The film that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe and then kicked off a million takes on cinema-destroying comic book movies is getting some respect. Wednesday, the Library of Congress announcement the 25 films that will be added to the National Film Registry and Iron Man was chosen as historically significant work of American cinema.
This year’s entries in the prestigious film slate join old-school classics like The Great Train Robbery and Citizen Kane as well as more modern dishes like Return of the Jedi and Shrek in the ever-expanding archive of American canon. There are notable movies that most readers are probably familiar with, like Carrie and When Harry Met Sally. But there are plenty of hidden gems here that most have probably never seen, like a short film capturing Mardi Gras in 1898 or a documentary about women union organizers in the 1930s.
Of the deep cuts on the list that I know of, I would wholeheartedly recommend Kenneth Anger’s experimental short Scorpio Rise and Titicut Folies, Frederick Wiseman’s incredible documentary about conditions in a mental hospital in 1967.
You can click through the slides (or just scroll down on mobile) to read what the Library of Congress had to say about each of the entries and we’ve provided links to where you can stream them online.