Phase 1 MCU moments that wouldn't fly today

https://www.looper.com/149253/phase-1-mcu-moments-that-wouldnt-fly-today/

Tony Stark's womanizing

Tony Stark burst onto the screen like one of his Jericho missiles: loud, bright, and landscape-altering. We'd had superheroes before, of course, and they had garnered fans and sequels and accolades. But Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark was different. He had style, swagger, and the expertise and talent to back up his boasts. He could be a jerk, but he also advanced medical technology by decades. He was enormously full of himself, but also built himself a world-changing suit of power armor in a cave. It took him way too long to learn basic ethics, but darn it, you were cheering for him by the end. Tony Stark was not a good guy, but he was getting there, and the honesty of his journey was the key to the film's success.

But his womanizing and generally lecherous attitude towards everything feminine wouldn't work in today's MCU. His private jet includes flight attendants that double as exotic dancers. He immediately responds to a female reporter with objectifying remarks and a dismissal of her credentials. He is incapable of addressing a soldier as an equal once he learns she's a woman. Sure, there's being a lovable jerk — but then there's being outright gross. Nowadays, Tony Stark might be cocky, but he's not creepy, and he treats his female colleagues as the heroes they are.

Mainstream cool

Captain America: The First Avenger stands out within Phase 1 for a few reasons, from the historical setting to the tragic end. But perhaps the most notable thing about it is how much of a misfit Steve Rogers is. This is now a defining feature of the MCU: Captain Marvel faces opposition in the Air Force and the Kree Empire alike, Ant-Man is an ex-con, and the Guardians of the Galaxy are… well, themselves.

But back in Phase 1 — especially Iron Man and Thor — mainstream success was king. Sure, Tony Stark and Thor had to be brought low before their ultimate triumph. Both were boorish, arrogant princes (literal or otherwise) who had to face down their own hubris before more conquering their foes. But even when you were wincing at their braggadocio, you were still admiring their style. Thor pulled off his red cape and winking strut from scene one, and his more ludicrous facets — like the fact that his response to enjoying a drink is smashing the glass to the floor and crying, "ANOTHER!" — are, well, still kind of endearing. As for Tony, he's a piece of work, but you can't not admire him as he melts scrap into an arc reactor and returns to his Malibu mansion through sheer tenacity and talent. 

Their success as heroes — not to mention movie stars — depended on their mainstream cool. It was only later that Marvel decided to find heroism in more unlikely places.

Pepper Potts "taking out the trash"

Pepper Potts has come a long, long way. One of the weirdest things about revisiting Phase 1, in fact, is reacquainting one's self with her former position as Tony's assistant and long-suffering quasi-friend. She's good at what she does and the attraction between the two is obvious from day one — from her introduction, you can see the woman that will become a heroine in her own right buried within the cynical, skirt-suited shell. But it wasn't all tartness and day-planning back in Phase 1 for the competent Ms. Potts.

Recall Tony's sleepover with the aforementioned disrespected reporter, Christine Everhart. She wakes, finds the bed empty, and encounters Pepper, who informs her that her clothes have been cleaned and pressed, and that a car is waiting to take her wherever she wants to go. A minor verbal tussle ensues, and Pepper, smiling coolly, informs Ms. Everhart that one of her responsibilities is, when necessary, "taking out the trash" — the trash, obviously, being Ms. Everhart herself. It's a line that crosses over from cutting to outright nasty and, frankly, sexist. Happily, such rhetoric would be unlikely to come from Pepper today.

Rougher CG

The MCU is at a high point of computer graphics. Thanos isn't just visually convincing, he's fascinating. When he's on screen, your eyes are on him. The stakes were high for his star turn in Infinity War, as anything less could have been disastrously goofy. Imagine the sheer tonnage of Grimace and Grape Ape jokes the world could have seen. Imagine how unintentionally hilarious his scene on Vormyr might have been. Imagine, way back in the first Avengers movie, if his credits scene stinger had invoked a shocked chuckle instead of a gasp. Thanos is the crown jewel in the MCU's CG crown, and we're all lucky this ended up being the case.