While it’s easy to focus on the killer action scenes and hilarious jokes, Deadpool & Wolverine added an amazing new wrinkle to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: the concept of an anchor being. When such a being dies, its universe begins to completely degrade, with the death of the original Logan threatening the universe he shared with Deadpool. Many fans are speculating that Iron Man was the anchor being of our primary cinematic universe and his death will lead to a Secret Wars reboot, but here’s the thing: this would completely ruin Tony Stark’s original sacrifice and effectively ruin the MCU.

The Anchor Being For The MCU

Iron Man was, of course, last seen saving the MCU in Avengers: Endgame. After snagging the Infinity Gauntlet, the hero defeated Thanos and undid the previous damage of the Mad Titan. The cost of such a magnificent act, sadly, was his life, and fans made peace with never seeing Robert Downey Jr. in the MCU ever again.

However, after a string of disappointing movies and shows, Kevin Feige and crew revealed what once seemed unthinkable: Iron Man was coming back to the MCU…kind of.

The Return Of Robert Downey Jr.

Downey is coming back as Doctor Doom, and many fans (especially those who have read the 2015 Secret Wars comics) are assuming that stunt casting is a prelude to giving this cinematic universe a much-needed reboot, one which would easily allow for the addition of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. And it’s possible that this reboot will be a result of the main movie universe (the Sacred Timeline, or Earth-616 if you’re nasty) degrading due to the death of anchor being Tony Stark.

Emphasizes The Importance Of Iron Man

Some fans like this idea because it underscores how special Iron Man really was…that he was somebody the entire universe has literally always relied on. Others, of course, are just happy for any narrative excuse to bring Robert Downey Jr. back into the fold. What these fans don’t realize, though, is that Stark being an anchor being would jeopardize the future of this franchise while retroactively ruining earlier MCU films.

Renders The Sacrifice Meaningless

Think of it this way: Iron Man’s death was the bittersweet conclusion of his whole arc in these films as he transformed from someone who didn’t know the meaning of sacrifice into someone who laid his life down for the entire MCU universe. At the bare minimum, making Tony Stark into an anchor being would make this sacrifice meaningless because an act meant to save everyone secretly doomed them. Frankly, this would be even more disappointing than Star Wars revealing that Darth Vader actually failed to kill Palpatine.

Disrespecting Tony Stark’s Legacy

Furthermore, many think Iron Man’s sacrifice play is part of what makes Avengers: Endgame the best MCU film…something that felt immensely rewarding because it was the culmination of everything that came before. Cheapening Stark’s sacrifice retroactively cheapens Endgame, too. I honestly don’t think that Marvel can afford to make the public care less about their best film when most of their recent fare is as forgettably awful as The Eternals.

The Anchor Being Concept Is Flawed

This is just speculation, but I fear that cheapening Iron Man’s past sacrifice is likely to jeopardize the future of the MCU as we know it. Things like character deaths already don’t matter thanks to having a constant stream of Variants…everyone can simply come back whenever Disney wants (we love you, Robert!). Now, if Stark is revealed to be an anchor being, it will confirm that not even our favorite stories are safe from being ruined by corporate ignorance of everything that makes this franchise great.

This is one of those rare cases where I hope to be wrong…that Iron Man won’t be revealed as an anchor being and blamed for the disintegration of the main MCU universe. However, all signs point that way, which is just more evidence that Disney is completely out of ideas. And unless the writing room gets some clever Variants of their own, this franchise might be like Deadpool’s universe: in danger of slowly disintegrating into obscurity.