Iron Man was the spark for the MCU's vast cast of characters, but with the twisted tangle
of cosmic timelines, did you know he never met some of the other heavy hitters?
Keep watching to see the 5 heroes Iron Man never met in the MCU.
Tony may have met Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, and possibly even Peggy Carter when he was
younger.
That's plausible.
We saw Howard Stark and Hank working together in both Endgame and the first Ant-Man movie.
Even though they had a falling out with Howard, it's nice that Hank and Janet attended Tony's
funeral in Endgame.
In Marvel comics, Janet's Wasp and Tony's Iron Man were co-founders of the original
Avengers and even dated for a little while.
That's another story.
The only Ant-Man character Tony Stark has met on-screen is Scott Lang, first towards
the end of Civil War and then later in Endgame.
After Hope Van Dyne comes through the portals in Endgame, though, she doesn't really interact
with Iron Man.
It's a bummer they didn't get a chance to meet, especially since their parents were
coworkers.
Then again, Scott Lang said,
"Hank Pym always said you never can trust a Stark."
toward Tony in Captain America: Civil War, leading Tony to reply:
"Who are you?"
If Hope grew up hearing that too, then maybe she wasn't interested in becoming pals.
It's actually a plot point in Infinity War that Tony Stark doesn't know who Gamora is
when he comes face to face with Peter Quill and the Guardian squad.
By the time Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange meet up with them in Infinity War,
Gamora has already been kidnapped by Thanos.
She dies on Vormir shortly thereafter.
The "new" time-traveling 2014 version of Gamora doesn't really get to meet Tony in Endgame,
either.
This is kind of a shame for the MCU, especially considering that Tony and Gamora absolutely
hooked up in a comic too.
"If there’s one thing I’ve proven it’s that you can count on me to pleasure myself.”
Black Panther's sister Shuri had a really important role in Infinity War and got to
be Science Bros with Bruce Banner, but Iron Man was in space at that time.
It's possible that he hasn't met Okoye either, but since she represented Wakanda at Natasha's
holographic Zoom meetings during the Blip it's pretty likely that the Dora Milaje leader
has talked to Tony via hologram at the very least.
Even though he retired to the woods with Pepper to raise Morgan in Endgame, he wasn't totally
off the grid.
Shuri was taken by Thanos' snap, though, so we know she wasn't around.
This does, however, raise an interesting question: has Tony Stark even been to Wakanda?
He got close during the vibranium heist in Age of Ultron, but we have very little information
on what he knew about the secret nation and its superscience.
If T'Challa and Steve Rogers were harboring Bucky Barnes in Wakanda in the aftermath of
Civil War, then they probably weren't expecting Mr. Stark to visit any time soon.
It sure looks like he missed out on the world of Black Panther entirely.
He never got to experience all of that advanced technology, or Shuri's delightful personality.
It would've been a real treat for fans to listen to the two swap science stories.
Perhaps she could've even shown him a more efficient way to make an Iron Man suit when
he was back in the cave.
"Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk."
Peter Parker says to Valkyrie when they meet in the final battle against Thanos,
"Hey, nice to meet you-- oh my God!"
Rocket Raccoon meets her in New Asgard when they go to get Thor in Endgame.
She becomes good friends with the Hulk during Thor: Ragnarok.
But unless Tony took a trip to Norway we don't know about during the five years that passed
in Endgame, Iron Man hasn't actually met Asgard's newest monarch.
He also hasn't met Lady Sif, the only surviving member of Thor's pals, either.
Nor has he crossed paths with Darcy Lewis or even future superhero Jane Foster, for
that matter.
Almost all of the characters Iron Man hasn't met are women.
Are you noticing that too?
Thankfully, representation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is changing and expanding with every
new entry.
Plus, it's probably not intentional that Tony didn't meet these women in the final battle.
If you check out deleted scenes from Endgame, there's a sequence in which Iron Man is seen
being honored as he dies by Wasp, Valkyrie, and Okoye, among others, that didn't make
it into the film.
Gamora opts out, by the way.
Hard to say it counts, but it's certainly something to think about.
"Make your move, reindeer games."
How the heck did Iron Man never meet Groot?
The sulking teenage tree is the second Guardians character who hasn't interacted with Tony
Stark.
In Infinity War, he was on a mission with Thor and Rocket to forge a new hammer when
Tony met the other Guardians.
Then Groot joined the Wakanda fight with Thor and Rocket and got snapped away by Thanos.
Tony returned to Earth in Endgame and met Rocket Raccoon, who worked with him on the
Time Heist plan to retrieve the Infinity Stones.
However, Groot didn't show back up until the portals opened at the end of the film, missing
Tony completely.
Imagine the jokes Iron Man would have made if he really stopped to take notice of a sentient
sapling fighting beside him.
At least we'll always have Cap formally introducing himself to Groot in Infinity War.
"I am Groot!"
"I am Steve Rogers."
If you really want to nitpick, Tony also never met Howard the Duck, who shows up in the end
credits sequence of Guardians of the Galaxy, but maybe that's for the best.
We're pretty sure Tony's head would explode coming up with a whole bunch of nicknames
for the talking duck.
Even the most ambitious crossover event in history couldn't get to everyone.
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