NASA Offers Advice on Bringing Tony Stark Home

Last week's surprise "Avengers: Endgame" trailer left Tony Stark stranded in space, seemingly beyond the reach of his fellow Avengers. But NASA - who have dealt with bringing home stranded astronauts themselves - have chimed in with some advice to Marvel Studios on how to bring Iron Man home safely.

"Hey Marvel, we heard about Tony Stark," tweeted the official NASA Twitter account. "As we know, the first thing you should do is listen in mission control for 'Avengers, we have a problem.' But if he can’t communicate, then we recommend ground teams use all resources to scan the skies for your missing man."

"Avengers, we have a problem," is of course a reference to a slightly altered version of the famous phrase spoken by Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert. Swigert's quote, "Houston, we've had a problem," was adapted into "Houston, we have a problem," as a catchphrase for the 1995 film Apollo 13 in which the phrase is spoken by Tom Hanks' Jim Lovell, the Apollo 13 Mission Commander.

Meanwhile, in the private sector, SpaceX entrepreneur Elon Musk has a slightly different idea on how to reach Tony Stark, tweeting simply "Machete!!"

This is a reference to the 2013 film Machete Kills in which Musk has a cameo, and which culminates in Danny Trejo's titular vigilante catching a ride into space on a SpaceX rocket - with Musk's tweet itself inspired by a fan posting a clip from the scene.

As for how Tony Stark will actually make it home (assuming he does...uh oh), we've got our own theory - but we'll all find out when "Avengers: Endgame" hits theaters on April 26, 2019.

Originally published on Newsarama.