We no longer need to look to "inside sources" to spoil superhero films' biggest surprises, not when we can simply look at the action figures being put out by the toy companies. Before going any further, there are potentially some heavy Iron Man 3 spoilers below, so take this opportunity to move on if you don't want to know....
So there's a chance that a major cameo in Iron Man 3 has just been spoiled, although to be honest I'm quite skeptical. It's a combination of things that have led many to a certain conclusion I'm not quite convinced of yet. First of all, an interview with Robert Downey Jr. which ran this morning in which he said this about other heroes turning up....
“Everywhere you look now in every Marvel movie there are opportunities where certain new pals of his (Tony’s) could be useful. So they’re in the atmosphere, so to speak, but I wouldn’t expect to see them on the ground in this one.”
Many are noting the use of the phrases "in the atmosphere" and "wouldn't expect to see them on the ground" in speculating that he may be hinting at appearances by heroes who aren't earthbound. And who would that most likely be? The Guardians of the Galaxy, of course. But there's more to the rumors than that.
A new toyline for the Marvel flick features four different Iron Man armors, most notably his Deep Space suit, which Tony Stark rocks when he's kicking it in outer space. And then there's Latino Review, who say definitively that Iron Man heads into space to hook up with the Guardians at the end of his film, while he appears at the closing of theirs. Should we believe any of this or are people just grasping at straws?
Kind of hard to say. The first phase of Marvel's films did a pretty good job of using the post-credits scenes to show the formation of The Avengers, so in a way it would make sense to see the same thing happen again in the second phase by building up the threat of Thanos. To do that, Guardians of the Galaxy would need to be introduced fairly on since they are the primary star-hopping team and have the closest ties to the villain.
But on the other hand, we see toys come out all of the time that don't ever appear in a movie. And going back to Downey's statement, it could mean absolutely nothing. I think some are reading into it a bit more than he intended. With Iron Man 3 coming out in just a few months, they'd have to start casting and building the CG characters for the Guardians to actually appear in the film. That is unless the scene doesn't actually involve a meeting, instead having Stark just fly off into space but us never actually seeing the team on screen. Maybe they call Stark on his handy-dandy wrist communicator or something?
My gut, which frequently has sh*t for brains, tells me there's nothing to this. I guess we'll find out for sure when Iron Man 3 opens on May 3rd.
