When talking about the music of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, one name that often comes up is Hans Zimmer. The veteran composer, Christopher Nolan’s frequent collaborator, has scored countless superhero movies, providing the score for Batman, Spider-Man, Superman and even the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Wonder Woman 1984. A full-fledged music composing assignment in the MCU has eluded the composer though and fans have often expressed a desire to see Hans Zimmer score an MCU movie.
Turns out, fans may have gotten their wish, a lot earlier than they even expected. I’m doing a rewatch of all Marvel Studios movies in the lead-up to Avengers: Endgame and started off with 2008’s Iron Man. Going through the credits, I noticed something that’s been out there in the open all this while but isn’t picked up by fans that often when discussing the movie. Under the music section, the first name that comes up under Executive Music Producer is that of Hans Zimmer. That’s right, Hans Zimmer assisted Ramin Djawadi in scoring the very first movie of the MCU, Iron Man.
Just to be clear, this isn’t a startling revelation. It’s been out there in the open, and even Zimmer’s official site lists Iron Man’s tracks as being co-composed by Djawadi and Zimmer. It’s however something that fans haven’t been that clearly aware of since official material tends to credit Djawadi as the sole composer. Zimmer’s mention is nowhere clearly to be found, unless you explicitly search for it, which is why this tends to slip under fans’ radar.
And this is also not to take anything away from Djawadi; I’m pretty sure its he who did the bulk of the work, with Zimmer largely aiding in musical arrangements. But the fact remains that Hans Zimmer has scored a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, and the very first and also the very best sounding one. Take a bow Zimmer, and here’s hoping you return for a future movie as a sole composer.
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