This isn't a big scoop or anything, as anyone who's seen Iron Man 2 will already know this, but if you haven't gotten the chance to see the film yet and you're interested in learning about how it begins to expand the Marvel movie universe, read on. Obviously, spoilers ensue.

After Tony Stark has met Nick Fury, director Jon Favreau slips one object into the movie that helps to demonstrate the fullness of the secrets that reside in the franchise's United States' military history. That object happens to be a (broken) shield, colored red and blue and with a star in the middle. Yep, Captain America's shield is in Iron Man 2. Its appearance is brief, as it seems to almost accidentally wind up at Stark's compound with a lot of other, pseudo-related equipment. Naturally Stark, not knowing its significance, uses it in the most iconoclastic way possible: to level some super electric pipe.

The following is probably a given, since there hasn't been any explicit discussion of superheroes in the Iron Man films thus far, but the introduction of the shield also shows that the existence of Captain America is not something that your everyday person knows about, as opposed to the character's treatment in the comics. Instead, it seems that he will essentially be a secret soldier. Of course, during the time frame of this film he is thought dead.

Oh, and one more thing. This actually broke about a week ago on various websites, but since we're on topic I'll talk about it anyway. Another aspect of the Marvel world that is teased in Iron Man 2 is the existence of Thor, in the post-credits sequence. All we see is a newly-formed crater in New Mexico, and that ever-recognizable hammer nearby. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent at the scene tells someone (presumably Nick Fury) on his phone that they "found him," which implies that they already have some knowledge of the thunder god (whose origin in the films is going to be sci-fi-based) and were expecting him in some way.

None of these elements particularly help the film at hand (though they don't hurt it, either), but they do work well to build anticipation for Marvel's upcoming movies and to expand the films' world. After being shown some concrete proof of these characters' existence, I personally am looking forward to those movies even more. The touches were simple and well played.