11 details you may have missed in 'Iron Man' that hit harder after watching 'Avengers: Endgame'

During the opening montage sequence, a fictional Rolling Stone cover says Stark wants to save the world. At the time, it was merely talking about his company's defense weapons.

More than a decade later, that cover holds a completely different meaning. Stark literally put his life on the line to save not just the world, but the entire universe in "Endgame."

Tony hears Pepper Potts' voice calling out to him as he's being waterboarded in "Iron Man." He's unsure whether or not those are his final moments and his thoughts go to her.

The moment parallels the opening minutes of "Avengers: Endgame" when Tony records a message for Pepper when he thinks it's all over for him.

"Please know when I drift off, it'll be like every night lately. I'm fine. Totally fine. I dream about you. Because it's always you," Stark says.

When Stark is told to finish the Jericho missile by the next day in "Iron Man," he gets to work on finishing his Iron Man suit instead. The audience watches as he hammers the first Iron Man helmet.

The hammering sounds were later used at the very end of "Avengers: Endgame" in place of an end-credits scene. The moment was meant to pay tribute to the hero who kicked off the first decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"Avengers: Endgame" coeditor Jeffrey Ford told Insider's Jason Guerrasio the moment was the idea of Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.

"Kevin came in and said, 'I got an idea, and I want to try it — what if we have a little audio flashback at the end with Tony?'" Ford said. "So we dug through the elements of 'Iron Man 1' and found the exact piece of sound from the print master. We laid it in against the logo and adjusted the rhythm slightly. We showed Kevin and he gave it his blessing. We thought this was a great send-off."

Stark sits down and eats the burger during a press conference he gives.

In "Endgame," his daughter asks for a cheeseburger during his funeral, making the moment even more poignant.

The cheeseburger has significance for Robert Downey Jr., too. In 2008, the actor told Empire magazine he credited a burger to turning his life around after addiction.

"I have to thank Burger King," Downey Jr. said, according to the NY Daily News. "It was such a disgusting burger I ordered. I had that, and this big soda, and I thought something really bad was going to happen."

In "Endgame," Stark travels back in time with Captain America and meets his father. The moment gives him much needed closure.

In the event he didn't survive traveling through time or a fight with Thanos, Stark recorded a hologram video to say goodbye to his daughter and wife. He probably didn't want Morgan to feel the same way he did all of those years ago.

Pepper's gift to Tony, emblazoned with the words, "Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart," was floated out on a lake during his funeral service, but take another look at the reactor's colors.

Notice anything?

Right before the Avengers go back in time in "Endgame," they put their fists together in a circle. Together, their hands recreate the look of the arc. In turn, the Avengers are proof Tony has a heart.

The moment may seem like some well-placed Disney synergy, but that's not the case.

"Iron Man" was released in 2008 by Paramount Pictures. It wasn't until the following year, when Disney purchased Marvel, that the film was under the Disney umbrella. It's a convenient coincidence to see that moment in the movie now.

The suit did eventually lead to his downfall, but he also wound up saving the world.

When Pepper learns Tony has built a superhero suit in "Iron Man," her first reaction is to quit. She tells him she's not going to be a part of it. That last part didn't work out as she initially planned.

At the benefit for Tony Stark near the film's start, pay close attention to the biography on his life. An article inside MIT's Technology Review says Stark was working on a "simple theorem," which posited that artificial intelligence "can be imbibed with personality through alternative programming." It's noted that Stark was putting the finishing touches on two prototypes that "will listen to him and learn from his behaviors."

Stark interacts with one of his prototypes in his lab throughout the movie. It looks like it was the foundation for Stark's sentient AI in "Age of Ultron."

A newspaper near the film's start tells us Tony's parents died in a car crash in 1991. In "Captain America: Civil War," we learn a brainwashed Bucky Barnes actually killed them on the road.