15 Devilishly Clever Movie Secrets You Probably Missed
4. Captain America's Shield Is In Iron Man
This one was fairly well publicized at the time, but over the last year it has gained an entirely new meaning and significance. As Tony Stark de-suits after his brush with a couple of F-22's, a partially constructed replica of Captain America's shield can be seen on the table behind him. At the time, it was easy to mark this up as a clever little wink at a fellow Marvel property, similar to how Stan Lee always makes a cameo in every Marvel film.
However, we must remember that this was in 2008 - before anybody knew that Marvel had a Captain America movie in the works and was working towards building this massive cross-over franchise that would culminate in the release of the biggest film of this past year, The Avengers.
This seemingly innocent fan-service wink was actually a sneak peek at the massive franchise that was to come - a bold move, considering that Iron Man was a surprise hit based on a little-known superhero and starring a washed-up former star, and that most pundits at the time had expected it to underperform miserably.