There are some eyebrow-raising moments in the early Marvel Cinematic Universe films that Disney wouldn’t allow today. Disney bought Marvel in 2009 and it’s been an incredibly lucrative investment for the Mouse House; the 20 MCU films thus far have grossed over $17 billion worldwide. Marvel Studios’ films are immensely popular globally and count fans among every age group.

However, Disney acquired Marvel after several Phase 1 films were released or already in development, which explains why those first MCU films contain certain elements that aren’t necessarily family-friendly. Paramount Pictures actually released Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger while Universal Pictures released The Incredible Hulk. Beginning with 2012’s The Avengers, the rest of the MCU’s films fell under the auspices of Disney (after Disney paid Paramount $115 million plus a cut of Avengers’ box office), which applied their standards and practices to Marvel’s content going forward. But in those early films, there’s a good deal of questionable content and, unsurprisingly, most of it centers around the MCU’s original marquee character, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.).

In Tony Stark, the MCU was built around a cocky, egotistical, billionaire playboy, and Stark’s hedonistic lifestyle was actually part of his charm. Although he was certainly a genius, Tony was also deeply flawed; he was an irresponsible and reckless (but lovable) narcissist who suffered a life-changing trauma that prompted him to protect the world as Iron Man (while still indulging in many of his bad habits). The first two Iron Man films in particular chart Tony’s gradual growth as a hero, but this was in the pre-Disney days and those film reflect of the sense of humor of director Jon Favreau (who became a star when he wrote and starred in the ribald 1996 indie hit Swingers). By Phase 3, Tony has largely cleaned up his act but here are the most provocative moments in Phase 1 of the MCU that wouldn’t fly by Disney today.

  • This Page: Sex Scenes, Tony Stark’s Bachelor Plane, and Smoking Page 2: Hypersexualizing Black Widow, Alcoholism, and F-Bombs

Sex Scenes

Iron Man wasted no time in establishing Tony Stark’s cred as a billionaire playboy by sleeping with Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb), a reporter for Vanity Fair who was trying to write an unflattering expose. The two engage in a moonlit sex scene in Tony’s Malibu home before a naked Christine is woken up the next morning by the voice of JARVIS (Paul Bettany). She then explores Tony’s pad while wrapped only in his bedsheets.

It’s a provocative scene that’s quite adult in tone and wouldn’t fly with Disney today. Compared to today’s MCU, these sexy moments are positively scandalous. Over the next decade, Tony’s sexual appetites would be tempered as he dedicated himself to his one, true love Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), placing Tony’s days of sleeping with random women squarely in the past. Now, it’s only during occasional jokes like when Tony embarrasses Peter Parker (Tom Holland) by hitting on Aunt May (Marissa Tomei) that the flashes of the shameless playboy Tony used to be are seen.

Tony Stark’s Airplane With Stripper Pole

Today, Tony is more likely to zip around the world wearing Iron Man’s armor but before he became a superhero, the billionaire playboy liked to fly in the lap of luxury - very adult luxury, with beautiful women on his lap. Before Tony was kidnapped in the Middle East, he invited James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Terrence Howard) to fly on his private plane. In typical Stark fashion, Tony’s jet is high-tech, tricked out, and stocked with top-shelf booze. What’s more, Tony’s flight attendants were gorgeous supermodels and the plane transformed into a dance club for the girls while a stripper pole suddenly lowered for them to swing on.

Tony’s hedonistic jet would never fly in the family-friendly Disney era. One can assume that after Tony made Pepper the CEO of Stark Industries, she either sold off Tony’s plane or it became her plane and Pepper simply had the stripper pole removed and let go of his personal flight attendants. Either way, Tony’s bachelor plane was permanently grounded.

Smoking

The Incredible Hulk’s post-credits scene saw General Ross (William Hurt) bellied up in a bar and drinking his sorrows away before Tony Stark arrived to talk to him about the Avengers Initiative. Not only was Ross copiously inebriated, but he was also simultaneously puffing on a giant cigar. Today, showing scenes of smoking are a no-no now that Disney calls the shots, even if it’s a villainous supporting character like Ross.

