Does Tony Stark exist in ‘Doctor Strange 2’? Fans think probably not

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness featured a myriad of variants of characters we love from the Marvel 616 universe, except for the man who kickstarted the universe, who had no variant to be found.

The lack of a Tony Stark or Iron Man variant in the film betrayed many people’s fan theories prior to the film’s release. For months, speculation would have you believe Tom Cruise was set to jump into the role for a brief cameo during the Illuminati sequence.

Instead, the Illuminati featured the return of fan-favorite Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Hayley Atwell as Captain Carter, and Anson Mount as Blackagar Boltagon (yes, real name). Fans have been debating since Multiverse of Madness if a Stark even exists in Earth-838, and the discussion has taken a hold of Reddit.

The new fan theory posted by /u/MexicanGordo16 states that one line may just disprove the existence of Iron Man in 838. During Doctor Strange’s trial by the bloated egos that make up the Illuminati, Captain Carter and Captain Marvel both denounce Strange for his arrogance, believing him to be even worse than their universe’s.

This, to some, would mean that the group has never dealt with the sheer ego of Tony Stark, who even Stephen Strange finds to be too ego-based during the Infinity War conflict. It’s worth noting that Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron did attempt to get Cruise to appear in the film, but to no avail.

The Disney Plus What If…? series featured several variants of Iron Man, with an episode of him, stuck on Sakaar not making it to air for its first season.