Iron Man vs. Thanos
With Gamora out of the picture, we now had no idea what was going to happen next. So when Iron Man’s one-on-one confrontation with Thanos went badly, we genuinely thought that might have been it for the original Avenger.
After besting the rest of the group of heroes gathered on Titan in combat, Thanos turned his attention to RDJ’s hero. Fascinatingly, the villain appeared to have a great deal of respect for Tony Stark – perhaps he sees something of himself in this other great intellect who considers himself the protector of his world. Not enough respect not to almost kill him, though, as Thanos brutally stabs Tony through the stomach. It’s only thanks to Doctor Strange’s intervention that he lets Stark live. But at the cost of him getting hold of the Time Stone, putting him one step closer to halving all life in the universe.
This scene is shocking in two major ways. As Tony struggles to breathe and Thanos taunts him, saying that he hopes that humanity will remember him, it looks like Iron Man might not make it through this in one piece. But then something even more surprising happens when Strange gives Thanos exactly what he wants.
It’s a sharp heel-turn for the hero who promised that his primary mission was to keep the Time Stone away from the villain. If he had a plan in place, he didn’t get to play it out (more on that later).