Nicolas Cage and John Travolta face-off in a fan poster for a late-90s version of Iron Man 2, titled Iron Man Reloaded. Yesterday, Marvel fan jasonandwho took to Reddit to post his fan art, imagining what a 1995 version of Iron Man would have looked like. The poster cast Charlie Sheen as Tony Stark, Cameron Diaz, as Pepper Potts and comedian Shawn Wayans as Rhodey.

The 1990s remix presents the tantalizing vision of what the movie that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe would have looked like if it had been made in 1995. The answer is that it likely would have looked quite cheap in comparison, and may not have launched a billion-dollar cinematic universe as the 2008 version did. This 1990s version of Iron Man also cast a group of very young actors, at the time, to star in the movie, a reflection perhaps of the B-grade status of most superhero characters outside of Batman and Superman in the 1990s.

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Now jasonandwho has posted a follow-up fan poster, reimagining Iron Man 2 as a 1997 movie. It recasts the notoriously unreliable Sheen with another 1990s wild child, Nicolas Cage. Rhodey is also recast, like he was in real life, with Cuba Gooding Jr. taking over from Shawn Wayans. The best piece of casting is undoubtedly Travolta as Justin Hammer, played by Sam Rockwell in 2010. The pairing promises more wild action, as seen in John Woo's Face/Off. You can see the full poster below.

Iron Man 2 1997 Poster Pits Nic Cage Against Travolta's Justin Hammer

Cage and Travolta famously appeared together in 1997's Face/Off, a strangely appealing action film in which the actors swap faces and attempt to kill each other, despite having completely different body types and sizes. The movie was a hit, though, with reports that a reboot will soon be made. The one thing that definitely worked in Face/Off was the lead's chemistry. They both have a great time playing off each other, similar to the dynamic that Rockwell and Downey Jr. shared in Iron Man 2.

Interestingly, there is no space on the poster for the character of Ivan Vanko/Whiplash, played by Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2 or Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow. However, the cast the artist has chosen is pure late 1990s nostalgia. One wonders if any studio would have had the budget for such a big-name cast, considering all four actors featured on the poster were at the height of their fame at the time.

If it had been made, there's no doubt that while Iron Man Reloaded would have been a mediocre movie, even compared to Iron Man 2, one of the worst-regarded MCU movies so far. However, there's also no doubting the fact that this poster makes the film look like an insane project that would be regarded now as a great piece of cheesy 90s nostalgia. It's both a blessing and a pity that Marvel waited until the 2000s to launch the MCU.

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Source: jasonandwho/Reddit

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