Iron Man has become the most popular Avenger. Despite the publicized contract impasse with lead star Robert Downey, Jr, fans continue to hold on to "Iron Man 4."

Speculation continues on how the story of Tony Stark will continue. With every development in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the storylines would vary.

The next scheduled release for Marvel is "Guardians of the Galaxy." It is touted as Marvel's riskiest movie and it has been suggested that Iron Man would make a cameo simply to ensure viewership. JoBlo recently debunked that rumor: "our source confirmed that there would be no members of THE AVENGERS featured in the film, but that it does take place in the same time/universe as the current phase of films."

Moviepilot enumerated clues that point to the contrary. Iron Man was supposed to act as a 'bridge' between the Guardians and the Avengers. This all starts with what was supposedly a deleted after credits scene-one they were supposed to show after "Iron Man 3." The details: "The original post-credits scene was going to show Tony Stark chilling at his mansion while repairs were being made to his suits. Suddenly, JARVIS would interrupt, saying he had intercepted a coded message from space. The message turned out to be none other than Star-Lord from the Guardians sending an SOS signal. Tony then jumps into Iron Man mode, straps on the Deep Space Armor, and shoots off into space."

Moviepilot also points out that Iron Man's Deep Space Armor is part of the Iron Man 3 Toy line-even though he did not use it on that film. That simply means he will use it somewhere else. But why was this scene deleted?

The reality of film production reared its ugly head again: "The post-credits scene teasing him flying off to help the Guardians of the Galaxy was ultimately nixed as Marvel execs had no idea at that point whether or not they'd even have RDJ in future films."

Downey is still down to two films-"Avengers 2 and 3" as of this writing but negotiations are expected to continue. The anticipated 'Guardians' cameo might not be counted as a film appearance. We would never know, but for Marvel fans the only concern is getting to see more of Tony Stark.