*[[Samuel L. Jackson]] as [[Nick Fury]]: {{Cast list break|Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.; Jackson signed a nine-film contract to play the character.<ref name="SLJSignsOn" /> On the subject of his character not seeing any action in the film, Jackson said "We still haven't moved Nick Fury into the bad-ass zone. He's still just kind of a talker."<ref name="SLJSplashPage" />}}
The director, [[Jon Favreau]], reprises his role as [[Happy Hogan (comics)|Happy Hogan]],<ref name="FavreauHappyTwitter" /> Tony Stark's bodyguard and chauffeur, while [[Clark Gregg]] andvà [[Leslie Bibb]] reprise their roles as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent [[Phil Coulson]]<ref name="GreggMara" /> and reporter [[Christine Everhart]],<ref name="BibbEverhart" /> respectively. [[John Slattery]] appears as Tony's father Howard Stark<ref name="SlatteryHoward" /> and [[Garry Shandling]] appears as United States Senator Stern, who wants Stark to give Iron Man's armor to the government.<ref name="Shandling" /> Favreau stated that Shandling's character was named after radio personality [[Howard Stern]].<ref name="BabaBooey" /> [[Paul Bettany]] again voices Stark's computer, [[Edwin Jarvis#J.A.R.V.I.S.|J.A.R.V.I.S.]]<ref name="BettanyJARVIS" /> [[Olivia Munn]] has a small role as Chess Roberts, a reporter covering the Stark expo,<ref name="MunnImprov" /><ref name="MunnChange" /> [[Yevgeni Lazarev]] appears as Ivan Vanko's father [[Anton Vanko]],<ref name="Lazarev" /> [[Kate Mara]] portrays a U.S. Marshal who summons Tony to the government hearing,<ref name="Mara" /> and [[Stan Lee]] appears as himself (but is mistaken for [[Larry King]]).<ref name="LeeKing" />
Additionally, news anchor [[Christiane Amanpour]]<ref name="Amanpour" /> and political commentator [[Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]]<ref name="VarietyReview" /> play themselves in newscasts. [[Adam Goldstein]] appears as himself and the film is dedicated to his memory.<ref name=commentary /> Further cameos include [[Tesla Motors]] CEO [[Elon Musk]] andvà [[Oracle Corporation]] CEO [[Larry Ellison]].<ref name="MuskEllisonCameos" /> Favreau's son Max appears as a child wearing an Iron Man mask whom Stark saves from a drone. This was [[retcon|retroactively]] made the introduction of a young [[Spider-Man|Peter Parker]] to the MCU, as confirmed in June 2017 by eventual Spider-Man actor [[Tom Holland (actor)|Tom Holland]], Feige and ''[[Spider-Man: Homecoming]]'' director [[Jon Watts]].<ref name="PeterParker" /><ref name="PeterParker2" />
