A deleted scene from Marvel film Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr hinted at plans to merge the X-Men and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At least at one point.
Yes, there is actually a deleted scene that was once supposed to air at the end of 2008’s Iron Man movie that referenced Spider-Man and X-Men, without giving away their names.
Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Nick Fury did the honours, as movie producer Kevin Feige revealed at the 45th annual Saturn Awards.
“We pulled some things out of that vault that we said, We’ll never show this to anybody, put it away.”
“We’re bringing them out, we’re putting them on this disc, and I’m about to show you a deleted scene that has never been seen by anyone before right now,” Feige said.
Fury is with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) discussing the Avenger Initiative in the clip.
He spoke about “gamma accidents, radioactive bug bites and assorted mutants” and referred to Tony as “a spoiled brat who doesn’t play well with others and wants to keep all his toys to himself”.
You can check out the deleted scene for yourself below:
At the Saturn Awards, Kevin Feige revealed an alternate version of the post-credits scene from ‘IRON MAN’ with Nick Fury mentioning “mutants” and “radioactive bug bites”. It will be included in the upcoming INFINITY SAGA boxset. (Source: @BRMarvelNews) pic.twitter.com/AqzTokEc67
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 14, 2019
The footage was unveiled shortly after Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo called Spider-Man leaving MCU a “tragic mistake”.
Talks between Disney-owned Marvel and rival Sony to ‘share’ Spider-Man broke down and it could mean that Marvel’s superhero films may be without their famous character.
Marvel movies have grossed $22 billion at the global box office and British actor Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has become a central figure in the most lucrative franchise in film history.
However, Sony owns the character’s movie rights even though Spider-Man has for decades been the ‘crown jewel’ of the Marvel comic book empire.
Spider-Man only began appearing in Marvel’s cinematic universe after an almost unprecedented, and still high secretive 2015 deal stuck between the Hollywood giants with the two studios co-producing and splitting profits across the films.