The Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, is the gift that keeps on giving, and it all started off with a little 2008 film some readers may have heard of called Iron Man. Contemporary pop culture owes its life to that film's success, which gave birth to a massive interconnected universe of films that many other franchises have tried to emulate to varying degrees of success. Of the more than twenty films in this series, Tony Stark has appeared in ten of them.
Because of Robert Downey Jr's storied history with Iron Man, we thought it a good time to pay tribute to the performance in some way. For this list, we'll be ranking all the fights this selfish millionaire turned super hero has taken part in, from worst to best. There are about twenty in all, and to the filmmakers' credit, none of them can really be considered clunkers. Even the weakest among these are still heart pounding thrill rides. Certain fights are considered the weakest, but there is no indignity in being the weakest when among other stellar fight scenes. Most modern blockbusters can't hold a candle to the most boring action sequences of the MCU.
So get ready to suit up, because here is Every Iron Man Fight From Worst To Best, Officially Ranked.
21 Iron Man 2: Vanko Vs Iron Man On The Racetrack
Iron Man 2 is generally agreed upon to be on the lower tier of the MCU films, though there is no disrespect meant towards those who do adore it. Ivan Vanko's first duel with Tony Stark on a European racetrack is small relative to the other fights in which Iron Man often finds himself. The one thing that saves the otherwise dry encounter from being completely forgettable is the light comedy that comes from Pepper Potts attempting to give Stark his briefcase containing the suit, while the always lovable Happy Hogan violently rams Vanko into a wall several times with his car.
20 Iron Man: Iron Man Vs. Obadiah Stane
2008 was a simpler time, when final battles didn't need to involve giant armies bent on destroying planets or conquering universes. No, the first MCU film's climactic showdown was a mano a mano fight between Tony Stark and Obadiah Stane in their respective suits. Much of the battle is spent with Stark being thrown around, only to gain the upper hand once he puts his wits into action. Even still, Obadiah almost ends Stark for good until Iron Man gets a little help from Pepper Potts. Watching it today, the fight is a refreshing respite from the cluttered, haphazard messes of modern superhero films.
19 Iron Man 2: Stark Expo
The MCU's villain problem has been somewhat remedied by recent entries in the saga with antagonists like Thanos and Killmonger. Back in 2010, however, there were fewer iconic villains around. On paper, Ivan Vanko should be sympathetic to the viewer as his father was betrayed by Howard Stark, causing him to seek revenge. In execution, he comes off as nothing more than a mustache twirling cartoon character. Because of this, there is little emotional investment in their showdown during the Stark Expo in Iron Man 2. Mickey Rourke's head also rests into the uncanny valley whenever his suit's helmet comes off.
18 Age Of Ultron: Fighting Ultron In South Africa
Age of Ultron tends to get a bad wrap, but it has a lot of good things going for it. It's the only Avengers film that feels like a standalone story, where the first film had the immense hype behind it and Infinity War is the culmination of all the films up to that point. One mark against it is its sometimes less than stellar fight sequences. While there are some golden moments in it, the battle between Ultron and the superhero team in South Africa is not one of them, instead typically being the first among the bunch forgotten.
17 Iron Man 3: Stark's House Blows Up
Iron Man 3 is the odd one of the bunch, but that's what makes it so special. With that being said, not every moment of Tony Stark's third adventure is a home run. The sequence in which his house is blown to smithereens, for example, is typical summer blockbuster fare. It needs to be there in order to advance the story, but it is lacking the otherness that pervades the rest of the film and makes it stand out from the rest. Considering how bizarre the rest of the film is, this one foray into standard popcorn action can be forgiven.
16 Iron Man 2: Fighting Rhodes At The Party
Iron Man 2 sees an unhinged Tony Stark battling his personal demons while simultaneously trying to keep the government's hands off his creation. Both of these come to a head when he hosts a party and, while intoxicated, dons the titular suit. His buddy, James Rhodes, is witness to this and decides to grab one of Tony's works in progress in order to put an end to the shenanigans. What follows is a hand to hand match involving barbells set to a DJ's club mix. The bout between the two friends ends with Stark's mansion destroyed almost beyond recognition.
15 Age Of Ultron: Wolfgang Von Strucker's Hydra Facility
Age of Ultron opens with a bang. Specifically, this bang involves assaulting a Hydra facility where Wolfgang Von Strucker is conducting nefarious experiments, something alluded to at the end of The Winter Solider. It's an exciting way to open an anticipated film, and contains one of the coolest shots in the movie where the entire team is displayed side by side striking their coolest poses. Some marks riding against it involve the less than stellar effects shots found within. Still, with the fast paced action and even faster dialogue, there are few ways in which the film could have started better.
14 Iron Man 3: Fighting Killian
During the showdown on a shipping dock between Killian and Stark, the lives of Pepper Potts and the president are in jeopardy, but Iron Man evens things out with the help of Rhodes and his army of autonomous suits. By the end, Potts is thought to be gone, only to come back at the last moment and end Killian herself after the Extremis helps her survive what would have been a fatal fall. The idea of Iron Man's love interest getting powers would seem too ridiculous for any other MCU film, but it fits right in with director Shane Black's signature tone.
13 Iron Man 3: Running Away From Mandarin Agents
In Avengers, Captain America asks Stark what he is without the suit. Iron Man 3 answers this question in spectacular fashion. The hero spends the middle portion of the film with no weapon other than his intelligence. This idea is displayed in no better way than when two Mandarin Agents chase him down in Tennessee. With no suit of armor to assist the billionaire genius, he must think fast on his feet in order to avoid the two superhuman threats. Through the ingenious usage of kitchen appliances and quips, he manages to toast one of the agents and incapacitate the other.
