Production on the untitled Avengers 4 is now well underway.
Since Joe and Anthony Russo first yelled “action!” on the Atlanta set a fortnight ago, we’ve gained new insight into Black Widow’s involvement, as Scarlett Johansson’s super-agent is poised to have a run-in with the Yakuza. Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye is also along for the ride, and may well assume a new alias by the time Avengers 4 rolls around in 2019.
But given Marvel’s all-star event movie is a complex machine with many moving parts, the Russo Brothers are also currently shooting scenes with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who’s ostensibly returned to the fray ever since her brief cameo at the tail-end of Spider-Man: Homecoming. But what’s perhaps caused the most commotion of all so far is the various photos we’ve been seeing of Tony’s arc-reactor.
Given that he hasn’t had one for years, ever since he got it surgically removed in 2013’s Iron Man 3, it’s possible that he gets severely injured again in Infinity War, requiring him to go full circle and install another reactor to keep himself healthy. That remains unconfirmed, of course, but we’ve now got a new pic of the reactor which can be seen in the gallery below, along with the one from earlier this week that RDJ shared on Instagram, and it’s quite interesting.
As you can see, this is our best look at the device yet, and it appears to be a bit more advanced than the last one. Not only that, but we’ve also got a photo of what seems to be some kind of watch with a timer on it. It’s unknown what that may be for, but perhaps it’s counting down how much time Tony has left before his heart goes? Chalk that up as speculation for now, but it’s interesting to consider, especially since it’s been rumored that Avengers 4 will see the death of Iron Man.
Of course, all of this follows on from what we’d already figured out a few months ago, when Downey Jr. shared an image of himself, Mark Ruffalo and Benedicts Cumberbatch and Wong on the set of Avengers: Infinity War. In that photo, the actor had a circular arc reactor-shaped hole cut into his shirt. As such, seeing it again here isn’t too surprising – we just don’t know the exact specifics of why Tony needs it.
The most obvious answer would be what we mentioned above – he takes a huge beating from Thanos. Then again, the arc reactor might just be a technological addition and not a part of his body. Perhaps Tony needs the power of the reactor to give his suits of armour a boost? After all, it’s going to take as much firepower as he’s got to bring down the Mad Titan with his fellow heroes. More likely though it’s the former reason, as it’s all but confirmed now that the character is on his way out. Time will ultimately tell, of course, but that’s our guess.
Once Avengers: Infinity War has enjoyed its time in the sun – along with Ant-Man and the Wasp and the long-awaited Captain Marvel movie – the so-far untitled Avengers 4 will deploy into theaters on May 3rd, 2019. The countdown has now begun, but what are your hopes (and fears!) going into the Russo Brothers’ titanic crossover? Let us know in the usual place.
