Anyone with a longtime interest in comic book movies knows full well that death is hardly an obstacle that the genre has failed to overcome, with the general rule being that nobody truly stays dead except Batman’s parents and Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben, and even then there’ve been rumors that Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Thomas Wayne could end up appearing in The Flash as one of the multiverse’s many Caped Crusaders.
Almost as soon as Avengers: Endgame faded to black, rumors were making the rounds about potential Marvel Cinematic Universe returns for both Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark and Chris Evans’ Captain America. Indeed, audiences have so little faith in the superhero genre when it comes to killing off big names for good that nobody would be surprised if either one of them ended up gracing our screens once again, even if it would destroy the emotional impact of the Infinity Saga’s climax.
After all, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki has been presumed dead on several occasions, but thanks to a convenient plot hole, he’ll be headlining his own exclusive Disney Plus series. However, in a recent interview, Marvel Studios’ Executive Vice President of Production Victoria Alonso claimed that death is permanent in the MCU and said that Tony’s story, in particular, is over now.
“Tony Stark is dead, and that’s our story. Resurrection I do not know. I do not know how we would do it. It seems to me that the story of Tony Stark is over.”
Of course, Loki gets away with it by establishing that it’s the 2012 version of the Asgardian trickster that’s escaped from the time heist, and the MCU has more than enough characters to carry the franchise without having to rely on bringing people back from the dead. Endgame drew a line under the first three Phases, and moving forward is certainly the best way to consign the Infinity Saga to the history books and reshuffle the deck without having to rely on the past. That being said, we still wouldn’t rule out a cameo or two from Mr. Stark at some point in the future.
