MCU Phase 4 favorites battle it out to be crowned Marvel’s only hope of replacing Iron Man

The ever-expanding MCU introduced a huge number of new characters across Phase 4. This era coincided with Marvel making waves on Disney Plus, which proved to be an opportunity for a lot of fresh blood to arrive on the scene.

But can any of these new faces ever really live up to the popularity of Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark? Fans over on r/MarvelStudios are currently evaluating the new(ish) arrivals and singling out those who might have what it takes:

The consensus seems to be that none of these characters is ever going to be as big as Tony Stark, though when Kevin Feige starts unveiling the MCU Fantastic Four and X-Men those actors could be in with a chance.

As for this lot, there’s a good argument Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan are so well cast they’ll each play the roles for years and gradually build audience affection.

Moon Knight also gets a nod, with Oscar Isaac’s multilayered performance surely enough to carry the character through to a solo movie. Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi also seems destined for big things and we’re eager to see him return.

All that said, we agree that there will almost certainly never be another Iron Man-level MCU hero. Throughout Phase One the story was anchored around Stark, with that focus paying off in the showstopping Endgame. Since then the MCU is firmly an ensemble franchise and we suspect that’s just the way Disney likes it, as no one star is bigger than the Marvel brand.

Even so, we suspect that once we get the MCU Wolverine, Magneto, and Professor X those characters and actors will see a burst of instant popularity. But Stark-level popularity? We doubt it.