Nigga I was there

Casuals thought the character was a robot and they had to make three short animated films to remove that thinking

In order to build the general public's awareness of Iron Man and elevate him to the same level of popularity as Spider-Man or Hulk, Marvel conducted focus groups, trying to find a way to remove the general perception that the character is a robot. The information Marvel received from the focus groups was used to formulate an awareness-building plan, which included releasing three animated short films ahead of the film's release. The shorts were called "Iron Man Advertorials", and were produced by Tim Miller and Blur Studio.

I wouldn't says obscure cuz he still had like 2 cartoons centered around him so people were aware of him to some extent. He's just not as omni present

Hell even Kitty Pryde was more popular than Iron Man

Bro nobody thought an Iron Man movie was gonna do the numbers it did man

Clearly not if you thought casuals were well aware of Iron Man

Absolutely nobody predicted that Tony Stark would be a household, culturally defining name in 15 years

Yes and no. like she was an X-Men member but a lot of niggas was not picking her up out of a line up like they were Storm or Rouge

But all of the properties you listed had movies out by 2008 so they tried something new

Again when iron man was first announced and teased people were hyped about possibility of pulling off the s*** off

And he has CONSISTENTLY BEEN IN GAMES

He's tripping. There was a point in time where we was gonna get a Silver Surfer movie before we got him

Oh you talking casual casuals nigga I don’t spend time talking about the most casual of people

@Thichquangduck

time.com/6321494/iron-man-movie-mcu-book

Marvel Studios embarked on the production of its first movie, Iron Man, in 2005. The studio’s leadership was confident it could connect with audiences—even if most people weren’t familiar with Iron Man’s backstory or mythology. The character had been neglected for so long that the only collection of Iron Man comics readily available was Demon in a Bottle, compiling the 1979 run of issues where Tony Stark succumbed to alcoholism. That confused some of the Hollywood screenwriters who were trying to get up to speed on the character before meeting with Marvel to pitch their takes on the character.

Bro @fader literally pulled up articles of people passing up on an Iron Man movie due to his lack of public recognition in comparison

But yes I will pretend iron man didn’t have many game appearances , a cartoon and comic because someone who just watches tv may not have known of him

Also just cuz he was in games doesn't mean he was the most recognizable character in them games.

When Marvel Vs Capcom dropped all the marketing on the Marvel side was around Spider-Man and X-Men, matter fact the whole game was a spin off of an X-Men fighting game

Companies being stupid has nothing to do with the character was in many properties ….

The movie was in development hell for 10 years because screenwriters did not know who the hell he was and thought the public didn’t either, which was the case when Marvel tested focus groups and most people thought the character was a robot

what do you think we've been talkin bout this whole time

It’s def debatable. She joined the team during X men’s peak and damn near every young reader had crushes on her and her tropes influenced a lot of television going forward

Exactly

Iron man is one of the most played characters in marvel vs capcom 1 and 2

People in the general audience being stupid isn’t shocking it’s why we have rdj playing victor von doom

Bro speaking from personal experience I didn't know who Kitty Pryde was until the live action movies and X-Men Evolution.

All my homies wanted to f*** Storm

Crack ?

Obviously comic fans knew who he was, I’ve been talking about general audiences the whole time