Man 3 (a movie Marvel didn't make but had some merchandising influence over) with 2007's Iron Man, Marvel sought to address this issue. Even then, some businesses just showed no interest. One Marvel executive claimed that before the film's release, they "couldn't give Iron Man away" to toy companies. But by the time Iron Man 2 arrived, the businesses were overjoyed to have Tony Stark action figurines.
#9 MARVEL HAS DOUBTS ABOUT THE FEASIBILITY OF ITS SHARED UNIVERSE LAUNCH.
Over the course of more than a decade's worth of films, Marvel Studios has welcomed a variety of directors through its doors, but there has always been one constant that fans have come to know and love: Kevin Feige, the producer of every single movie and the man who is widely recognized as having created the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Feige is the one who guided the company on the protracted and challenging path that led to The Avengers and beyond, but initially, even he wasn't totally certain if those high expectations could be satisfied. In fact, Feige's effort to temper expectations over what may happen is one of the reasons Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) only makes an appearance in a teaser scene after the credits (which has since become a Marvel tradition).
He later admitted to Vanity Fair, "We put it towards the end of the credits so that it wouldn't detract from the movie." "People were asking, 'What on earth is Sam Jackson doing in this movie?' What's happening? I anticipated that it would simply start a discussion among die-hard fans asking, "Wait a minute, could that mean...?" On the contrary, by that Monday, Entertainment Weekly was publishing sidebars about Nick Fury, his identity, and the implications of that. That took off far more quickly than I had anticipated.
#10 THE BOX OFFICE HIT WAS A SURPRISE.
As was already established, Marvel initially created films like Iron Man to market its characters and make money from other sources, like the sale of toys. The business didn't necessarily expect significant box office success, especially with Iron Man; they just wanted the movies to be decent and under their control. Early estimates said that the movie's domestic box office would only total $100 million. Then the trailers began to circulate, thrilling both diehard comics fans and moviegoers eager to see an entertaining action extravaganza. In the end, the movie made $585 million worldwide by the time it was finished, coming close to hitting its $100 million domestic gross prediction during just the first weekend. Iron Man, a movie that studio executives had hoped would only break even, ended up making so much money that Isaac Perlmutter, the renownedly frugal Marvel CEO and current chairman, allowed David Maisel, the studio's chief financial officer, to give Downey and Favreau a Bentley and a Mercedes, respectively.
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