History ShoutOut / IronManFilms

* In Monaco, Happy is shown carrying a case which, when Tony activates it, deploys a limited-use version of the Iron Man suit (it has much less armor and doesn't seem to have flight capability). In the comics up until around the late 90s, Tony typically kept the suit hidden in the bottom of his briefcase (the comics suit was basically metallic fabric reinforced by a magnetic field, and could be folded like clothing).

* At one point, Stark starts having a panic attack and adds "[[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} ERIN HELP ME]]" to a young fan's drawing of Iron Man while autographing it.

* When Tony is drunk-piloting his suit, the partygoes first start throwing booze bottles into the air for him to shoot at. Then one of the girls shows up with a whole watermelon. Tony literally shouts out, "I think she wants the [[http://www.gallaghersmash.com/pictures/025.jpg Gallagher!]]"

* The first time Tony puts on the Mk. II armor, there's a familiar shot [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith from his perspective of a mask being attached onto his face and the tinted HUD flickering before his eyes]].
* The first movie also has shout-outs to former suits. The bulky Mark I suit is almost identical to the first suit he wore in the comics. Later, when trying to decide on the color scheme for the Mark III, we see the suit with a gold color scheme and briefly, with a silver and red scheme. The silver and red scheme is another shout out to the Silver Centurion armor. The all-gold color scheme is a look he wore in the 60's, which he intended to make him look less scary to the public than the gunmetal gray of the original suit.

* Tony's climactic line at the ending could be one to Music/BlackSabbath.

* The ring tone Rhodey gets when Tony calls him is the same tune as the theme song heard in ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelSuperHeroes''.
* The same music in a big-band arrangement shows up in the background during the Las Vegas sequence.
* The [[spoiler:suitcase armor]] is a double shout out to the comics: [[spoiler: Tony Stark ''did'' in fact manage to carry his armor around in a suitcase in the '60s, and the coloration is similar to that of the fan-favorite Silver Centurion armor, which was worn during the '80s]].
* Iron Man's suit recycles body waste in a process similar to [[Franchise/{{Dune}} Fremen stillsuits]].

* Tony is shown to have a Wing Chun training dummy in his workshop. Robert Downey Jr. is a real-life practitioner of Wing Chun kung fu.
* The "Tony Stark will return" TitleCard at the end is very reminiscent of {{the stinger}}s in ''Film/JamesBond'' films and the TitleCard in ''Film/{{Thor}}''.

* A kid who looks like Ralphie from ''Film/AChristmasStory'' asks for Tony's autograph and he mentions this film by name. Added points for the fact one of the producers and actors in ''Iron Man'' is Peter Billingsley, who played Ralphie in ''Film/AChristmasStory'' (he plays Stane's chief technician in the "[[MemeticMutation Built this IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!!]]" scene).

* Killian has dragon tattoos that look like the ''Iron Man'' villain Fin Fang Foom.

* There's a scene in the final battle that closely resembles a scene from the [[Film/TheTerminator first]] ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' movie, when [[spoiler:Tony has apparently defeated Killian but is trapped under some rubble, then Killian surges out of the fire, as indestructible as ever, ready to continue the fight.]]

* Harley gave Tony a ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' watch.
* The scene in which Pepper, in bed, is creeped out by an empty, remote-controlled armor is a bowdlerised version of the notorious near-group-sex scene between Dr. Manhattan and Laurie in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''.
* JARVIS apparently develops problems with saying the wrong cranberry[[note]]word[[/note]] at the end of sentences, not unlike what sapient computer [[Series/RedDwarf Holly]] suffered in the episode "Angels and Demons": "An electrical fire has knocked out my voice recognition unicycle! Many Wurlitzers are missing from my database. Abandon shop!"

* The ring tone Rhodey gets when Tony calls him is the same tune as the theme song heard in ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelSuperHeroes''.
* The same music in a big-band arrangement shows up in the background during the Las Vegas sequence.
* The [[spoiler:suitcase armor]] is a double shout out to the comics: [[spoiler: Tony Stark ''did'' in fact manage to carry his armor around in a suitcase in the 60's, and the coloration is similar to that of the fan-favorite Silver Centurion armor, which was worn during the 80's]].

* The Iron Man-Iron Monger fight in the first one, and the entirety of the failed armour sequence in the second, are homages to similar scenes in ''Film/RoboCop2''. The director even makes a comment on it on the second film's DVD commentary.

* Self proclaimed comic book geek Creator/HowardStern heavily promoted the first Iron Man film on his radio show, even interviewing director and casual friend Jon Favreau. In an interview on one of Stern's satellite radio channels during the promotion of Iron Man 2, Favreau confirmed that the foul mouthed Senator Stern from Iron Man 2 was in fact a shout out to his friend, the foul mouthed ''non''-Senator Howard Stern.

* Self proclaimed comic book geek HowardStern heavily promoted the first Iron Man film on his radio show, even interviewing director and casual friend Jon Favreau. In an interview on one of Stern's satellite radio channels during the promotion of Iron Man 2, Favreau confirmed that the foul mouthed Senator Stern from Iron Man 2 was in fact a shout out to his friend, the foul mouthed ''non''-Senator HowardStern.

* When Justin Hammer dances on stage, his movements look suspiciously like [[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy The Dingo Shuffle]]. He even says "Whoo, come on!" as he gets to the podium. Which may be an ActorAllusion, seeing how Sam Rockwell also played Zaphod Beeblebrox in ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' movie. Also something of a RunningGag for Sam Rockwell, as he has danced in every movie he's been in.
* Vanko pulling open the shirt to reveal the arc reactor and exoskeleton is awfully reminiscient of Superman doing the same to reveal his sigil.
* That first failed armor shown during the Senate hearing (the Korean one) looks awfully close to a Mad Cat/Timber Wolf from ''{{TabletopGame/BattleTech}}''.