View original postBring in more than one other and it becomes a Team film not an Ironman film, bring in one and you've either got a buddy cop flick or one is demoted to sidekick and/or moron, just the way it goes. Cameos are usually a bad idea unless you're lining stuff up for another film because it just reminds the audience about the superhero who isn't showing up for the world crisis, and superhero dynamics being what they are it generally invites the thought that the non-present hero would solve the question five seconds flat, or be terribly useless and thus boring for a film. No Hawkeye or Black Widow solo films seem likely

That's what I was trying to say, Team-Up films are very different from solo films, and so any in-story explanation of why Hero X's friends aren't showing up is good enough, since the real explanation is that it's just not that type of movie.

Again, I don't disagree, I was just wondering what the excuse was. Even a throwaway line (in either film) about him being busy elsewhere would have been nice, a SHIELD agent telling Nick Fury that War Machine was still 4 hours out, or Rhodey telling Stark he wished he'd been there.

Not that it's a big deal, and I understand that they didn't bother going into it. It could easily become more trouble than it's worth.