“Iron Man” is now immortalized in the National Film Registry.
The Library of Congress announced Wednesday that the beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film was selected this year to join the exclusive ranks, among 25 other movies, for preservation by the National Film Registry.
The films were chosen for “their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage,” according to the Library of Congress.
The groundbreaking selections vary from films dating back as early as 1898 to as recent as 2011. According to the research library, the films must also be at least 10 years old.
Following in the steps of DC’s “Superman” and “The Dark Knight,” “Iron Man” is the third comic book movie to join the registry.
“Iron Man” kick-started phase one of the MCU and is the first Marvel movie to earn the prestigious honor among the 850 films residing in the registry.
Directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downey Jr., the 2008 film tells the story of the wise-cracking billionaire industrialist and genius inventor Tony Stark “who is kidnapped and forced to build a devastating weapon. Instead, using his intelligence and ingenuity, Tony builds a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity,” the film’s official synopsis reads.
Some of the other popular films added this year include 1976’s “Carrie,” 1988’s “Hairspray,” 1989’s “The Little Mermaid” and 1990’s “House Party.”
In a statement released Wednesday, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said he was “delighted” that the action film made the cut.
“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 and was really make or break for the studio,” Feige said.
“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.”