44. Elon Musk Cameo (Iron Man 2)
Tony Stark shares some similarities with real-life billionaire inventor Elon Musk, so it’s hardly surprising that the Iron Man trilogy contains several references to Musk, including a cameo! Musk appears in the Monaco restaurant scene in Iron Man 2 and upon meeting him, Tony Stark remarks that Musk’s Merlin engines, which are the propulsion engines SpaceX uses on its Falcon series of rockets, are “fantastic.’ Musk responds by claiming that he’s drafting a concept for an “electric jet,” something that he started working on in late 2015.
In addition to his cameo, Musk’s SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, California stands in for Justin Hammer’s factory; in fact, the people walking in the background are actual employees.
Source: Screenshot via Marvel Studios
43. Larry Ellison Cameo (Iron Man 2)
Elon Musk isn’t the only billionaire to show up in Iron Man 2. Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, turns around the 10-minute mark during the Stark Expo scene. As he walks past him, Stark says, “It’s the Oracle of Oracle.” Ellison’s cameo is fitting, given that he’s a billionaire playboy who often draws comparisons to Tony Stark, and his company’s brand is displayed throughout the film, with the climactic showdown between Iron Man, War Machine, and Whiplash taking place at the fictional “Oracle Biodome.”
Source: AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File
42. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Captain America: First Avenger)
This one’s a little obvious but it’s just so good that it needs to be highlighted. In the opening moments of The First Avenger, the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) finds the Tesseract and comments, “Let the Fuhrer dig for trinkets in the desert.” Most cinephiles recognized this as a reference to the classic Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, which follows the Nazis’ search for the Ark of the Covenant in the Egyptian desert. Wait a minute: Disney owns both the Indiana Jones franchise and Marvel … so clearly Indiana Jones is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe! We can dream.
Source: Screenshot via Marvel Studios