Avengers: Infinity War wiped out half of the MCU but, underneath our flood of tears, we always knew these dusted heroes would be resurrected in the next movie. The deaths that occurred in Avengers: Endgame, however, felt much more final. Iron Man’s demise, Black Widow’s self-sacrifice, the IW deaths that still hold like Gamora’s, is there any chance of them returning in Phase Four?
Empire asked co-writer Christopher Markus this very question but he maintained that the losses of Endgame have to count, particularly in the case of Tony Stark, who the writer thinks won’t be rebooted for a while.
“It’s the nature of the MCU. It’s not a place where you can reboot one and suddenly Iron Man is 15 years old and everyone else is still the same age. The characters have to pass out, and the universe has to still stand. So if you’re going to take people off the board, they’ve got to go for real. Granted, these are movies. I understand that somebody has made some kind of announcement that has the word ‘Vision’ in it, so I mean…”
Markus does remind us that at least one of the fallen heroes will surely make a comeback very shortly. Disney Plus’ WandaVision kind of has to revive the titular android, as he’s right there in the title. Likewise, Natasha Romanoff might remain dead in 2023 but the upcoming Black Widow movie will allow Scarlet Johansson to continue the character in a prequel narrative. And who knows what Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will bring?
The big one, though, is Iron Man and it sounds like we won’t be getting Robert Downey Jr. or even some other actor suiting up for Iron Man 4 anytime soon. However, we could have at least one more cameo role from him as theories suggest Peter Parker might be greeted by an A.I. of Tony in next month’s Spider-Man: Far From Home.
So, Markus may not think the dead characters of Avengers: Endgame will be rebooted anytime soon, but the magic of the Marvel universe could still allow other ways for them to return.
