These last few days have seen Marvel Studios going all out with the Avengers: Endgame TV spots, as they unload the last few seconds of footage that they’re willing to share before the big release.
One recent promo, for instance, gives us another look at Tony Stark’s latest armor, which fans have likened to the early designs for Iron Man’s suit in the comics. Evidently, Robert Downey Jr.’s character has given his outfit a few further updates, including some shield technology that he shows off in a scene alongside Hawkeye. But look past that flashy new feature and you’ll find that Stark’s next suit also includes a nod to the designs from Iron Man’s pre-Infinity War films.
To elaborate, you’ll notice that while Tony’s armor seems to mostly rely on the nanotech witnessed in last year’s release, his faceplate flips down like it did in the old days. Why Iron Man has chosen to go retro isn’t entirely clear, but still, it’s a nice callback to include in a film that Scarlett Johansson recently described as a “beautiful Valentine to a decade of madness.”
Indeed, it’s expected that Marvel’s Phase 3 finale will find plenty of ways to reflect on the MCU’s 21-movie history, perhaps through the feature’s heavily rumored time travel plot. Even the trailers have been taking Tony’s journey full circle, using old footage of Downey in 2008’s Iron Man.
The nod to the hero’s early days is certainly fitting, seeing how Stark is widely predicted to be completing his arc and exiting the saga with Avengers: Endgame. If so, then here’s hoping he at least puts his final suit to good use when the film hits theaters on April 26th.
