20 Fails That Nearly Killed The Marvel Film Universe

5. Tony Stark Meets The Guardians Of The Galaxy

Though Iron Man 3 ended with Tony Stark destroying his Iron Man suits, and the post-credit scene had him gassing with Bruce Banner on a couch, that wasn't the original plan. Originally, the post-credit scene would feature Stark blasting off into space in his Deep Space Armour to meet the Guardians of the Galaxy. Another suggested idea was that Stark would also have a cameo in Guardians, allowing him to get some banter in with Star-Lord and company. Both ideas were binned when Downey Jr. cast doubt on whether he would continue to play Iron Man (even though this was likely just a negotiation tactic on his part). Why It Would've Ruined The MCU: Having Iron Man meet the Guardians at the end of Iron Man 3 wouldn't really make a lot of sense considering that Guardians is all about the crew meeting each other for the first time. The second idea is better, though it would likely seem ham-fisted and forced. Though from a commercial perspective throwing Iron Man into Guardians of the Galaxy made total sense (as they could plaster his face all over the trailers), Marvel's far braver decision to sell the movie on its own merits ultimately paid off, and now we can simply look forward to Tony Stark mocking the rag-tag gang in a future movie (likely The Avengers 3) where it will happen more organically.