There are a lot of emotional moments to take in when watching the Marvel movies in order, and ranked at towards the top of the list, if not in the #1 spot, is when Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark dies in Avengers: Endgame. The man who protected the world as Iron Man sacrificed his life to harness the power of the Infinity Stones to wipe out Thanos and his army with a snap of his fingers. While it’s been over four years since this devastating scene unfolded on the big screen, get ready for an outpouring of the feelings thanks to a Twitter user sharing a huge Marvel timeline stat about it.
Remember that although Avengers: Endgame began a few weeks after the events of Infinity War, the majority of the movie takes place five years after Thanos erased half of all living things out of existence. So with Infinity War having unfolded in 2018 just like in real life, most of Endgame happened in 2023, and as it turns out, we’re only two months away from hitting when Tony Stark died in the MCU timeline. Thank Twitter user @MCUPerfectGifs for reminding the public about this with the below tearjerking tweet.
Tony Stark officially dies in 2 months pic.twitter.com/lZY43vwlpFAugust 8, 2023
Sometime in October 2023, shortly after Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor and their Time Heist allies returned from their mission and mourned Natasha Romanoff’s death, they brought the six Infinity Stones together so that Hulk could bring back everyone who’d been snapped away five years earlier. It was a joyous occasion, but unfortunately, the Nebula who returned with them was actually a past version of the character still in service to Thanos, who then opened a portal for her “father” and his army to come through. From there, the Battle of Earth commenced, with Thanos determined to take the Infinity Stones for himself to that he could shred the universe down to its last atom and build a new one. He nearly succeeded, but thanks to a hint from Doctor Strange, Tony knew that the only way to make sure the one victorious future among the 14,000,605 futures Strange witnessed would happen was at the cost of his own life.
Looking at the MCU Wiki’s page for 2023, the Battle of Earth supposedly took place on October 17, but it’s unclear if that’s officially confirmed or not. Either way, we are now just two months from hitting when Iron Man made his final bow in this superhero franchise (not including those alternate versions we saw in the animated What If… ? series). So whether you want to commemorate this historical moment on that date or some other part during the month, that’s as good a time as any to rewatch Endgame, be it with your own copy of the movie or streaming it with a Disney+ subscription.
Although Downey’s version of Tony Stark is no longer with us, his legacy lives on. Spider-Man: Far From Home saw Peter Parker inheriting the EDITH glasses from his late mentor and trying to take them back from Mysterio, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever introduced Riri Williams, who invented her own Iron Man-like armor and got a temporary upgrade while aiding the Wakandans. Along with Riri getting the spotlight in the upcoming Ironheart series, Armor Wars, which is now a movie rather than a show, will follow James Rhodes trying to get his late best friend’s technology out of the wrong hands.
Consult our upcoming Marvel movies and upcoming Marvel TV shows guides if you’re wondering what else this superhero franchise has on the way. The most recent movie in this saga, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, is now available to watch on Disney+.
