12 Fiendishly Clever Comic Book Movie In-Jokes You Probably Missed

9. Tony Stark - Secretary Of Defence

In Iron Man 2,when Tony Stark clashes with Garry Shandling's Senator Stern over his perceived duty to hand over the Iron Man armour and technology, before Stark humorously insists that the senator present he and Rhodes with their medals, Stark mentions that he would happily accept the position of Secretary Of Defence, rather than handing over his tech.

Iron Man comic fans would have gotten the joke immediately, as in the comics world Stark actually did take on the mantle at almost the same point in time of the timeline. After revealing his secret identity to the world, the US government offer him work as a contractor for the Department of Defence, which he turned down, but accepted the position as the President's Secretary of Defense to monitor the use of his technology by the United States military.

The joke of course is that Starks's tenure as Secretary of Defense was pretty disastrous, ending in scandal when he got drunk at the United Nations, thanks to the increasingly insane behaviour of Scarlet Witch.