15 iconic moments from Marvel movies that weren't in the script

At the end of "Iron Man," reporters clamor for answers as Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) leads a press conference and tries to explain away rumors that he's a superhero.

But at the last minute, Tony throws away a note card with a pre-written alibi and tells the crowd, "I am Iron Man" — a moment Downey Jr. improvised, according to Deadline.

"If you're changing something for no reason, that's one thing, but if you're changing something because you want to double-down on the spirit of who the character is? That's a change we'll make," producer and president of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige told the publication in 2018.

"Tony Stark not reading off the card and not sticking with the fixed story?" he continued. "Him just blurting out 'I am Iron Man?' That seems very much in keeping with who that character is."

In "Ant-Man," Hope Van Dyne (Lilly) helps Scott Lang (Rudd) hone his superhero skills. While they're training, Hope punches Scott in the face to prove a point, and he asks, "Were you going for the hand?"

Rudd and other cast members reportedly improvised on set quite often, but Lilly said that this particular scene stuck out to her.

"I loved the take that they kept in the film, because you never know what they're going to use," Lilly said in a 2015 interview with Mom Does Reviews.

"One of his improvs was when he said 'Were you aiming for the face – or were you going for the hand?'" she continued. "I was so glad that it ended up in there 'cause I love that line."

In "Thor: Ragnarok," Thor (Hemsworth) forces a reluctant Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to pretend to be injured so the hero could hurtle him into a group of clueless guards.

On a 2017 episode of the "Empire" podcast, "Thor: Ragnarok" director Taika Waititi said he openly encouraged his actors to go off-script and gave Hemsworth full credit for that scene in particular.

"That was his idea," Waititi said. "There's a lot in things in the film which have come straight from his input. I'm very lucky to have someone around who's very invested in the emotionality of the scenes, but wants to have fun."

Feige told Gizmodo in 2017 that before Hemsworth was able to fully show off his improv skills in "Thor: Ragnarok," the actor contributed to unexpected laughs in earlier films.

"With ['Ragnarok'], Taika takes a little page out of the little moments in the other 'Thor' films where Hemsworth is funny," Feige said.

In addition to unexpectedly hanging up his hammer on a coat hook in "Thor: The Dark World," Hemsworth improvised saying "Another!" after smashing a coffee mug in "Thor," according to the Marvel producer.

In "Captain America: The First Avenger," agent Peggy Carter (Atwell) is blown away by Steve Rogers' (Evans) transformation from a scrawny army recruit into a super-powered hero.

As soon as she sees him, Carter reaches out to touch Rogers' chest in disbelief, which Atwell said was an unscripted reaction.

"When Chris Evans first took his shirt off on the set of 'Captain America,' I just instinctively grabbed his man boob," Atwell told Esquire in 2011. "They kept it in the film. So we did a couple of takes of me being really inappropriate with my hand on his pec for the duration of the scene."

In "Avengers: Infinity War," Wanda Maximoff (Olsen) and Vision (Bettany) share a tearful goodbye as he asks her to destroy the infinity stone that's keeping him alive.

In an interview with IMDb, the stars shared that directors Joseph and Anthony Russo walked up to Olsen and Bettany on set and asked them to ab-lib the dialogue for the death scene.

According to Bettany, the actors looked at each other in "abject terror" when they realized how much they would have to improvise, and the energy on set quickly became very silly.

"Some brilliant editor somewhere cut out all the really, really embarrassing bits," Bettany said.

"That's my favorite moment because it was so ridiculous," Olsen added. "The whole thing was so ridiculous and to make it so emotional felt so silly … but the editors did a great job."

Tony visits Peter Parker for the first time in "Captain America: Civil War" to recruit him to the Avengers, crossing the room to sit next to the young hero during an emotional exchange.

For a brief moment, Tony stands before Peter's bed and says, "I'm going to sit here, so you move the leg."

Marvel Studio News reported that during the DVD commentary for the film, codirector Anthony Russo shared that Holland forgot he was supposed to move over on the bed, so Downey Jr. reminded him to scoot by improvising the line.

