Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man 2 was the worst MCU film before Brie Larson’s The Marvels.

Brie Larson’s The Marvels did not stand a chance after it heavily tanked at the box office, not to mention the early criticisms it received even before its premiere. After receiving harsh reviews from fans and critics, it has been hailed as the worst MCU film to date.
Iman Vellani, Brie Larson and Teyonah Parris in The Marvels / Walt Disney Studios
But, this is nothing new in the Marvel realm. Back in 2010, it released one of the most critically panned installments, and that’s Iron Man 2. Despite Tony Stark opening the gates for the MCU, his last two solo films were severely slammed.

Fans React To Iron Man 2 Becoming The ‘Worst MCU Film’

Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man 2 was a commercial success, earning $623 million against a budget of $200 million, but it had a lot of issues behind the scenes. Cinematographer Matthew Libatique told Collider:

It was almost more important to establish the future characters than it was to tell this narrative. So, that film, ultimately, if you look back on it, there’s some entertaining things about it, and I really enjoyed making it, but it was serving more than one master.

Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 2 / Walt Disney Studios
Apparently, the second installment had a lot of subplots, and viewers found it difficult to focus on one coherent subject. Libatique said it wasn’t necessarily wrong because everyone wants to see Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow.

Explaining the fiasco involving Mickey Rourke’s Ivan Vanko, the main villain of the film, Libatique revealed they had a lot of debate about the character. The actor had a specific request for his part, while the cinematographer fought for his suggestion. Apparently, the studio remained firm with their decision.

I explained to Justin Theroux, to the writer, and to [Jon] Favreau, that I wanted to bring some other layers and colors [to the character], not just make this Russian a complete murderous revenging bad guy. And they allowed me to do that. Unfortunately, the [people] at Marvel just wanted a one-dimensional bad guy.

However, fans gave their two cents after industry insider MyTimeToShineHello posted a hot take on Twitter. Check out their tweets below:

There is absolutely worse than this in the MCU cmon now

— FINTO (@finto182) May 26, 2024

This film was sub-par, but there’s more phase 4 films that are worse than Iron man 2!

— Vtuber 4Life (@Vtuber94077) May 26, 2024

That’s not even the worst Iron Man movie

— Brookowski (@dando48197) May 26, 2024

I remember the good ol days when this WAS the worst. But things have been so bad lately I would rewatch Iron Man 2 with a smile on my face

— Hip-Hop Jeff Van Gundy (@JeffVanGundysB1) May 26, 2024

Remember a time when this was the worst MCU film?

— DredMore1 (@BlackbrickBolt) May 26, 2024

Ironman 2 was definitely not the worst marvel movie, it was decent enough to get my hyped up , if we’re sticking with him for the moment, ironman 3 was the shittest, only because of how insanely stupid he’s suits got smashed to smithereens

— IamTheRealOriginalOne (@MBNZO6) May 26, 2024

MCU started to experience a shakeup after Phase 3 as evident in the reactions of fans towards the succeeding installments.

The Marvels Was A Nightmare For Disney

Brie Larson and Teyonah Parris in The Marvels / Walt Disney Studios
If Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 was labeled the worst film in MCU, it can certainly compete with Brie Larson’s The Marvels. Not only did the latter bomb at the box office, but even Disney CEO Bob Iger threw the franchise under the bus (via CNBC):

The Marvels’ was shot during Covid. There wasn’t as much supervision on the set, so to speak, where we have executives [that are] really looking over what’s being done day after day after day.

There was really nothing that the studio could do to save The Marvels. The decline in quality has become the dilemma of the superhero enterprise due to the onslaught of content they released during Phase 4.

Hopefully, the upcoming MCU films will combat the epidemic of superhero fatigue, and there’ll be no more titles that would compete with Iron Man 2 and The Marvels as the ‘worst MCU film.’

Iron Man 2 and The Marvels are streaming on Disney+.