If you've seen Avengers: Endgame, now's a good time to start unpacking exactly how the
MCU will cope with its losses, what those deaths mean for our heroes, and how future
stories will be affected.
If you haven't seen the film yet, consider this your first, second, and final warning:
Major spoilers ahead!
Marvel's Infinity Saga started with Tony Stark, so it's only fitting that it ends with him.
If Tony Stark had to die, we're glad he got to go out the way he did.
After declaring "I am Iron Man" right in Thanos' face, he snaps the Mad Titan and his whole
army from existence.
Of course, everyone is absolutely devastated in the aftermath of Tony's death, as we see
at the funeral for the Armored Avenger.
Pretty much every surviving superhero was in attendance, and it's clear that the loss
will echo throughout the community for years to come, particularly when it comes to those
closest to him, like Peter Parker and Nick Fury.
And then there's Tony's family.
Happy Hogan is clearly stepping in to be a kind of father figure to Morgan Stark, promising
to buy her all the cheeseburgers she wants, but Pepper Potts' grief will run deeper.
After years of worrying about him, she could see that Tony really was at peace after ending
his own personal curse.
Still, she'll miss him every day, even if we never see this portrayed in future films.
Black Widow was one of the MCU's great survivors.
She faced down countless superpowered threats and personal demons throughout her life, and
at least her death was on her own terms.
"This is gonna work, Steve."
"I know it is.
'Cause I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't."
Natasha Romkanoff chose to sacrifice herself so that her fellow Avengers could get on with
their lives.
As she said all along: She had red in her ledger, and this was the ultimate way of wiping
that out.
Sadly, Natasha didn't get a funeral, at least not that we saw.
Her death came during the Avengers' epic time heist, and we saw the grief in the faces of
her comrades as they swore to make her loss worth it.
Beyond the emotional loss, there's also a greater loss for the MCU.
In the face of everything, Natasha was always the cool one under pressure.
She became the field commander for the Avengers in the years after the Decimation, and the
point of contact for heroes all over the galaxy.
Now someone else will need to fill her shoes, and it'll be hard to find someone who's up
to the task.
Tony Stark is gone, but the technology he brought into the world is not.
His inventions have heavily impacted the MCU, and two other superheroes proudly wear his
tech: There's War Machine and now there's Pepper Potts, who suits up in her own armor,
taking on an identity that Marvel Comics calls "Rescue."
Though it's unlikely that Gwyneth Paltrow will return to the MCU, War Machine will probably
still be knocking around.
And Stark's Iron Man suits won't be going anywhere in the public imagination, particularly
after he saved the world in such spectacular fashion.
With that in mind, it might be time to call up a young scientist to fill Stark's shoes
and take flight in his suits.
In the comics, there's a teenager named Riri Williams, who wears Stark-style armor and
calls herself "Ironheart."
Some fans have speculated that Black Panther's little sister Shuri could take on this particular
mantle in the MCU.
But perhaps it'll be Stark's daughter Morgan, or a character haven't spent much time with.
Whatever the case, the MCU is ripe for new blood, and Ironheart could lead the charge.
"Maybe."
With his last act of heroism, Tony Stark not only killed Thanos, but wiped away every last
trace of his minions and soldiers, ridding the universe of its greatest threat.
In the first Avengers film, the character known only as the Other gave Thanos a sharply-worded
warning about fighting the heroes of Earth.
"To challenge them is to court death."
Thanos simply smiled at the words, which is so Thanos, and, at the time, it seemed like
a wink to the audience members who knew that comic book Thanos had a massive crush on the
bony lady known as Death, and he literally wanted to court her.
But now that Endgame has come and gone, and the Other's warning has been proven with the
death of Thanos, that only heightens the cosmic reputation of the Earth and its heroes.
There's a whole universe out there, and it all went through the Decimation.
As everyone recovers, word will spread of the heroes of Earth and how they were the
key to undoing all of Thanos' work.
That means future supervillains are even more likely to fear Earth.
It also means there's a massive power vacuum that used to be filled with Thanos and his
minions.
Yes, the universe's greatest threat is gone, but power vacuums have to be filled on both
sides of the good and evil divide.
Somewhere out there, some madman or madwoman is hellbent on destruction, eager to get a
taste of the Avengers and prove they can beat them.
As Vision said, this kind of power is bound to invite confrontation.
As part of the entrance of Riri Williams as Ironheart in the Marvel Comics universe, it
was revealed that Tony Stark sustained such serious injuries in the Civil War II event
that he fell into a coma.
But he conveniently made a copy of his consciousness beforehand, which was able to assist Riri
and freely chat with other Marvel characters as a form of artificial intelligence.
This Tony Stark A.I. became a mainstay of the Marvel Universe, and retained all the
wit and wisdom that characterized Tony.
Tony's last recording for his daughter is just that, a recording.
But considering everything Tony has tinkered with over the years, including frequent artificial
intelligence ventures, it's quite possible that he would have taken a cue from his comics
counterpart and found some way to record himself as a consciousness.
"Hey Miss Potts, if you find this recording, don't feel bad about this."
This would allow the character to carry on in some form, and it would create opportunities
for Robert Downey Jr. to continue making cameos in any upcoming MCU projects.
Tony Stark the man would be gone, but Tony Stark the artificial intelligence could live
on... if only as a voice in another hero's head.
And an extremely sassy voice, at that.
"We're going out of town."
"Okay, we've been through this, nope."
"Yup.
"The man says no."
"Immediately and indefinitely."
"Honey."
"Great idea."
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