Iron Man 2008 revisited

2008 feels nice & long time ago, adding to the Infinity saga's sense of breadth & depth.  Hell, even its early war on terror backdrop makes it feel even older, in a good way.  Iron Man 2008 nearly feels like a bio-pic documentary about Tony's discovery of Iron Man.  After Phase 2 & 3, this film feels nicely concise.  The performances are all very good & there isn't any bloated CBM nonsense going on here at all.  The visuals & effects have dated perfectly fine, with great flying & action sequences.  That they were basically writing & creating dialogue up as they shot, within time & budget is a marvel itself no pun.
RDJ as Stark feels less of a rock star when the film originally seemed standalone... now his genius science workings here are so much more pronounced. 
While a shame anytime casting continuity is broken beyond a poor performance, I still think Terrence Howard plays well for this movie.  His Rhodey is still the professional military commander, not requiring much levity or superhero stuff.  
Sam Jackson's Nick Fury is such a great moment now.  From being a near throwaway Easter egg of sorts to the official start of the Avengers initiative to chase 'I am Iron man'.

My MCU favs:
1. Avengers: Age of Ultron
2. Avengers: Infinity War
3. Captain America: Civil War
4. Avengers: Endgame
5. Captain America: The First Avenger
6. The Avengers
7. Thor: Ragnarok
8. Guardians of the Galaxy
9. Ant-Man
10.Iron Man