20 Things You Didn’t Know About Iron Man 2
8. The Elon Musk Connection

Numerous aspects of the film are linked to SpaceX magnate Elon Musk.
For starters, he actually appears briefly in the Monaco-set sequence, introducing himself to Tony Stark and mentioning that he's working on an electric jet, a concept he actually revisited several years ago.
This cameo was probably payback for the production being allowed to use Musk's SpaceX facility in California to shoot the scenes in Justin Hammer's factory. Better still, all of the extras seen walking around in the background are actual SpaceX employees.
And finally, the January 2012 issue of Air & Space Magazine went on to claim that the MCU's Tony Stark was in part inspired by Musk. Clearly flattered, Musk keeps a statue of Iron Man as a "guard" at the SpaceX HQ.