‘Iron Man’ Earns Historic Place on the National Film Registry
Iron Man is one of the twenty-five films added to the registry this year. Showing the genre is worthy of historic preservation, and the haters can shove it.
The National Film Registry is a collection of films selected for preservation based on historical, cultural, and aesthetic contributions. Movies that have enduring importance to American culture. The registry was founded in 1988 to stop the material alteration of early films and preserve movies for future generations. Star Wars was in the first batch to be inducted, alongside Citizen Kane. The NFG inducts a handful of movies every year. There are currently 850 films on the list; you can check them out here.
This year’s inductees are an eclectic bunch.
“Films have become absolutely central to American culture by helping tell our national story for more than 125 years. We are proud to add 25 more films by a group of vibrant and diverse filmmakers to the National Film Registry as we preserve our cinematic heritage. We’re grateful to the entire film community for collaborating with the Library of Congress to ensure these films are preserved for the future.”
Iron Man Joins the List
This year’s selections include the film that kicked off the MCU, 2008’s Iron Man. The comic book movie changed the trajectory of filmmaking in nearly every way, for good and not so great. Iron Man elevated the superhero genre, telling a complex story of redemption with an excellent performance from Robert Downey Jr. It has incredible special effects and production design that still hold up thirteen years later. The movie deserves this spot.
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige responded to the induction…
“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. 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.”
