MCU Easter Eggs

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Iron Man 3 (2013)

Release (US): May 3, 2013 | Director: Shane Black | Runtime: 130 minutes

Shaken by the Battle of New York, Tony Stark loses his home and most of his tech to a terrorist called the Mandarin and has to rely on his own wits to fight back. The film borrows heavily from the Extremis comics.

Source: Wikipedia: Iron Man 3

Hidden Details & Easter Eggs

The 'barrel of monkeys' rescue used real skydivers

When Air Force One is ripped open and Iron Man catches the falling passengers, the people in the air are members of the Red Bull Skydiving Team, jumping in business clothes with parachutes hidden underneath. One team member stood in for Iron Man and another filmed in free fall with a helmet-mounted camera. Digital Domain's supervisor said 90 to 95 percent of the people on screen in the sequence are the real skydivers.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

The President is named after the writer of Extremis

William Sadler's President Matthew Ellis is named after Warren Ellis, who wrote the Extremis comic story that the film draws on most.

Source: Wikipedia: Iron Man 3

Rhodey's Iron Patriot suit comes from a comic book villain

The government rebrands War Machine as the red, white and blue Iron Patriot. In the comics, the Iron Patriot armor was worn by Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin. The writers also borrowed names of unrelated Marvel comics characters, such as Eric Savin and Jack Taggart, for Killian's soldiers. More on War Machine →

Source: Wikipedia: Iron Man 3

Trevor Slattery was supposed to blow himself up

Co-writer Drew Pearce said one version that was filmed had Trevor steal an Extremis injector, stagger onto the oil rig during the final battle, inject himself and explode. Pearce called it the most Monty Python beat they had. The team kept Trevor alive instead, and he returned in the 2014 Marvel One-Shot All Hail the King, which Pearce wrote and directed.

Source: Collider (interview with Drew Pearce)

The Christmas setting was not Shane Black's idea

Many Shane Black films take place at Christmas, including Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, so the holiday setting looks like his trademark. Black said he actually resisted it this time, and co-writer Drew Pearce talked him into it.

Source: /Film

Stan Lee's pageant-judge cameo was cut in half

Stan Lee appears briefly as a beauty pageant judge, eagerly holding up a score of 10. Lee later posted a video apology to fans saying his cameo had been much funnier, but it was cut in half because the film ran long.

Source: ComicBook.com

Jenna Ortega is the Vice President's daughter

Before she became a star, Jenna Ortega had a tiny role as the Vice President's daughter and is on screen only for a moment. Ortega said Marvel cut all her lines and even took her character's name away.

Source: Variety

China got its own cut with extra scenes and Fan Bingbing

Iron Man 3 was made with Beijing-based DMG Entertainment. Every version includes actor Wang Xueqi and scenes shot in Beijing, but the version released in China added bonus footage and an appearance by star Fan Bingbing.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Tony's helmet display was modeled on maps of the human brain

The designers of the heads-up display inside the helmet took inspiration from medical MRI pattern recognition and from connectograms, the circular charts scientists use to map the brain's white-matter connections.

Source: Helena Barbas, 'VR, AR, MR Simulations and Inspirations from Iron Man 3' (2017)

Rose Hill is a real town, just not in Tennessee

Tony crash-lands in 'Rose Hill, Tennessee', where he meets Harley Keener. The scenes were filmed in Rose Hill, North Carolina, in August 2012, and the filmmakers wrote that real town's name into the script.

Source: Wikipedia: Iron Man 3

Credits Scenes

Post-credits

It turns out Tony's narration of the whole film was told to Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who dozed off near the very beginning. Once Banner is awake, Tony starts telling the story all over again.

Source: Wikipedia: Mid-credits and post-credits scenes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Deleted Scenes

7 scenes cut from the film and released as home-media extras. See them all →

Setups and Payoffs

Moments in this film that pay off later, or pay off something earlier. All callbacks →

Characters in This Film

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