Fans are expecting big things from Iron Man in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame, which is looking more likely with each passing month to be the hero’s final outing in the MCU, and seeing how Marvel Studios likes to play the long game with their developments, it’s only natural that theorists have been looking through Tony Stark’s personal history for signs of what’s to come.
One detail that Screen Rant has picked up on, for instance, is that the Phase 1 Avenger’s left arm has gone through a lot in its eleven years in the saga, from the moment it was hit by a tank shell in 2008’s Iron Man. This running theme is especially apparent in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, when his arm is struck by a falling car during an airport fight and has to be put in a sling for a while. After suiting up again, Tony falls onto a platform during his fight with Bucky and Captain America, and lands on the same limb while it’s still in the process of recovering. Earlier on in Civil War, Stark even jokes that his “left arm is numb” after Thunderbolt Ross pressures him to bring in the rogue heroes.
Subsequently, in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the character can often be seen holding his left arm as if to soothe it (see above), and his arm even seems to unintentionally tremble at one point. From here, the suggestion is made that Marvel might be foreshadowing a development in the Avengers: Infinity War sequel. One theory, for instance, is an impending heart attack, and while the evidence is very thin for such an idea, a weak heart could actually be a fitting way to retire Iron Man from the saga without killing him off.
Overall, a bad arm isn’t much of a basis for any Avengers: Endgame prediction, but we’ll find out if the Russo Brothers really are building up to anything with Tony’s various injuries when the film hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.
