Robert Downey Jr., the actor who launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Tony Stark, once named James Gunn's original Guardians of the Galaxy as the best Marvel movie ever made. In an interview with the Toronto Sun, the actor jokingly acknowledged that it was rare for someone with his sizable ego to make such an admission, making the high praise land even harder.
Downey explained that the box office success of early foundational films like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America gave Marvel Studios the creative freedom and financial security to gamble on an obscure comic book property. He compared the creative risk to a star quarterback's unproven relative stepping onto the field and unexpectedly winning the Super Bowl.
Years later, this ultimate endorsement from the MCU's founding star still carries immense weight, perfectly capturing how a ragtag group of cosmic nobodies became one of cinema's most beloved franchises.