The MCU has a villain problem with respect to one part of its franchise, but it’s something that Iron Man 4 can fix. Since the MCU debuted with Iron Man in 2008, the wealth of live-action villains adapted from Marvel Comics is vast. Many, though not all, of the founding Avengers have gone on to have multiple solo movies, including Iron Man himself, with each one tending to pit the heroes against a new and even greater threat. Some of these villains, like Loki, would then go on to be as iconic as their adversaries.

Iron Man’s MCU legacy is still having ripple effects in the MCU today, both as part of the narrative and behind the scenes of the MCU. Emerging as one of the MCU’s most iconic characters from relative obscurity in pop culture, Tony Stark’s absence after his character-defining sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame seems to have had a huge impact on the popularity of the MCU, which recently suffered a record-breaking box office bomb. The same fondness is not present, however, for Iron Man’s rogues gallery, which is easily the most disappointing in the MCU.