Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently confirmed that Iron Man‘s death in Avengers: Endgame will not be retconned in a future Marvel Cinematic Universe installment.
Speaking with Vanity Fair for its cover story about Robert Downey Jr. — who played Tony Stark/Iron Man in 10 movies during the MCU’s Infinity Saga — Feige addressed whether Marvel Studios had plans to resurrect the popular Avenger in an upcoming feature.
“We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” Feige said of Iron Man’s death in the 2019 film. “We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”
Iron Man continues to inspire the next generation of MCU heroes
During Avengers: Endgame’s final battle, Iron Man is able to prevent Thanos (Josh Brolin) from using the Infinity Gauntlet to recreate The Blip by transferring the Infinity Stones to his armor suit. Stark activates the stones, tells Thanos that he “is Iron Man,” and snaps, leading to Thanos and his army disintegrating. However, the snap fatally injures Iron Man and the beloved character passes away moments later surrounded by his closest loved ones. The 2019 movie ends with Stark’s funeral.
Despite his passing, Iron Man lived on through the heroes he inspired. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) deals with Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) mourning the fallen Avenger while also dealing with a former Stark Industries employee who has turned into the supervillain Mysterio.
Iron Man also inspired Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), who first appeared in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), to build her own suit of armor that she calls the Ironheart suit. While not an MCU character, Iman Vellani, the actor behind Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, is also a huge fan of Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, which seemingly confirms that the next generation of heroes will not be forgetting Iron Man or his sacrifice in Endgame anytime soon.
All 10 MCU films featuring Iron Man are available to stream on Disney+.
