Universal bought the rights to Iron Man in 1990, and 20th Century Fox acquired them in 1996. Several actors, including Nicolas Cage and Tom Cruise, were linked to the role in the late 1990s before Cruise declined. New Line Cinema took over in 2000, and writers including David Hayter reworked the script. Marvel regained the rights in 2004 when a Nick Cassavetes deal fell through. Marvel then began development from scratch as its first independent feature. About thirty writers passed on the project. Jon Favreau was hired in April 2006 and pushed to cast Robert Downey Jr., despite opposition from Marvel executives. Downey was cast in September 2006 and earned $500,000. Favreau changed the origin story from Vietnam to Afghanistan and rejected a period-piece approach. The film's success launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In 1909 D. W. Griffith made a 14-minute film about a speculator who corners the wheat market and doubles the price of bread. A farmer sows his field while a 'Wheat King' gambles in the Chicago wheat pit; bakers raise the loaf from five cents to ten and the poor line up for bread. Griffith cut back and forth between the farm, the feast and the breadline, a technique called parallel editing, so audiences saw both ends of the economy at once. The film drew on Frank Norris's stories and on a real scheme: months earlier Chicago financier James Patten had cornered wheat, sent bread prices up and made about $5 million, roughly $185 million today.