When Ross, now Secretary of State, reappears in Captain America: Civil War to introduce the Avengers to the Sokovia Accords, he begins by launching into a story about suffering a heart attack while playing golf. He says recovering from a near-death experience gave him “perspective”, but this monologue can also be seen as a rebuke of his previous lifestyle of cigar smoking and hard drinking.

Page 2: Hypersexualizing Black Widow, Alcoholism, And F-Bombs

Hypersexualizing Black Widow

Black Widow’s introduction to the MCU in Iron Man 2 completely focused on Scarlett Johansson’s considerable sex appeal. Under the guise of Natalie Rushman, she joined Stark Industries as Pepper’s executive assistant and Tony instantly hit on her. He even Googled (and oogled) her lingerie modeling photos and told Pepper, “I want one.” Meanwhile, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) made sexist remarks as he sparred with her. The focus on Natasha Romanoff’s assets only continued as Tony kept coming onto her and later, Natasha changed into her Black Widow uniform in the backseat of the Stark limo as Happy watched her in the rear view mirror.

The emphasis on Black Widow’s sexiness continued after Iron Man 2 into the early Disney era. In The Avengers, director Joss Whedon made sure to position his camera so that Scarlett’s rear end was spotlighted in the scenes where Natasha interrogated Loki (Tom Hiddleton) on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Nowadays, Black Widow’s sexiness is implied and in her later appearances up to Avengers: Infinity War, the focus was on her fighting abilities and her platonic friendship with Steve Rogers. Natasha’s on-again, off-again love story with Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) is likewise chaste. But it remains to be seen if the Black Widow solo film (rumored to possibly be an R-rated prequel) will ramp up her sexiness once again.

Tony Stark’s Alcoholism

Before the Iron Man films made Tony Stark a world-renowned, A-list superhero, Iron Man was most widely known among comics fans for being a drunk. “Demon in a Bottle” was arguably the most famous Iron Man comic book story arc and fans anticipated the movies would adapt it - but it never really happened. Certainly, alcohol was part of Tony Stark’s playboy lifestyle in his films, but the movies stepped back from depicting full-blown addiction where booze ruined Tony’s life. Instead, Iron Man 2 merely nodded to “Demon in a Bottle” when Tony got drunk at his birthday, made a show of peeing in the Iron Man suit (another no-no today), and then got in a fight with Rhodey (Don Cheadle), who was wearing the War Machine armor.

Instead of the alcoholism of “Demon in a Bottle”, Tony would instead be haunted by PTSD after he nearly died by flying a nuclear missile into space and becoming traumatized by seeing the Chitauri invasion force in The Avengers. His PTSD haunted him in Iron Man 3 and this prodded him to build Ultron as a “suit of armor around the world” in Avengers: Age of Ultron. To Tony’s credit, he invented B.A.R.F. technology to help him process his mental health issues (including his unresolved feelings about the deaths of his parents) and he seems to be staying clear of alcohol overall.

Senator Stern’s F-Bomb

Iron Man 2 had a rare moment that the F-word was dropped in a Marvel movie. When Tony Stark was called to appear in front of a Senate committee that wanted him to turn over the Iron Man tech to the U.S. Government, the flashy billionaire grandstanded, infuriating Senator Stern (the late Garry Shandling). After he humiliated rival weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), got the press on his side by declaring “I’ve successfully privatized world peace!”, and blew kisses to the committee as he made his exit, a furious Senator Stern yelled, “F*** you, buddy!” Later, Stern got revenge when he pinned a medal on Tony and said, “Funny how annoying a little prick can be, isn’t it?”

Senator Stern’s F-bomb was bleeped out but it’s obvious what he said. Amusingly, the Disney era Spider-Man: Homecoming would also sneak in an F-bomb at the very end of the film, when Aunt May catches Peter in his Spidey suit and yells “What the f—!”, but the scene cuts to the end credits before she can finish saying the F-word (leaving the possibility open she opted for a different F-word). As for Senator Stern, he was later exposed and arrested as a member of Hydra so he’s probably still dropping F-bombs in prison but far away from any cameras owned by Disney.

Next: Every MCU Character Who Has Lifted Thor’s Hammer

  • captain marvel Release Date: 2019-03-08 The Avengers 4 Release Date: 2019-04-26 spider-man homecoming 2 Release Date: 2019-07-02