Avengers: Endgame may have premiered four years ago, but its legacy is still being felt today. The MCU has mostly dealt with the effects of the Blip in the wake of WandaVision, but the hard losses of Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, and Tony Stark forced Marvel into a new era where the Avengers (and the franchise) have had to evolve.
But with the MCU struggling to rebuild, are we due for a little atavism? For months, there have been rumors that Marvel would bring its fallen heroes back in an attempt to recapture the good old days. Marvel bigshot Kevin Feige says it’s unlikely — but there’s still one loophole remaining.
In a profile of Robert Downey, Jr. for Vanity Fair, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige cast doubt on the possibility of the actor returning to reprise the role of Iron Man after his tragic sacrifice in Endgame. “We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again,” Feige said. “We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”
While comic books find ways to bring their heroes back from the grave over and over again, avoiding this route is probably the best choice for the MCU. Tony’s sacrifice defines an entire era of the franchise, and bringing him back would undo the price the Avengers had to pay to save the world.
That rules out bringing Iron Man back for future adventures... but it doesn’t rule out the past, or a lateral move. The MCU has been exploring all eras and the depths of the multiverse, so there’s nothing stopping us from seeing a previous or alternate version of Iron Man. If we could have an entire adventure with a de-aged Sam Jackson in Captain Marvel, we could revisit Tony Stark during his Avengers golden age... if there was good cause to do so.
No one wants to undo Iron Man’s final moment, but it could be complemented with the right strategy. A magical comic book-style revivification is off the table, but there are still plenty of opportunities to bring Stark back with the respect fans want his character to be treated with.
