Iron Man - First Flight with Mark II suit

The Setup: Tony Stark, a brilliant weapons manufacturer, had escaped from being held hostage by building a crude but effective suit of iron powered by a miniature reactor (which doubles as a device to prevent bomb shrapnel from eventually piercing his heart). Now home, Tony is working on the Mark 2 Iron Man suit.

Reason(s) why I love it: It's hard to imagine in 2024, but seeing the first Iron Man film in 2008 was something of a revelation. There had only been a few comic book characters that had successfully made an impact on the movie scene and in pop culture in general. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men and Blade were pretty much it. Then this movie came out, and it felt like a breath of fresh air.

While this scene has a lot of fun bits in it, the part that sticks with me - and the reason I love this scene so much - is when Tony is falling after his suit had iced over when he tried to fly too high (who knew that Icarus had it wrong? Flying too close to the sun will freeze you up instead of melting your wings!). He manages to get the ice off his suit, then his suit reboots and he swoops by a passing car and lets out a triumphant "Yeah!" That is what does it for me. We know Tony Stark is a brilliant mind, and he has more money than most people on the planet. But at heart, he's still a boy who loves his (very expensive) toys, and when it all works, he lets out a yell we all would if we were in his shoes.

As I write this, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a bit on hold - both from the box office flops it has had recently, as well as the actor who was supposed to be their main bag guy in upcoming Avengers films going through legal troubles. I remain quietly hopeful that the people in charge are using this time to properly take a step back and can find the mojo that made the first films of the MCU so great again.