One moment out of many that intrigued fans in Avengers: Infinity War was when Thanos reveals that he’s familiar with Tony Stark. The Mad Titan appears to view Iron Man as an equal, as he respects that they’re both fighting for what they believe in. Even when he’s about to deliver a fatal blow, the villain placates him by promising that half of humanity will be left standing when he’s done.
It’s clear that Thanos sees Robert Downey Jr.’s character as someone very much like himself, and as it turns out, this connection between them could prove to be pretty important in Avengers 4. That’s the theory put forward by What Culture, who argue that Tony and Thanos are so similar that they’re actually mirror images of each other, which could spell doom for both of them.
For starters, WC points out that the two character are connected by their knack for using technological armor – the Iron Man suit and the Infinity Gauntlet – and being fueled by complex familial relationships – Tony’s dead parents and Thanos’ adoptive daughter, Gamora.
The biggest similarity between the hero and the villain, though, is their ultimate goals: they’re both, in their own very different ways, attempting to save the universe. Each one is motivated to do this by their own PTSD over a past trauma. For Tony, that’s the Battle of New York while Thanos lost the entire planet of Titan. After this, they both foresaw a time when the universe would face doom – literally for Tony, as he had a vision of his friends’ deaths in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
What’s more, Tony and Thanos are willing to risk it all to enact their goals. Thanos sacrificed the one person he loved to get the Soul Stone, while Stark told Spider-Man their journey into space was “a one-way trip.” Taking this mindset to its logical extension, then, it’s very possible that Iron Man could decide to make the ultimate sacrifice in Avengers 4 and take out both himself and Thanos to save the universe.
Fans have long expected that Robert Downey Jr. will bow out of the franchise next May, as it would be a true finale to the MCU story that was started in 2008’s Iron Man. And his connection to Thanos would explain how it could make sense within the story of Avengers 4. We’ll have to wait and see how on the money this theory is when the movie hits theaters on May 3rd, but for now, it’s certainly got us intrigued.
