Iron Man was chosen as the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by focus group discussions of school children. It’s difficult to believe now, but until 2008, Iron Man was considered one of Marvel’s second-tier, if not third-tier, characters. In fact, in the aftermath of the Civil War event, the comics had relegated Tony Stark to a pseudo-villain role, and creators were gradually figuring out how to redeem him.
Despite this, Marvel chose Iron Man to kick off the MCU. It was a wise decision, as Iron Man grossed over $500 million worldwide, placing Marvel Studios on the chart. However, How did Marvel Studios acquire the rights to Iron Man? That’s something we have to find out.
Iron Man belonged to New Line Cinema before
As a kid, film studio co-chairman Michael De Luca was a comic book collector, and at New Line, he made Blade and even had an Iron Man movie in the works. (According to a source, Bob Shaye, New Line’s president at the time, let the option lapse because it didn’t make sense because Iron Man was too heavy to fly.) “Mike was championing and scratching the surface of this comic book universe long before it became the only thing anybody is interested in seeing,” a longtime associate says.
New Line Cinema let the rights to develop an Iron Man film go back to Marvel because they thought the character 'didn’t make sense since Iron Man was too heavy to fly'
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Both Iron Man and the actor Robert Downey Jr. have gained widespread recognition over the past decade. The Iron Man franchise is now regarded as one of Marvel’s most valuable, and Tony Stark’s sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame is regarded as one of cinema’s pivotal moments.
Such realism in comics costs New Line a lot of money, and the question now is whether Michael De Luca has learned his lesson, or if he will end up making another Iron Man mistake if he is given control over DC characters.
Why did Marvel Studios decide to start with Iron Man?
According to film historian Ben Fritz, Marvel had planned to begin with Captain America, who would have been the “First Avenger.” However, as Fritz describes in his book The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies, plans changed.
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Marvel held focus groups to decide which film to make first. They weren’t called together to poll a random sample of people on which storylines and characters they’d like to see onscreen. Instead, Marvel gathered groups of children and showed them images of superheroes while explaining their abilities and weapons. After which they asked the children which ones they wanted to play with as toys. To the surprise of many at Marvel, the overwhelming response was Iron Man.
“That’s what brought Iron Man to the front of the line,” said one responsible for deciding which film Marvel would self-produce first.
Source: Culture Crave
