Warning: This article is a page full of spoilers for the Avengers: Endgame film. Be sure to proceed with caution.
With the release of the Avengers: Endgame in theaters, a lot of fans have flocked together to watch what happens to the rest who were not ‘dusted’ after the infamous Thanos snap. We’ve already been teased to the limit with the trailers. We get to see how the rest of the Avengers - and the world - deal with the aftermath of Infinity Wars. Undoubtedly, fans have long prepared themselves. Exactly who will rise from the ashes and who will fall in the end game? However, there is probably no one who prepared for the heroic ending of the self-proclaimed genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist. Yes, we are in for a tearjerker with Tony Stark’s death.
The Avengers are in the process of moving on now that half of the universe is gone. Despite that, they are still unable to let go of the sliver of a chance that they may be able to inverse the results of the Infinity War. Their last chance comes when Scott Lang, who got stuck in the Quantum realm, was released into the real world in a stroke of luck. Through him, the Avengers worked on the possibility of jumping into a certain point in time and then coming back out at another point in time - basically, time travel. If they are able to understand the concept of time, they’d be able to get the Infinity stones and undo what Thanos has done.
With the basic concept of time travel already at their disposal, it only takes a while for the Avengers’ resident genius to figure out exactly how to harness this power. They then suit up for one last mission. After a few twists and turns, they successfully bring back all six stones and even create a gauntlet similar to Thanos’ one.
The Endgame war reached its climactic point right after Hulk, who is the only one capable of withstanding the Gamma radiation that comes off when the six Infinity stones’ powers are invoked simultaneously, successfully snapped the dusted ones back to life. However, they didn’t know that a traitor has successfully infiltrated their ranks. Their happiness of the snap’s success was short-lived as they are immediately bombarded with enemy attacks.
The Thanos of the past has time-jumped back with them together with his fleet!
As an all-out war breaks out, Thanos summons his fleet to attack the Avengers. Of course, the Avengers themselves isn’t a puny force to belittle. With the help of Dr. Stephen Strange and his sorcerer buddies’ mystic arts, people from New York, Wakanda, and even Titan were able to travel to the Avengers base (where the fight is!) without delay. While they have to fight off Thanos’ forces, they also have to keep him from getting his hands on the powerful gauntlet.
Despite all the Avengers - and even Captain Marvel - putting their all into stopping Thanos, it seems that he is indeed inevitable. He was able to obtain the gauntlet once again! However, fans know that it won’t be as simple as him snapping his fingers this time around. After all, Iron Man and Dr. Strange share a knowing look. It seems that Dr. Strange is trying to tell Iron Man something. As if knowing exactly what Dr. Strange has to say, Iron Man went all out to target the gauntlet that is already equipped into Thanos’ hands. Of course, he gets blown away, considering that he’s already all battered up and Thanos is a demigod. Thanos then proceeds to snap his fingers, all to realize that the Infinity stones were no longer in his gauntlet.
Iron Man has them all.
Not before leaving his last snarky remark, Tony snapped his fingers. As the Gamma radiation damages him, Thanos and his army slowly get dusted away.
And this is the time that we know that this is Iron Man’s end. Tony Stark’s death has become inevitable. And we know he’s not coming back when his friends and family are holding a funeral for him.
Why exactly should Tony Stark die?
If you have followed the news after the Infinity War installment, then you’d probably heard this once or twice: Robert Downey, Jr. (as well as Chris Evans) will hang his suit once the Endgame film finishes. This means that he is no longer playing Iron Man moving forward. This primarily has something to do with him reaching the end of his six-film deal with Marvel.
While that may be the case for RDJ, for Tony Stark’s fans, they may feel unhinged at their favorite character’s death. However, as a Marvel fan myself, this is, in fact, the best moment for Tony Stark to exit the franchise. Leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe and making way for its future at this time is just perfect.
The 2008 Iron Man film is the first movie in MCU’s Phase One. That makes it so that Tony Stark is the first Avenger we’ve seen. Since then, Marvel has made it a point to flesh out his character, both as Tony Stark and Iron Man. He went from the playboy to Pepper Potts’ loyal husband. He came from the devil-may-care genius to the save-the-world superhero. We have seen a lot of character growth for Tony Stark over the years. Now that his character has been fully explored, it is only a given for us to see the culmination of what Tony Stark is all about.
We may see him again in the future as a cameo or maybe not. But one thing is for sure. Even when Tony Stark has to die in this installment, that doesn’t mean we will forget him. Tony Stark will always, and forever will be, our Iron Man.