Iron Man's first real suit in the MCU is almost perfectly believable, according to an expert, "except for the arc reactor." After launching the MCU with his first solo movie in 2008, Iron Man's iconic look became synonymous with the franchise and the superhero genre as a whole. At a time when superheroes were still expected to be somewhat grounded in reality, the introduction of a genius with no superpowers to speak of was the perfect inroad to a cinematic franchise that is now replete with fantastical elements, such as magic and space gods.