Marvel Zombies Is Iron Mans Best MCU Return (& They Proved It Twice)

Marvel Zombies Is Iron Man’s Best MCU Return (& They Proved It Twice)

Iron Man as a zombie is the best way to bring back Tony Stark in the MCU after Avengers: Endgame, and Marvel Studios has proved this twice.

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Marvel Zombies Is Iron Mans Best MCU Return (& They Proved It Twice)

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Marvel’s What If…? episode 5.

The events of Marvel’s What If…? prove the best way to bring back Iron Man into the MCU is to make him a zombie. The franchise’s inaugural hero met his end in Avengers: Endgame after sacrificing his life to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his minions. Despite a rather well-done send-off, conversations about how Iron Man can return in the universe have been going on for a while now.

Arguably having one of the best character arcs in superhero cinema, Tony Stark’s growth was chronicled throughout the Infinity Saga for more than a decade. When he was introduced in 2008, he’s a self-centered, industrialist who couldn’t be bothered by anyone else’s issue. At the end of his life, he’s a loving family man who willingly gave up his life for the greater good. Still, there are persistent calls to somehow undo his death, even if Robert Downey Jr. has expressed his desire to retire from his superhero role. So far, there’s no concrete indication that resurrecting Tony is on the cards for the MCU, but Marvel Studios has just figured out how to continue factoring him in their future storytelling without cheapening his death in Endgame.

In What If…? episode 5, “What If…Zombies,” most of the prominent heroes in the MCU were infected by the Quantum virus brought by Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm. That included Iron Man, who was exposed to the plague after attempting to curb its spread alongside some of the franchise’s founding heroes. In the end, only Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), and Spider-Man (Hudson Thames) survived the tragedy. As brief as Tony’s involvement in the outing was, it’s still an ingenious way to incorporate the character in the animated series and perhaps, even in future MCU storytelling. Aside from physically appearing, despite the fact that he no longer had the consciousness of the genius, billionaire, his involvement made the whole narrative better as it directly impacted Peter Parker’s personal arc. Towards the end of the offering, the young hero reminisced about losing his mentor not long after Iron Man offered Spidey a spot on the Avengers roster, somehow mimicking what happened in the Sacred Timeline.

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Marvel Studios has actually done something similar in Spider-Man: Far From Home. The 2019 Jon Watts film featured a zombie illusion of Tony as part of Mysterio’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) deception scheme. In it, a half-rotten Iron Man crawling out of his grave to haunt his mentee. Like how it was handled in What If…?, the hero’s appearance was both creative and fresh; it also doesn’t undermine his real-world death in Endgame. If anything, it even builds on this particular MCU tragedy and how it impacts Spider-Man’s arc moving forward. It’s a metaphorical representation of how he feels about letting his quasi-father down after losing E.D.I.T.H. to Quentin Beck. The sequence visualized Peter’s increasing fears that he’s not up to the task of following in the footsteps of his mentor after the public just assumed that he will be the next Iron Man.

Based on what’s known about the future of the MCU, there doesn’t seem to be any plans of bringing back Iron Man and reversing his death in Endgame. This is all for the best; after all, there is a plethora of other characters that Marvel Studios can focus on first, especially with the imminent arrival of the mutants and Fantastic Four. This doesn’t mean that Tony will no longer factor in the franchise. As proven by What If…? and Far From Home, there are creative ways to incorporate him into their storytelling without undoing his personal arc.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/what-if-tony-stark-marvel-zombies-best-mcu-return/

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