One of the most interesting theories to come out of the Infinity Saga was the surprisingly well-founded debate that put forward Tony Stark as the real villain of the sprawling decade-long story, and not intergalactic genocidal warlord Thanos.
When you think about it, the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist was responsible for Justin Hammer, Whiplash, Obadiah Stane, Baron Zemo, Aldrich Killian, Vulture, Mysterio, and Ultron wreaking havoc, as well as Wanda and Pietro Maximoff’s initial quest for revenge, while even Jamie Foxx’s returning Electro in Spider-Man: No Way Home wound up with an arc reactor.
Reed Richards creating the peaceful Ultron bots we saw in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in a universe where it’s fairly certain Tony didn’t even exist has only added more fuel to the fire, but fans are now questioning whether or not the longtime Iron Man was worthy of wielding Mjolnir.
In a since-deleted Reddit thread, Tony’s innumerable good deeds were put forth to support his candidacy, which would elevate him onto the same pantheon as Steve Rogers and Vision, the only other Avengers we’ve seen pick up Thor’s weapon of choice. Then again, it took a near-death experience for the second-generation weapons manufacturer to turn his back on selling arms in the first place, so he might have been a little late to the altruistic party.
He’d have probably been deemed worthy had he not died at the end of Avengers: Endgame, because sacrificing yourself to save half of all life in the universe is about as selfless as it gets.
