Was anyone really aware of Iron Man before the movie?
Heck, when you look back Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk were both overshadowed because they were released during the summer of The Dark Knight.
Not gonna lie. I wasn't. When it first came out, I thought it was a Mega Man movie based on the Nintendo game. I didn't even catch up to the hype and go back watch the first 3 Iron Man movies until after I saw Captain America and was interested in the Avengers movie that was coming out. The Avengers (2012) was the first one I saw at the movies.