For every major plot point that needs to have ramifications on the MCU going forward, there’s little else that keeps the title character in full view. But it’s also becoming increasingly harder to see the characters through the trees. These are by no means bad movies, and even they can make the case for Marvel’s ability to blend singular storytelling with world-building. and the Skrulls as it is about Carol Danvers ( Brie Larson). Even Captain Marvel is just as much about a younger Nick Fury and pre-Avengers S.H.I.E.L.D.
The Spider-Man movies can’t advance Peter Parker ( Tom Holland) without sticking to the shadow of Tony Stark. Ant-Man and the Wasp is all about establishing the Quantum Realm. Civil War is essentially Captain America 3, Avengers 2.5 and even Iron Man 4 rolled up into one. However, as we’ve already seen, characters who did have strong solo outings can eventually be used to further the greater MCU plot. RELATED: How the MCU Was Made: ‘Iron Man’s Casting Battles, Improv, and a Secret Stinger There are even strong, contained “solo” movies ( Ant-Man, Guardians 2, Black Panther) that operate very much in their own space, and work all the better for it. Guardians of the Galaxy introduced numerous soon-to-be fan favorites and treated them with respect – while also introducing Josh Brolin’s Thanos and the Infinity Stone of Power. Captain America: The Winter Soldier took Steve Rogers down a path that shaped his worldview forever – while also handling the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. To be clear, Marvel has indeed done an incredible job blending solo outings with world-building. If the characters are important, so too are the items they have to find/events that occur that will shape future entries to come. Even as soon after Iron Man 3 with the MCU entry that followed – Thor: The Dark World (which, even though Thor 1 & 3 did a good job exploring the character, seemed to operate more as an intro to the Reality Stone) – you’d be hard-pressed to find movies that operate on the same level of singular storytelling than the Iron Man movies.
IRON MAN COMPETITION SERIES
The stakes are low-key, the villains are defeated in the end, and the big result is that Stark has grown as a person in tangible ways that can be linked to the rest of his series arc. The core takeaway from all these movies is that Stark is the main focus, with side characters there to emphasize what means the most to him, but with nothing else plot-wise to distract from his journey in the name of establishing more to come. Then comes Iron Man 3, which stands as one of Marvel’s best solo sequels in that it simply used the events of The Avengers to springboard into yet another Stark-centric story, which did nothing to pave the way for the MCU as a whole and focused on him stepping further away from the role as Iron Man, realizing he could do as much good for the world as Tony Stark. They’re just there to literally babysit Stark as he enters hero mode and navigates his own issues.
IRON MAN COMPETITION MOVIE
Then Iron Man 2 – the movie with the biggest series link – still only features players like Fury, Coulson, and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow ( Scarlett Johansson) as window dressing. Jackson) drops his big reveal in an end credits tack-on. The first features Phil Coulson ( Clark Gregg) lingering about and having to say the full title of S.H.I.E.L.D. Looking back at all the individual Iron Man movies, you’ll see that their links to the greater MCU are, at most, minimal. By getting on the ground floor early before the Marvel brand itself became the true star, Stark got to experience something that – as the universe gets bigger and more characters become part of it – few characters possibly ever will: A singular series of stories that rank the storytelling of the title character far above the demands of an expanding cinematic universe. As each of his movies followed and the prospect of a larger cinematic universe of characters grew, there was still no question who and what was the central focus of his movies. In the ten years leading up to his sacrifice play in Avengers: Endgame, Tony Stark a.k.a Iron Man ( Robert Downey Jr.) was arguably the key fixture of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – kicking the whole thing off with his solo movie in 2008.
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