"Tom forgot the blocking of the scene and of course that's Robert staying in character telling him, 'You're supposed to move now so I can sit on the bed,'" Russo said.

"Not only does he use it, but he uses it in a way that's really entertaining and fun," he added. "That's such a dexterous and inventive move on an actor's part."

After a Skrull impersonates S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and is subsequently killed in "Captain Marvel," Nick Fury (Jackson) visits the body in the exam room and lifts the blanket to take a covert peak at the alien's lower half.

According to Comic Book, codirector Ryan Fleck shared in the "Captain Marvel" DVD commentary that the moment was all Jackson.

"He just did this, and we kept it in because we thought it was pretty funny," Fleck said.

After Thanos (Josh Brolin) uses the Infinity Gauntlet, half of the world's population starts to disappear into dust. As Peter realizes that he's dying, he repeatedly tells Tony, "I don't want to go."

When an internet rumor claimed that Holland entirely improvised Peter's last moments in "Avengers: Infinity War," the actor set the record straight in a 2019 GQ video.

"It is improvised, because basically we did a long improvise, and it wasn't great, but it sparked a great idea," Holland said. "And then we reworked the scene, and then this was born."

In "Guardians of the Galaxy," Peter Quill (Pratt) presents a powerful orb to the Collector (Benicio del Toro) but nearly drops the precious item in the process.

In a 2020 tweet, director James Gunn wrote that although in his commentary he originally said he thought the slipup was an accident, Pratt later told him he did it on purpose.

"I believe him about 90%," Gunn added.

Pratt confirmed this with his own reply, writing that the moment was a "hundred percent intentional" and that it's better to "ask forgiveness than permission" when it comes to going off-script.

Early on in "Avengers: Endgame," Tony and Nebula (Gillan) bond as they float through space and wait for rescue, playing paper football to pass the time.

In 2019, The Hollywood Reporter asked Gillan which actor was better at the game, and she claimed victory.

"I think it was me because that scene was improvised," Gillan said. "And I won."

In "Avengers: Infinity War," chaos unfolds as the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy meet for the first time.

While they lay in wait for Thanos, the two superhero teams demand answers from each other, but the literal-minded Drax (Bautista) misunderstands a line of questioning about Gamora.

"The script only said, 'Where is Gamora?' 'I'll do you even better: Who is Gamora?' And then one day Bautista just goes, 'I'll do you one better: Why is Gamora?'" screenwriter Christopher Markus told Yahoo in 2018. "It's like, 'OK, you're very good at your job.'"

In "Spider-Man: Homecoming," Peter tries to hug Tony at the tail end of a conversation, but his mentor brushes him off to open the car door instead.

In a 2017 interview with entertainment reporter Kevin McCarthy, Holland said that particular scene is "so full of improvised moments."

"We kind of really riffed off each other," Holland said. "... I think I just tried to hug him, I just thought it would be funny if I hugged him, and Robert's instincts are so good that he was like, 'Ah, I'm not trying to hug you, I'm just gonna get the door.'"

In "Thor: Ragnarok," the hammer-wielding hero is taken by surprise when he's forced to fight Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in a battle arena. Ecstatic to see his old friend again, Thor shouts, "We know each other! He's a friend from work!"

According to HuffPost, Hemsworth said during a 2017 Comic-Con interview with Entertainment Tonight that the iconic line was inspired by a child visiting them on set.

"We had a young kid ― a Make-A-Wish kid ― on set that day, and in between the takes I was talking with him and coming back and forth," Hemsworth said. "And he goes, 'You know, you should say he's a friend from work.'"

In a 2019 interview with Pinkvilla, Holland shared that there was "no real script" when they filmed Tony's death scene in "Avengers: Endgame."

"They kind of brought us to set, they kind of told us what was going to happen or what they wanted to happen, and then we sort of just improvised, if I can remember correctly," Holland said.

"It was a really, really interesting way to shoot such a pivotal scene of the movie," he continued. "But it was a really emotional day, and I mean, looking back on it now, it was maybe the craziest day I've ever had on set, you know?"