As Avengers: Endgame careens towards theaters, the question every fan is asking is who's
going to put an end to the Mad Titan Thanos.
Of all the possibilities, no one makes more sense than the MCU's first hero - Iron Man.
"Is it better to be feared, or respected?
I say, is it too much to ask for both?"
The Infinity Stones may look pretty, but they've proven pretty deadly to people who come in
contact with them, even when they aren't combined together in a big golden glove.
In Thor: The Dark World, Jane Foster gets her life leeched out of her thanks to a close
encounter with the Reality Stone.
And in Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter Quill was nearly annihilated by the Power Stone,
until the other guardians stepped up and shared the burden.
That's partly why Thanos' ease in wielding the stones is so unsettling; it seems like
the Mad Titan is just made of stronger stuff.
However, a few humans have also been able to use the fully-powered Infinity Gauntlet
in the comics.
Among those hallowed few is none other than Tony Stark.
While the MCU has diverged from its comics roots in more than a few ways, it's not hard
to imagine movie Tony wielding an Infinity Gauntlet to revive his fallen comrades.
It's fun to play along, sure, but we know they're coming back one way or another.
You saw the Spider-Man trailer, right?
If the Avengers go through the trouble of stealing Thanos' gauntlet, or somehow make
their own, who would do the honor of wearing it?
It's a pretty expensive piece of jewelry, so maybe it should be handled by the highest-paid
person in the MCU.
"You can't come empty-handed, you know?
Otherwise I would not be an Iron Gentleman."
Unlike some of the Avengers, Tony Stark is a self-made superhero.
We're not talking about his inherited wealth, of course.
What makes Tony so impressive is how he got himself his powers.
He didn't become a superhero thanks to science experiments, a radioactive spider, or a deadbeat
celestial dad.
He just rolled up his sleeves and did it.
"Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave!
With a box of scraps!"
The first glimpse we've gotten of Mr. Stark in Endgame looks pretty dire, but we definitely
don't think Tony is dying out there in the vacuum of space.
He's going to puzzle out a way to get back to Earth, and then put all his resources into
coming up with a solution, whether it's a time machine, a thousand new suits, or a good-guy
sequel to Ultron.
"We're mad scientists."
We've seen Tony's army of backup suits already, but don't forget that he also built custom
suits for War Machine and Spider-Man.
So what would happen if he built custom suits or gear for more of the surviving Avengers,
maybe combining his know-how with some Hank Pym shrinking tech?
Imagine Captain America with some powerful Stark-designed armor, making him and his shield
even stronger.
Actually, you don't need to imagine it, because it's straight from the comics - as is Pepper
Potts own' Rescue armor, which we might end up seeing in the movie.
Basically, if Iron Man can put up a pretty good fight one-on-one using just his suit,
Thanos doesn't stand a chance against a whole teched-out team of Avengers.
Iron Man might have put up a good fight against Thanos, but all the tricks in his nanotech
suit have got nothing on Stormbreaker, Thor's new ax.
Forged by the giant dwarf Eitri out of Uru metal and a dash of Groot, the weapon managed
to cleave through Thanos' chest when he was at full power, nearly ending the Infinity
War while it was still in part one.
If one Asgardian weapon could do so much damage, a few more might just finish the job - especially
with Tony Stark collaborating on the design.
This is another thing that's happened before in the comics, specifically the event comic
"Fear Itself."
In that story, some of Marvel's best and brightest get their own Asgardian weapons courtesy of
a Stark-Odin collaboration.
While the MCU's Odin might be dead, he was replaced as the High Father by Thor - and
with great power, there must also come the responsibility to make radical new weapons
to kill aliens with.
If Eitri survived Thanos' decimation, it's not crazy to imagine the Avengers going back
to re-arm themselves with technically-enhanced, godlike weaponry.
Why not?
Hulk couldn't beat Thanos the first time, but what if he had a sword like Heimdall's?
"My old man had a philosophy: 'Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy.'”
"That's a great line, coming from a guy selling the sticks."
While Avengers: Endgame's plot details are still under wraps, rumor has it that the key
to defeating Thanos will heavily involve time travel - the MCU's version of a cheat code.
Supposedly, the film will feature the surviving Avengers scrambling across time, intersecting
with set pieces from previous movies, like the Avengers' Battle of New York.
We don't know if they're recruiting people from the past, stealing Infinity Stones from
the time stream, or something else, but if the time travel rumors are true, then the
movie is going to feel almost like a greatest hits collection of the MCU's first ten years.
One intriguing possibility time travel raises is a possible reunion between Tony and his
father, Howard Stark.
It's not as crazy as it seems - if you remember, Papa Stark helped forge Captain America's
shield, played a vital role in the formation of the S.H.I.E.L.D.
organization, and was basically the 1940s version of his genius playboy son, flaws and
all.
While Endgame seems packed to the gills with characters already, it would definitely be
satisfying for Tony to finally get closure with his dad - and just maybe, a little family
insight into how to save the world.
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