He was the one who started it all.
Will he be the one to end it?
While many fans are speculating that a heavyweight hero like Hulk or Captain Marvel will be the
one to ultimately bring down the Mad Titan, there are numerous reasons why Thanos should
fear Iron Man the most.
Stark first caught Thanos' attention after thwarting his original invasion of Earth back
in the first Avengers film.
Even though Thanos himself wasn't present at the invasion, Stark's heroic actions still
ultimately foiled the Mad Titan's plans of conquering Earth and claiming the Tesseract
for himself.
A being as driven and powerful as Thanos would surely make a point to remember anyone tenacious
enough to defy his whims.
This is exactly why Thanos knew who Tony Stark was during Avengers: Infinity War, as confirmed
by Joe Russo during the commentary track for the film's home release.
"Stark."
"You know me?"
"I do."
Russo went on to describe the "existential connection" between the two that has stemmed
from that first conflict.
The fact that Stark is the only Avenger that Thanos knows and addresses by name already
shows that the Mad Titan views him as a potential threat.
Back in Age of Ultron, Tony Stark actually predicted the events of Infinity War with
frightening accuracy.
During a heated exchange with Steve Rogers, Tony's concerns about an unstoppable threat
from space not only referenced the Battle of New York, but also foreshadowed the arrival
of the Mad Titan.
"We're the Avengers.
We can bust arms dealers all the live-long day, but that up there?
That's the endgame."
Not only did Stark predict the title of Endgame during this verbal tirade, he also foretold
their defeat at the hands of Thanos.
"We'll lose."
"Then we'll do that together, too."
The Avengers eventually give it all they have, but they weren't enough to stop the Mad Titan
from collecting the Infinity Stones.
Rogers might be the courageous leader who the heroes look up to in the darkest of times,
but Stark is the only realist on the team trying to plan ahead before disaster strikes.
Tony's uncanny ability to realistically anticipate what the future holds is another reason Thanos
should be wary of him.
Long ago, Thanos foresaw the downfall of his own civilization due to overpopulation and
exhaustion of resources.
Despite his best efforts, the people of Titan wouldn't listen to his call for action, understandably,
due to his radical idea of eliminating half the population.
Although Stark's ideas were drastically different from Thanos', it was the same fear for his
people that drove him to misguidedly create Ultron.
Tony created the murder bot to combat future threats, but in doing so, he was giving into
the very same kind of fear that drove Thanos to concoct his genocide of "balance."
This is yet another reason that Thanos fears Stark, he respects Tony's efforts to protect
his planet, and knows that the Iron Avenger will stop at nothing to defend Earth.
"The hardest choices require the strongest will."
Throughout the grand arc of the MCU, Stark has steadily improved his suits to adapt to
various threats and situations.
Tony's knack for modifying his tech was highlighted in the first Iron Man film when he faced off
against Obadiah Stane's Iron Monger armor.
After realizing that his titanium-steel Mark 2 armor would freeze up at high altitudes,
Stark reconfigures it using a gold-titanium alloy that could endure lower temperatures.
This small tweak helps Tony defeat Stane by luring him up high into the atmosphere, where
his nemesis' suit freezes over.
"How'd you solve the icing problem?"
"Icing problem?"
"Might want to look into it."
Stark uses this innate adaptability to turn his perceived failures into learning experiences.
During Avengers: Civil War, James Rhodes suffers critical injuries after being shot down in
his War Machine armor.
So Tony develops a parachute for the Iron Spider armor he gives to Peter Parker in Infinity
War.
After Ant-Man shrinks down and damages his suit during Civil War, Tony switches to nanotechnology.
After being defeated in hand-to-hand combat by Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, he learns
to use his nanotech to create melee weapons around his hands, such as battering rams,
blades, and shields.
Each defeat and failure that Stark endures only makes him stronger.
One fan theory claims there is evidence Tony uses the Infinity Stones in the future.
The evidence?
The fact that his left arm has bothered him in previous films.
As we see at the end of Infinity War, even Thanos himself is wounded by the exertion
of carrying out the Decimation.
If Tony attempted to reverse the snap using the Infinity Stones, chances are it would
seriously injure, if not completely obliterate him.
The force of using the Infinity Stones could be so powerful that the pain reverberates
through time, and Tony feels some type of ominous ripple effect.
"My left arm is numb.
Is that normal?"
Iron Man wielding the Infinity Gauntlet would come full circle with the comics, in which
he has used it before to defeat a bad guy who calls himself the Hood.
From the Endgame trailers, we know Tony is drifting through space in the Benatar with
Nebula.
As the adopted daughter of Thanos, she has incredibly intimate knowledge about the abusive
Mad Titan.
Even though she might not be aware of it, Nebula could hold the secret to defeating
Thanos, a secret that only someone as brilliant as Stark could deduce.
Pairing together Nebula with Iron Man is no coincidence, especially since the Russo brothers
confirmed that she plays an important role in the plot.
They told The Telegraph:
"When you're dealing with characters like Nebula, a child of Thanos, it's impossible
not to make her integral to the story or have an emotional connection to it."
Although Thanos probably does not have any type of obvious weakness, Stark could utilize
Nebula's knowledge of her adopted father to get inside his head and predict his next move.
When the first Iron Man movie back in 2008 led the charge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,
Tony Stark's actions essentially kicked off the series of events that led to Infinity
War.
Even though Tony could have never predicted how far his superhero adventures would take
him, it would certainly be poetic for the one who started it all to end it.
"My turn."
Tony Stark was a completely different person when he first hit the scene, and his character
arc is one of redemption.
From his history as a weapons developer to his guilt over the lives lost due to the Avengers'
actions in Sokovia, Stark has felt an increasing amount of responsibility for the suffering
around him.
Although he has made efforts to atone for his sins, he remains a tortured soul.
"How did you get out of the wormhole?"
This need for atonement that has driven Stark over the past few films could very well be
building toward the ultimate sacrifice that he almost made in the first Avengers movie.
Since Robert Downey Jr.'s contract expires after Endgame, many fans are speculating that
Iron Man will sacrifice himself to save the others.
When Thanos easily dismantles the entire cast of Marvel heroes during Infinity War, he seems
content to simply incapacitate his enemies instead of murdering them.
Outside of the snap, the only characters he ends up killing personally are Heimdall, Loki,
Gamora, and Vision, each of whom he offs for a specific reason.
As the Russo brothers pointed out on the Infinity War commentary track, Tony is the only Avenger
that Thanos goes out of his way to try and kill from the start.
This is interesting because Iron Man is not as strong as Hulk or Thor, yet Thanos leaves
them alive after defeating them.
Thanos specifically sets out to kill Stark because he perceives him as a real threat,
and when he says,
"I hope they remember you."
... he seems to think he's succeeded.
When it comes down to it, the main reason Thanos respects and fears Tony is simply how
alike they are.
The Russo brothers touched upon this during their interview with The Telegraph.
Joe Russo said:
"Tony is the most desperately driven, down to the core, to react against something like
Thanos.
I think this is intrinsic to Tony's psychology, and because Tony started it all with Iron
Man, he has a special connection to the threat that's facing him."
This is how Thanos knows Tony will do whatever it takes to stop him.
The Mad Titan sees too much of himself in Stark… and that frightens him.
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