‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ Gave Us the Marvel Cinematic Universe

It is entirely possible that we wouldn’t have Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe were it not for a little movie called Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Shane Black’s deliriously dark action comedy not only reintroduced Robert Downey, Jr. to the movie scene, but it also defined Downey as a mercurial bad boy with a heart of gold…essentially setting him up to slide into the role of Tony Stark.

Way back in 2005, Robert Downey, Jr. was in dire need of another chance. Years of scandal, drug abuse, and a stint in prison had basically left him with a toxic reputation in Hollywood. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wasn’t Downey’s first film back, but it was the first one that let him go full “Downey.” That is, as the film’s puckish narrator, a thief who becomes mistaken for an actor and is later embroiled in a deadly mystery, Downey gets to quip his way into the audience’s heart. It’s a very similar role in tone and manner to Tony Stark, and it’s easy to see how Marvel head Kevin Feige might have seen the ideal template for Iron Man in this film. (I’m not stretching here; Downey and Feige actually enlisted Kiss Kiss Bang Bang‘s writer/director Shane Black to direct Iron Man 3, so there is a direct correlation.)

And here’s the thing…if the first Iron Man hadn’t been such a wild success, the rest of Marvel’s mighty experiment wouldn’t have worked. If Robert Downey, Jr. hadn’t been cast as Tony Stark — if he hadn’t wooed the world with his performance — the MCU would have died instantly. Instead, we fell in love with Tony Stark and he became the de facto leader of both the Avengers, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And you can trace the seeds of Downey’s Iron Man all the way back to a super similar performance in Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. 

See how that works out? (And it’s way simpler to follow than Avengers: Infinity War.)

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is currently available to stream on HBO Now and HBO Go.

Where to stream Kiss Kiss Bang Bang