Ten years ago, we became part of a bigger universe – we just didn’t know it yet – when Samuel L. Jackson popped up for a cameo in Marvel’s 2008 superhero blockbuster Iron Man to talk to Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark about the Avengers Initiative.
Not only did it establish a Marvel tradition of post-credits stingers, but it also stands as one of the most important moments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. However, it seems it was never envisioned that way, as director Jon Favreau has revealed to Entertainment Weekly that it was simply intended as “a bit of a lark” and a nice little Easter egg for comic book fans.
“That was a bit of a lark.” says Favreau. “I wanted to include Easter eggs that the fans would appreciate and we thought the idea of a post-credit scene it could be fun. It was something that wasn’t really in the script originally. But I thought the idea of Nick Fury being Sam Jackson would be really fun, because when Nick Fury was reimagined in The Ultimates (comic book) they recast him as Sam Jackson, and I thought that that would be a really good nod to the audience. And Kevin Feige was way into it, too. Kevin really lit up.”
“We worked on that dialog together. We were very careful how we selected the words,” he continued. “‘You’re part of a bigger world now, a bigger universe,’ and ‘the Avengers Initiative,’ laid breadcrumbs for what was to come. We had the idea that we would somehow group these characters together, that was part of what would happen, but a lot of things had to go right for that to happen, so we were really just laying out a basic mission statement of purpose, to show our intent, and thinking that the few people who would linger in the theater would be the ones who would appreciate it most.”
Revisit the scene here…