I can confirm this. I was part of a friendly discussion at a theater before the first Spider-Man movie, and I was trying to tell everyone how awesome Iron Man is. The attitudes ranged from "meh" to "who?" Nobody knew who he was, or cared. Even in recent years, when the character has gotten more attention, he was one of the most hated heroes in comics. Marvel took a big chance in basing their movie franchise on his character.