Marvel was left with a massive void after Iron Man heroically died in the final Avengers Endgame. The decision was not easy for Marvel, and there were doubts within the company and the team that worked on the movie about which character should die to stop Thanos. Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo explained why it had to be Iron Man: “He had to die. It would have been too obvious if it had been Captain America.”
Tony Stark’s death was symbolic, mainly because he was a fairly eccentric character who, throughout the franchise, seemed to take pleasure in how cool he was. In the end, his death, while sad, was also very symbolic.
But as 2019 begins, there’s continued talk that Marvel now has a big dilemma. After many iconic characters are gone, there aren’t those mastodons to continue building the franchise on. And all of this continues to throw wood into the furnace of those waiting for the return of Iron Man.
The debates inside
The MCU is facing a crisis primarily because, in the four years since Endgame, it still hasn’t been able to build a core of new heroes to replace the old Avengers. So, internally, there has been a long-running debate about how the old characters could be used to bring back the “beefed up” franchise. The president of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige has publicly denied that Iron Man will return to the screen in any way, saying “We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again.” That sounds like an excellent statement because the worst thing that could happen is to ruin such a powerful finale to bring back Iron Man in any way.
But there is still no consensus on this, with some people familiar with the situation saying that “it could be a good solution.” Others say that “magical undoing” would be the worst possible solution because it would undo everything that came before. But it could be “fit” into the universe in other ways, like using time travel or a multiverse where Iron Man is alive. This approach isn’t without compromise either because while it’s not a “return” in the full-blown sense, it’s a gimmick to show Tony Stark on screen again.
Another hurdle is the actor’s potential fee for a comeback, in whatever form. This makes a comeback “highly unlikely.” Still, it’s a problem because it would simply devalue the entire path the Avengers universe has traveled over the years that remains paramount. And it seems almost everyone around here realizes that.
