"As a general rule, I think fans like to see characters they love or love to hate brought to life. Iron Man: The Video Game gave fans the opportunity to go up against enemies they never dreamed they would have the opportunity to face, in addition to giving them an even richer story and world to explore. Fans most definitely appreciate the ability to go deeper into those worlds and become the Iron Man they have admired for so long," said Ratcliffe. "Offering fans a more detailed and bigger world to immerse themselves in only created more excitement for the people who were familiar with the Iron Man history and story. Even for those who weren't fans of the comic before, the ability to meet new enemies in a world they were just becoming familiar with created more exciting challenges for them to face."

"Unlockable suits and the extras that gamers could find within the game offered fans further opportunity to dive deeper into Iron Man - both the game and the character," he added. "We were happy to bring gamers and fans alike more than what they asked for and having that ability to discover new things and tackle more suits was a game enhancement that no one could resist."

Getting down to the nuts and bots of its gameplay, Iron Man is at its heart an open-world battlefield game, kind of like Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction in a super-suit.

"Open environments, especially those as huge as the Iron Man environments, offered gamers a chance to really feel the power behind Iron Man -- to take advantage of all the abilities the renowned suit offered and to explore familiar territories while challenging enemies that fans love to hate," said Ratcliffe. "I think those environments and the relationship with the enemies was something that players not only connected to but were excited to master as they moved forward in the game. Putting the power in the hands of those gamers was an irresistible draw for them."

Players get to run (and fly) around large environments, while firing energy blasts or manipulating enemies at close range. It's a great premise for a game, but many critics complained that the controls were shoddy and that battlefields were so filled with enemies that much of the game just becomes a harried, frustrating experience.

Avengers: The Game... how sweet would that be?
The Iron Man game received a pretty decent support campaign online and elsewhere, generally focusing on the title's connection to the movie. This was a smart plan, because by far the strongest selling point of the Iron Man game was the movie. [We apologize for repeating ourselves. – Ed.] Drawing on the phenomenon surrounding the Iron Man movie no doubt pushed awareness and interest in the Iron Man game to levels that would have never happened with just a traditional advertising campaign.

"One of the most helpful things was being able to work with Marvel and Paramount in ensuring that both the movie and the game were supported and worked together to offer a well rounded entertainment package for any and all fans. Great promotional partners, stellar TV ads, and an overall fantastic movie really helped the Iron Man game to rise to its current position on the charts."

Given the tremendous success of the Iron Man movie, a sequel would appear to be a shoe-in at this point. What's more exciting for comic fans are the plans for Thor and Captain America movies, followed by a full-on Avengers movie. Certainly, as long as these Marvel properties keep getting made into movies, licensed games are sure to follow.