In my opinion, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man is easily on par with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. Robert Downey, Jr. is an ideal choice to play Tony Stark, the flawed and vulnerable superhero who is, in many ways, the anti-Bruce Wayne (whereas “Bruce Wayne” is arguably a facade that Batman wears, Stark really is shallow and petty until his life-changing experience). But perhaps, somewhat anticlimactically, many of the things that excited me the most in the movies were the hints of things to come in the future. Rhodey’s covetous glance at the Mark II suit (a harbinger of War Machine), and Stark’s final proclamation of the film (which I’m intrigued to see how they deal with in the sequel). And, of course, the super-secret after-the-credits ending which, if nothing else, actually has me interested in seeing the new Incredible Hulk movie, which promises a similar intertwining (and also so I can finally wipe my brain clear of the atrocious 2003 Ang Lee version).