The Marvel Cinematic Universe in its current form is an undeniable achievement for Marvel Studios. A new book, The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, reveals some of the interesting elements and challenges that shaped the studio's many projects, including how Transformers influenced Iron Man-- the iconic movie that paved the way for everything that followed.
The book details how Iron Man director Jon Favreau learned from certain aspects of Michael Bay's Transformers film when it came to visuals and how it helped save one of the film's most memorable sequences. Favreau is quoted as explaining, "Seeing Transformers was very helpful because I saw how good ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) now was at doing hard surfaces... I was finally convinced that you can achieve photorealism for certain materials." The film's effects served as Favreau's argument for keeping the sequence in which Tony Stark suits up in the red and gold suit for the first time, which was being selected for cuts for budgeting concerns.
"I was like, 'Guys look, Transformers is making all this money and all it is is things transforming. And we're cutting around it. We're cutting like Superman [: The Movie], like he goes into a telephone booth, pulls his shirt open, and the next thing you know, he's flying," Favreau said. He managed to persuade the studio to keep the sequence in and it was reshot and added back into the film.
Iron Man was released in 2008, shortly before The Incredible Hulk. Robert Downey Jr.'s debut as Tony Stark was met with universal acclaim from critics and audiences. His appearance at the end of The Incredible Hulk shocked audiences everywhere and marked the official establishment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Since then, the MCU has seen greater and more elaborate feats of visual effects work, including the Battle of New York in 2012's Avengers, the creation of Asgard in Thor and Thor: The Dark World, Ego the Living Planet in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and many more.
Downey Jr. was a staple of the franchise until 2019's Avengers: Endgame, which saw Stark give his life to defeat Thanos and save the universe. The climactic Avengers film also saw one of the more complex VFX challenge in the franchise thanks to its final battle, which pitted virtually every superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduced at that point against the forces of the Mad Titan. The battle sequence reportedly required years of development.
Source: The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe