In Captain America: Civil War, the Vision sums up the importance of the Sokovia Accords quite succinctly: “Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict breeds catastrophe.”

With Iron Man, it wasn’t just his strength that invited challenge. He went out in front of a room full of cameras and reporters and said, “I am Iron Man.” A face could be put to the superhero. Most of Tony Stark’s enemies were people that had a personal problem with him (apart from the one time that it was an android he created). So, here are Iron Man’s 10 Best Scenes With Villains, Ranked.

10. OBADIAH STANE TAKING OUT HIS ARC REACTOR (IRON MAN)



Tony Stark has always had a complicated relationship with his father. After Howard died, the father figure Tony was left with was Obadiah Stane, but he was just mentoring Tony in an attempt to dethrone him as the CEO of Stark Industries. He even hired a terrorist group to kill him.

The moment where Tony reaches his lowest point in the first Iron Man movie is when Obadiah uses one of his gadgets to incapacitate him and then rips the arc reactor from his chest. Tony then has to crawl across the floor to get the one Pepper framed for him. It was such an effective moment that a bunch of subsequent MCU movies copied it in one way or another.

9. “EARTH IS CLOSED TODAY.” (AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR)



Tony Stark has the right quip for every villain, and Ebony Maw is the kind of villain who doesn’t have time for quips. Bruce Banner crashed into the Sanctum Sanctorum and warned Doctor Strange and Wong that Thanos was coming. Strange teleported to Central Park and brought Tony back to the Sanctum to talk strategy. And then a Q-Ship landed around the corner and Ebony Maw stepped off.

He wanted the Time Stone, which was hanging around Strange’s neck. Before he could even ask, Tony told him, “I’m sorry, Earth is closed today. You better pack it up and get outta here.”

8. INFILTRATING THE MANDARIN’S HIDEOUT WITHOUT HIS SUIT (IRON MAN 3)



For obvious reasons, Iron Man 3 is one of the most controversial entries in the MCU. The Mandarin is a fearsome, mystical, iconic villain in the comics – the arch nemesis of Tony Stark – and Iron Man 3 turned him into a soccer hooligan; an actor hired to portray a terrorist.

Ignoring that, the scene right before this reveal, with Tony having to infiltrate the Mandarin’s hideout with nothing but his wits, is truly great. He’d lost his armor, so all he had were makeshift gadgets and scientific knowhow. Tony uses his suits as a crutch. The technology does everything for him. That’s what makes this such an interesting escalation of the stakes.

7. “I’M BRINGING THE PARTY TO YOU.” (THE AVENGERS)



One of the main criticisms of Joss Whedon’s The Avengers is that the villain in the final battle is the Chitauri, a faceless alien robot army. But that helped to place the focus on the characters and their burgeoning relationships.

Right as the Battle of New York began, Iron Man distracted one of the giant flying metal worms and didn’t know what to do with it, so he told the other Avengers, “I’m bringing the party to you,” and flew around the corner, followed by the flying worm. A deadpan Black Widow quipped, “I don’t see how that’s a party.”