12 Age Of Ultron: Sokovia
In 2012, it was a pure rush of adrenaline to see the superheroes take on an entire army in New York City. Countless hordes were slain all in the name of defending earth, and audiences gleefully ate it up. For 2015's Age of Ultron, the filmmakers opted to end the film in a similar manner, much to the disappointment of many viewers. The Sokovia sequence is flashy and exciting, but most audiences wanted something more than the famed warriors mowing down a robot horde. The saving grace of this climax is the brief exchange between Ultron and Vision before the villain is put to rest.
11 Iron Man: Fighting The Ten Rings In The Village
When Stark first learns about Obadiah Stane's more nefarious business dealings, he also catches wind of an attack transpiring on the home town of Yinsen, the doctor who helped him escape his imprisonment at the beginning of the movie. Using the newly crafted suit, he quickly flies to Afghanistan and dispatches of the terrorists. Iron Man's arc is all about him transforming from a greedy billionaire arms dealer into a virtuous hero fighting for those who need it most. Where he once sold weapons that destroyed innocent people's lives, he now uses them to stop needless bloodshed, sorrow, and destruction.
10 Iron Man 3: Airplane Rescue
Not every fight Iron Man partakes in is necessarily against a human or monster. Sometimes, he is battling the force of gravity pulling helpless citizens towards their inevitable, messy demise. One of the Mandarin agents irreparably damages the Air Force one, setting it on the course of a crash landing. After literally blowing a hole through the baddy's chest, Iron Man quickly gets to work rescue the falling passengers. What follows is one of the most impressive sequences in the MCU. Stark chains all the would be pancakes together and slowly softens the descent, saving all of their lives.
9 Age Of Ultron: Hulkbuster Vs. Hulk
Bruce Banner's famous catchphrase is "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry". If this is the case, then why do audiences whoop, holler, and cheer every time the scientist transforms into the raging green beast? It's doubly special when he gets so out of control that Tony Stark needs bring out the Hulkbuster. Johannesburg definitely isn't happy about this encounter that wrecks half of the city, but the fisticuffs between these two titans serves not only as a cool spectacle, but contributes to the movies themes about the damage the heroes inflict on the world.
8 Infinity War: Maw And Obsidian In New York
New York City simply cannot catch a break. One has to wonder why the residents of the big apple even bother rebuilding their beloved city, figuring that some other threat will lay waste to it a few months down the road. When Maw and Obsidian go to earth in order to retrieve the Time Stone, Spider Man, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Bruce Banner do their best to stop them in their tracks. The proceeding fight doesn't manage to destroy the whole metropolis, but gets the ball rolling on a movie that never slows down its momentum until the credits roll.
7 Iron Man 3: Escaping Killian's Compound
Some of Iron Man's greatest moments come from when he is outside the nearly impenetrable suit of armor. When he is fully protected, the stakes are lower, as almost nothing can cut through the material surrounding his body. When he is captured and chained to a bed, John Rambo style in Killian's Compound, he buys time until parts of his suit can make their way from Tennessee and onto his person. After his legs and one arm are equipped, he flies around the room, dispatching of henchman through a creative mix of guns, energy blasts, and physical attacks enhanced by the armor.
6 Infinity War: Fighting Thanos On Titan
Thanos is powerful, but he can't simply stand there taking endless damage while the heroes get their shots in. When he fights the Avengers, he has to be engaged in the battle and think carefully on how to incapacitate them. This makes for an incredibly interesting bout when Iron Man and several other heroes try to shut him down on Titan. Instead of flicking them away like ants, he has to resort to pulling a planet down on Tony Stark. In fact, Thanos almost loses the fight entirely until an emotionally compromised Quill inadvertently enables the antagonist to regain the upper hand.
5 Iron Man: Escaping The Cave
The movie that started it all is still a blast to revisit. Some visual effects have not aged spectacularly, but that does nothing to take away from the emotional tension behind each battle. Stark, along with the doctor who saved his life, Yinseng, toil away in a cave building what his captors think is a weapon. Really, though, they are constructing an escape plan. Once the grey armor is ready, Tony blasts his way out of the cave. Things get serious once he discovers his new friend has been mortally wounded, and he sends nearly everyone there to an early grave.
4 Civil War: Airport Battle
What's the one thing more entertaining than seeing everyone's favorite heroes fight against evil? It is probably watching them fight each other over a moral and philosophical disagreement. In Civil War, two groups of costumed saviors go toe to toe at an Airport in Leipzig. This battle is high on the list for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being the introduction of Spider-Man into the canon. It also ends with a brutally dramatic moment where Rhodes's suit deactivates, causing him to crash into the earth and causing him to lose the use of his legs.
3 Avengers: Battle Of New York
When Loki's Chiauri army makes its final push towards conquering Earth, The Avengers show up in The City That Never Sleeps to make sure that doesn't happen. While the city got its nickname for how the lights never shut off and the roads are never empty, now it doesn't sleep because it'll have terrible nightmares about the time it was turned into a war zone. There are too many cool moments to mention, but one of Iron Man's finest has to be when he flies into a Chitauri Leviathan's body through its mouth in order to blow it up from the inside.
2 Civil War: Iron Man Vs. Captain America
Maybe it is strange to have a battle he loses so high on the list, but even Stark has to admit that this no holds barred battle between two friends is one of the highlights of the MCU. The entire film builds up to it, and one is really led to believe that they would end each other's lives at that moment. Perhaps it was an unfair match up because Bucky was helping Steve Rogers, but Captain America doesn't have the help of a high tech suit. Only by Cap's act of mercy does Tony Stark live to tell about the impressive duel.