Captain America's Shield Spotted In Iron Man

Middle-lower left corner

Our friends at First Showing having confirmed that Captain America's red, white and blue shield appears near the 1 hr 30 min mark in Iron Man. I looked for a better screen grab, but haven't found one clearer than that above. The scene is the one where Pepper Potts/Gwyneth Paltrow walks in on Tony Stark/Robert Downey Jr. as he attempts to remove his suit after returning from his showdown with the fighter jets. You may recall the scene more clearly knowing that this is right around when Stark says to Potts,"Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing."

Apparently, the shield is as "clear as day" in the film complete with red coloring, but my friends and I didn't notice it during my viewing. Did you? And if you're wondering, the shield cannot be seen in the trailer when parts of the scene are shown.

As expected, fans are already working the shield's cameo into the logic of Marvel's new and ever expanding movie-verse, but I'm going with the "just for fun" theory right now. Without spoiling anything, the scene obviously occurs before Stark encounters Nick Fury/Samuel L. Jackson after the credits, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is not a prominent factor when the shield pops up. However, it still appears that Stark is at work on a prototype of Captain America's signature weapon, so one can at least imagine a similar, stunning and advanced technology utilized by the character when he appears on screen in 2011's The First Avenger: Captain America. Where World War II, cryogenics and Matthew McConaughey (ugh) come into play, who knows.

Discuss: Sight gag or is this all part of Marvel's new franchise design? How do you feel about Stark possibly being the inventor of Captain America's shield?