Did You Catch The Iron Man Easter Egg In Spider-Man: Homecoming?

Spider-Man: Homecoming debuted to an amazing reception. The movie has only been out a handful of days, but is already one of the most talked about summer movies. And while fans are already busy dissecting every second of the movie, one particular Easter Egg might have gone overlooked.

Towards the end of the film, Tony Stark welcomes Peter Parker / Spider-Man into the Avengers by staging a big celebration at their new headquarters. After Parker proved himself to be a capable hero, Stark felt that it was the right time to bring him in. Unfortunately, Parker didn't feel the same way, leading to him politely refusing Stark's invitation and leaving facility shortly after. But the scene didn't end there.

After Parker exits the scene, Pepper Potts walks out from behind a closed door, trying to figure out what's going on. She explains to Stark that there's a room full of people waiting for an announcement and Parker is nowhere to be found. With no other impending announcements to be made, Stark asks Happy for the engagement ring he's been holding on to, the ring being for Pepper.

What's important about this scene is that 2008 is the year that the first Iron Man movie debuted. Happy Hogan's line was obviously a callback to the first instances of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts beginning their relationship together, even though Pepper's relationship with Tony didn't begin to fully manifest itself until the events of Iron Man 2 (2010).

Still, the notion of Tony having the engagement ring since the events of Iron Man probably means he had the intention of marrying Pepper much earlier on than we expected. Regardless of the circumstances around the proposal, Happy's mention of 2008 was definitely a callback to the original Iron Man movie, which kicked off the entire #MarvelCinematicUniverse.

Will Pepper And Tony Get Married In Avengers: Infinity War?

Aside from the callback to Iron Man, this new development bodes well for Pepper and Tony's relationship in the future. Despite not being seen together since Iron Man 3, Tony and Pepper are still making their crazy lives as superheroes work, and they've made the last step to solidifying their union by getting married, or at least getting engaged.

Nevertheless, we probably won't hear about Tony and Pepper again until Avengers: Infinity War, wherein this new development will undoubtedly be a subplot. Unless, Pepper and Tony's character arcs are meant to close out with a wedding during the fourth #Avengers movie or a different #Marvel movie. A marriage would also tie-in perfectly into the MCU's current narrative, seeing as how Robert Downey Jr. has stated he's about to ready to hang up his Iron Man suit for the last time. RDJ himself pointed out that he wants to leave the character behind on a high note, so a fitting departure would probably include Tony Stark and Pepper Potts Stark riding off into the sunset together.

Avengers: Infinity War opens in theaters on May 8, 2018.