I remember one of the guys from Marvel saying they were sending out packets containing information and comics of Iron man to dozens and dozens of writers begging them to write a Iron Man movie and everybody kept passing
They took a huge loan to produce Iron Man and Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man went into production without a script, with a lead who was considered washed out, they had to improvise a lot of dialogues because none were written!
And from that we have now come to the most successful franchise of all times, both critically and financially, well done to Marvel and Kevin Feige, also Avi Arad did good work in the initial days(I know you guys hate him though)