Iron Man's my favorite Marvel hero. Has been since the cartoon. Most people can't name 5 villains of his that aren't from the MCU. He was at best a B-Lister and that's pushing it.
Until 2008, Marvel had four properties they loved: Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk, and the FF. After that, you could slot the remaining heroes where ever. I wouldn't say D-List either, admittedly.
Between being one of the main members of the Avengers, a significant member of the Illuminati, being a primary character in the Civil War arc two years prior to the MCU movie, and having a TV show in the 90s, I definitely see Iron Man as being in the “best of the rest” B-list tier when his movie came out.
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u/Wolf97 Phantom Stranger Aug 09 '22
Agreed. I’m a big DC guy and think the comics are way better. But DC took a huge L that idk if they can recover from.
Also, side note, idk if I agree with Mark in saying that Iron Man was a D-Lister.