Iron Man is a 2008 action film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Iron Man. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film is about Tony Stark played by Robert Downey Jr., a billionaire industrialist and master engineer who is captured by terrorists in Afghanistan. Ordered to build a missile for them, Stark uses his resources instead to build a powered exoskeleton to make his escape.

Returning to the United States, Stark improves his armor and becomes the technologically advanced superhero Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow plays his personal assistant Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard plays jet pilot James Rhodes and Jeff Bridges plays Obadiah Stane.

The film was in development from 1990 at Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, and New Line Cinema, before Marvel Studios reacquired the rights in 2006. They put the project in production as their first self-financed film. Favreau signed on as director, aiming for a naturalistic feel, and he chose to shoot the film primarily in California, rejecting the East Coast setting of the comics to differentiate the film from numerous superhero movies set in New York City-esque environments.

During filming, the actors were free to create their own dialogue (an uncommon practice in other big-budget films) because preproduction was focused on the story and action. Rubber and metal versions of the armors, created by Stan Winston's company, were mixed with computer-generated imagery to create the title character.

Marvel and Paramount Pictures, the distributor, planned a $50 million marketing campaign for the film, which is modeled on Paramount's successful promotion of Transformers (2007); Hasbro and Sega will sell merchandise, and product placement deals were made with Audi, Burger King and 7-Eleven.

Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, particularly praising Downey's performance. The film's stars have signed on for two sequels, the first of them scheduled for 2010, and Downey also cameos as Stark in the upcoming The Incredible Hulk.

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