I have many obsessions: sweet tea, books, “Dance Moms” and most importantly: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As of now, there are 25 movies and four Disney+ series. Not all of the movies were released in the timeline order, so Disney+ has a feature where fans can watch the movies in the specific order. The third movie in the timeline order: “Iron Man,” was released on May 2, 2008. Spoiler alerts ahead:

Iron Man was the very first Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to be released. Robert Downey Jr. (RDJ) plays a fantastic Tony Stark. I honestly think they are the same. He acts like his character in real life and it is just amazing. 

For some background, Tony is the son of genius and billionaire Howard Stark. Tony inherited Stark industries which eventually takes him to Afghanistan, which is in war. He is there to demonstrate the new Jericho missile that his company produced. After, the military vehicle that he is in comes under attack and Stark wakes up in a cave with an electromagnet in his chest. Also a captive of a terrorist group called the “Ten Rings,” Professor Yinsen implanted this electromagnet to keep the shrapnel (fragments of a bomb, shell, or other object thrown out by an explosion), from the attack, from touching his heart and killing him.

Desperate to escape, Stark and Yinsen team up and build what is called an arc reactor which powers the electromagnet, and an armored suit. Right as they finish their project, the Ten Rings find out and attack the room that they are being held in. Yinsen sacrifices himself, not only to save Stark but he also mentions that he is at peace knowing he could see his family again. Stark being angry, he burns all of their weapons then flies off and crashes in the desert where he is found by the United States military. The suit is destroyed in the mix. 

When Stark is free, using his technology he makes a more powerful version of his suit. After this and after his encounter with the Ten Rings and seeing that they had his weapons, he announced that his company will no longer make weapons. This upsets the company’s current manager, Obadiah. 

Obadiah meets with the leaders of the Ten Rings who have pieces of the prototype suit, and he takes them for the reason that he wants to be the new CEO and wants Stark gone. 

Stark has Pepper Potts hack into his company’s database to see what was going on, and she discovers that Obadiah hired the Ten Rings to kill stark. 

Since he can’t make a replica of Stark’s arc reactor, he tried to steal the one on his chest. When some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents try to arrest him, he puts on his “Iron Monger” suit, from the pieces he obtained from the Ten rings, and attacks them. Stark fights him but realizes that his new reactor isn’t running to its full potential, so he gets Potts to put the large arc reactor that powers the building to the highest capacity. This sets off a power surge that causes Obadiah to fall from the roof into the reactor which kills him. 

The next day, Stark decides to publicly admit who he is at a press conference with the famous words: “I am Iron Man.” 

The post credits scene shows Nick Fury visiting Stark to discuss the Avengers Initiative. 

I really love this movie because I love RDJ, although this isn’t my favorite out of the “Iron Man” Trilogy. I give this movie an 8/10.