Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo voice their opinion on the possibility of Robert Downey Jr.’s return as Iron Man in the MCU.
Directors Joe and Anthony Russo share their opinion on the possibility of Robert Downey Jr.’s return as Iron Man in the MCU after the hero’s death in Avengers: Endgame. After a ten-year superhero career, Iron Man’s MCU journey concluded in 2019 with his heroic sacrifice in the battle against Thanos, after which Captain America retired and the Avengers disbanded. With the two most important members of Earth’s Mighiest Heroes gone for good, the Multiverse Saga is headed towards the creation of a new Avengers team composed of a new generation of superheroes.
Following Robert Downey Jr.’s positive comments on Iron Man’s potential return, Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo told GamesRadar that they wouldn’t know how to bring Iron Man back, as they decided that Tony Stark’s farewell was supposed to be definitive. Read the Russo brothers’ comments below.
Anthony Russo: “I don’t know how they would do it. I don’t know what the road to that would be [laughs] .”
Joe Russo: “I mean we closed that book so it would be up to them to figure out how to reopen it.”
How RDJ Could Return As Iron Man Without Ruining His MCU Ending
The Multiverse Creates Plenty Of Opportunities For RDJ To Return
The biggest problem with Iron Man’s return in the MCU could be the undoing of his Avengers: Endgame sacrifice. However, Deadpool & Wolverine faced the same challenge with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine return, yet the Phase 5 movie found a clever solution. As revealed by its second trailer, Deadpool & Wolverine avoids undoing Wolverine’s heroic death from Logan‘s ending by introducing a brand-new Wolverine variant. Hugh Jackman’s new Wolverine is familiar enough to carry the original character’s legacy, but also distinct enough that his MCU journey won’t interfere with Logan‘s definitive conclusion.
Likewise, Robert Downey Jr.’s could play a new Tony Stark variant from a different universe with a similar history to the MCU’s Earth-616. But instead of sacrificing his life to defeat Thanos, this Iron Man variant could have either found another way to stop the Mad Titan or refused to help Ant-Man and the surviving Avengers develop time travel. The latter option would give this version of Tony Stark a reason to participate in a multiversal battle during Avengers: The Kang Dynasty or Avengers: Secret Wars; he could see what his Earth-616 counterpart achieved and try to redeem himself for not attempting it.
The multiverse provides countless ways to bring every character back from the dead. Some of them could not only avoid affecting the character’s past, but also complement what first seemed to be a perfect farewell — as demonstrated by Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Electro’s return in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Joe and Anthony Russo’s reaction to Robert Downey Jr.’s comments seemingly confirms that they won’t be involved in any way with it if it happens, though whoever helms Avengers: Secret Wars could agree to incorporate Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man post-Avengers: Endgame in some capacity.
