Iron Man's alternate post-credit scene, which mentions Spider-Man and the X-Men, is proof of how much has changed since Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 1. It's been 11 years since Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau's movie released and unintentionally kicked off the entire MCU. Shortly after the franchise's culmination in Avengers: Endgame released, Marvel debuted a different cut of the now-famous Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) stinger. It revealed that aside from laying the groundwork for the introduction of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, there were also teases pertaining to the mutants and the web-slinging hero.

Much of Iron Man was improvised on set. While there was a general narrative layout, the finer details of that movie were polished while filming, highlighting Marvel Studios giving enough creative wiggle room to everyone involved in their projects. This courtesy was extended to the Iron Man's iconic post-credit scene, evidenced with the existence of a another variation of it.

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The alternate Iron Man post-credits scene plays out the same as the one that ended up on the big screen, only with tweaked dialog. In it, Fury says "as if Gamma accidents, radioactive bug bites, and assorted mutants weren't enough" as he introduced himself to a newly outed Iron Man. He was obviously talking about Bruce Banner/Hulk, Spider-Man, and the X-Men, respectively. But while Marvel Studios was able to explore the story of the green-rage monster, the latter superheroes were off limits considering that they were owned by different companies - Sony Pictures Entertainment and 21st Century Fox. They were also properties that exist in separate universes at that point.

Spider-Man Peter Parker Wolverine Logan James Howlett X-Men fist bump friendship Marvel

As it turns out, Brian Michael Bendis (who wrote the official Iron Man post-credit scene dialog) was spitballing some ideas as they were secretly filming Fury's post-credit bit. Being a long-time comic book writer, Bendis was casually throwing possible scenarios from the comic books. And since Marvel's publication arm doesn't have to deal with such complicated character rights like its big screen counterparts, the idea of Iron Man, Hulk, Spider-Man, and the X-Men working together can be easily translated into a narrative - something that reflected in Bendis' alternate version of the post-credit sequence.

What's more surprising is the fact that it was actually shot, meaning that Marvel Studios might have seriously been tinkering with the idea of using this alternate post-credit than what ended up in Iron Man's theatrical cut. It emphasizes how Marvel movie character rights weren't as much of a big deal compared to what they are right now. They didn't limit creative ideas and studios operated with the assumption that, like in the comics, these heroes could potentially all exist in the same universe. Another evidence of this notion took place four years prior to Iron Man, when J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) insinuated that the name Doctor Strange was already taken as they discuss possible alter-ego title for Dr. Otto Octavius in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2.

Fast forward to 2019 and Iron Man's alternate post-credit scene is more relevant than ever with Spider-Man and X-Men essentially now existing in the MCU. Despite some recent rough patches, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment were able to find a way to continue their existing partnership that allowed the former to use Peter Parker in its franchise. Meanwhile, thanks to Disney's acquisition of Fox, the mutants and even the Fantastic Four, as well as all their tie-in characters, will soon debut under the shared universe's umbrella.

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