These 32 Marvel Facts Will Make You Realize How Much You Love Marvel Universe – Part 3

After the very first ‘Fantastic Four’ comic was printed in 1961, many fans debated for decades if the Thing’s genitalia had remained the same after he mutated. In 2011, creator Stan Lee finally confirmed that the Thing had a penis made of orange rock.

2. After Robert Downey Jr. expressed interest in the role of Tony Stark, Marvel originally told Iron Man director Jon Favreau, “Under no circumstances are we prepared to hire him at any price.” He pestered the filmmakers until they eventually gave him a screen test.

3. In “New X-Men #118,” the word “sex” is hidden in the art on every page of the issue.

4. In “Avengers X-Sanction #4”, the time-traveling mutant Cable notes that Spider-Man is seen in the future as the greatest hero of all-time, even more so than Captain America or Iron Man.

5. Stan Lee was actually very nervous that blind people would find his ‘Daredevil’ comic series offensive or parodical. Upon its release, however, he received fan mail praising his handling of the subject and asked him to contribute to charities for the blind.

American actor Robert Downey Jr. has actually been banned from Japan because of his erratic behavior in the US in the 1990s and was only allowed to enter Japan for the premiere of ‘Iron Man’ if he promised never to return again.

7. In the comic event “Fear Itself”, Tony Stark built a suit of Iron Man armor out of the same magical Asgardian metal used to create Thor’s hammer. It is known as the Iron Destroyer Armor.

8. Mark Ruffalo actually discussed playing Bruce Banner with the director of the 2008 film ‘The Incredible Hulk’, but Marvel did not believe he would be right for the role.

9. While the ‘X-Men’ comic series was originally developed as a simple tale of “Good vs. Evil,” various writers saw potential in the comic’s cast and story to delve into themes regarding the horrors of racism, religious fundamentalism, anti-Semitism, the red scare, the AIDS epidemic, and the struggle of the LGBT community

10. A black Captain America was secretly fighting in WWII at the same time as Steve Rogers. He was one of the few successful results of the US Government’s numerous attempts to re-create the super soldier serum.

While undergoing surgery to regain her powers, Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) was given breast implants. This was a way to explain the stereotypically robust figure Spider-Woman has been drawn within the comics.

12. In early issues of the ‘Ghost Rider’ comic series, Jesus Christ appeared as a supporting character. However, in order to prevent offending religious readers, the character’s storyline was changed by the editorial staff to reveal that he was actually a demon in disguise.

13. Though he still maintained his peak physical condition, in the early 1990s, Captain America had the Super Soldier Serum removed from his body as a statement against substance abuse. This only lasted six issues before it was retconned away.

14. After his secret identity as Daredevil was released to the public, Matt Murdock occasionally wore a shirt with the phrase “I’m not Daredevil” printed on it.

15. Almost anytime Mystique is depicted in clothes in X-men comics, she’s really just naked and generating outfits with her shape-shifting mutation.

The original ending for ‘Iron Man 3’ featured Trevor Slattery (the false Mandarin) injecting himself with Extremis and exploding doing it incorrectly.

17. The initial origin of Spider-Woman revealed her to be an actual spider that evolved into a super-powered human being.

18. The very first trailer of Sam Raimi’s 2002 ‘Spider-Man’ movie (used to promote the film at various entertainment expos) featured Peter Parker using mechanical web shooters.

19. In the early ‘Thor’ comics, if Thor ever lets go of his Warhammer Mjolnir for more than 60 seconds, he would lose all of his powers and revert to a human.

20. Doctor Strange in the Ultimate Universe was killed when the demon Dormammu wrapped his cape around his neck, cutting off his air and causing his head to explode.

Due to FOX’s strict censorship of violence in cartoons of the 1990s, Spider-Man only threw three punches in the entire four-year run of ‘Spider-Man: The Animated Series.’

22. Some of the sound effect used for Tony Stark’s armor in the ‘Iron Man’ film series originate from 8-bit video games, such as the cannon fire from ‘Space Invaders’ being used as JARVIS’ target lock.

23. ‘Thor’ was originally planned to be a made-for-television film set to air on UPN, starring professional wrestler Tyler Mane.

24. The very first draft of the ‘Iron Man’ film script revealed that Tony Stark built mechanical tentacles for a scientist in New York, a reference to the ‘Spider-Man’ villain Doctor Octopus.

25. Chris Hemsworth was originally rejected for the part of the title character early on in the casting process for the 2011 ‘Thor’ movie. He was reconsidered only after his younger brother Liam was nixed further along in the process.