Versioni alternative

German theatrical version was cut (ca. 4 minutes) by distributor Concorde prior to submitting the film to the FSK since they desperately wanted a "Not under 12" rating. Ironically, when submitting the uncut version for the home video release, it was rated "Not under 12" as well, making the cut version even more unnecessary.

The scene where Stark reads a newspaper with the headline "Who Is the Iron Man?" differs on the theatrical and DVD/Blu-ray releases. On the theatrical release, the newspaper used a spy photo of Iron Man, which was taken by freelance photographer Ronnie Adams during the film's production on May 2007. When Adams learned that his picture was used in the film, he filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios for using the picture without permission. As a result, the newspaper was altered to show a different picture of Iron Man on the DVD/Blu-ray release.

The mainland China release deletes the shot of Tony and Christine falling into bed together. It instead cuts straight from their first meeting to Christine waking up in his bedroom the next morning.

The made for TV version's opening scene there is about 10 seconds added after Tony's Humvee gets hit and you see him get out and picks up an M-16, then it jams, he throws it down and you see the entire convoy under fire and Rhodey is firing the mounted gun and yells at Tony to get down.

The version of the film shows in AMC Theaters as part of a pre-Avengers Marvel Phase One marathon features an exclusive intro from Agent Coulson, talking about the film and the character. These Coulson intros were later includes as bonuses in the Avengers Phase One box set.