In a recent interview with the Chinese site Youth Circle, Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo reflected on one of the film’s main deaths, and explained why one particular character had to make the sacrifice play. Bear in mind that some pretty big spoilers lie ahead.
The Infinity Stones gets passed around a lot at the climax of the Avengers: Infinity War sequel, but they ultimately end up on the hand of Tony Stark, who uses them to snap away Thanos and his army of goons. Sadly, Iron Man’s heroic act costs him his life, but according to Joe Russo (as translated by Reddit user gianben123), he was the right man for the job:
“Thor in this movie couldn’t do it, only Hulk was strong enough to do the snap without dying. We are still not sure whether Captain Marvel can also withstand all the power of Infinity Stones at once. The reason we choose to let Iron Man do it in the end was because he was the closest one to Thanos at the time. In all the futures Doctor Strange foresaw, Iron Man was the only one who could get close to Thanos and do the snap.”
The filmmaker then went on to stress that Iron Man’s demise shouldn’t be regarded as a tragedy:
“People usually think the death of a hero is a horrible tragedy. But we think this is different. When his death was able to bring back hope, to save half of the universe, then his death was powerful and meaningful. We shouldn’t feel too sad or angry about it.”
Endgame co-writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus recently reflected on the death of Iron Man in an interview with The New York Times. The pair explained that they never particularly considered letting the character live, since the film’s opening third already gives Tony “the perfect retirement life.” With that in mind, Markus argued that Stark’s demise “doesn’t feel like a tragedy. It feels like a heroic, finished life.”
While Robert Downey Jr. seems to be well and truly done with the MCU, Tony left behind one daughter, and it’ll be interesting to see if Marvel has any plans for the young Morgan. As for Pepper Potts, Gwyneth Paltrow announced her retirement from franchise over two months before Avengers: Endgame came out, suggesting that the Rescue suit was only a one-off.
