The success of the Deadpool movie has vindicated the efforts of Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller’s to bring Marvel’s Merc with a Mouth to the big screen. Deadpool was Miller’s live-action directorial debut, and he’ll have no shortage of options for his next film if he decides not to return for Deadpool 2. And as it turns out, Miller also played a key role in the success of Iron Man as well.

Blur Studios created three CG animated Iron Man shorts under Miller’s direction, which used Spider-Man and the Hulk as a way to introduce Iron Man to a larger audience. That was almost a year and a half before the first Iron Man film hit theaters and transformed the armored Avenger into an international sensation. Prior to that, Marvel was apparently very worried that casual fans had no idea who Iron Man was.

Marvel’s Joe Quesada has posted the three Iron Man animated shorts on his Tumblr page while praising the work of Miller and Blur Studios. In the first short, Spider-Man finds himself in over his head against an advanced robot threat before he calls upon his good buddy, Tony Stark.

In the second short, Iron Man takes out the giant robot, and he ends up riding a nuke into space to protect the city.

The third clip should seem very familiar to anyone who has seen The Avengers, as Iron Man gets an assist from a more talkative Hulk than we may be used to.

Because of the way that Hulk and Spider-Man defer to Iron Man, the videos have the unintended side effect of coming off as fan fiction written by Tony Stark himself. But the shorts did have their desired effect of making Iron Man look good.

“Considering how long ago these were created and how far computer graphics have come, I think the shorts hold up pretty darn well,” wrote Quesada. “What always makes me smile when I watch them are the little bits and pieces that would later come to influence certain moments in our films…What’s also fun to see is how even back then Tim’s wonderful and mad cap directorial skill was clearly evident.”

What did you think about the Iron Man animated shorts? Gear up, and let us know in the comment section below!

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HT: Joe Quesada

Image Credit: Marvel/Blur Studios