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

7. Rhodey's Ring Tone

In the first Iron Man movie, after learning that Stark Industries are supplying the Ten Rings terrorist group with weapons, and that Obidiah Stane is attempting to overthrow him as head of the company, Tony Stark flies to Afghanistan to open a can of whup-ass on the terrorists, who are busy attacking Gulmira.

On the journey back however, Stark is intercepted by two F-22 Raptor fighter jets, sent out by Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes who unknowingly suspects an attack by the unidentified flyign object. As the planes attempt to shoot him out of the sky, Stark phones Rhodey to admit his secret identity and try to stop the attack.

The joke comes when Rhodey's phone lights up with Stark's personal ringtone, which some Iron Man fans might recognise... For the uninitiated, that's the theme tune for the 1966 Iron Man cartoon, suggesting that Rhodes already might have unconsciously known that Stark was Iron Man.

The same music is featured as a second in-joke Easter Egg, this time even more obscurely, as it is played in the background during the scene in which Rhodey and Tony Stark walk through the casino. Rather than a ring-tone treatment, that reference to the song uses a jazzed-up remake of the same tune.