We are Iron Man. In what some critics call the "most ambitious movie ever to be inducted into the National Film Registry," 2008's Iron Man, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, became the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film to be chosen for the Library of Congress' NFR on December 14, 20022, with the televised announcement hosted by Turner Classic Movies on December 27.
As MovieWeb first reported on December 15, the MCU's Iron Man was among 25 other films inducted into the U.S. National Film Registry for 2022. Movies are selected annually for induction into the National Film Registry based on "their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage," per the LOC congress official press release. In addition to the Tony Stark film that kicked off the MCU, other movies inducted this year include When Harry Met Sally, Carrie, Hairspray, The Little Mermaid, Tongues Untied, Mardi Gras Carnival, and more.
With Iron Man's induction this year, it joins only two other superhero films to be selected for preservation, Richard Donner's Superman and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. However, unlike the DCEU movies of note, the Marvel film holds an interesting place in superhero history as one of the first movies to grow a comprehensive cinematic universe with its characters.
Kevin Feige Responds to Iron Man's Induction into the U.S. National Film Registry
Per the LOC announcement, Kevin Feige, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Studios president, and Iron Man producer (alongside Avi Arad, who is credited with founding Marvel Studios), said that he was delighted that the 2008 film that launched Marvel Studios as a daily presence in American popular culture, made the National Film Registry list in 2022 as the first MCU film to be recognized in such a significant way for its impact on the film industry. Feige said in an interview:
Iron Man was the very first film Marvel Studios independently produced. It was the first film that we had all of the creative control and oversight on, and it was really make or break for the studio. All of our favorite movies are the ones that we watch over and over again and that we grow up with. The notion that here we are, almost 15 years after the release of Iron Man, and to have it join the Film Registry tells us it has stood the test of time and that it is still meaningful to audiences around the world.