The Big Picture
- Marvel President Kevin Feige emphasizes the importance of preserving Tony Stark’s impactful farewell in Avengers: Endgame and has no plans to revisit or alter the character’s fate.
- Robert Downey Jr. was initially hesitant to reshoot additional dialogue for Stark’s final moments, as the cast had already emotionally moved on after bidding tearful goodbyes on the last day of shooting.
- Feige and co-director Joe Russo assure fans that they will not cheapen Stark’s sacrifice for the sake of box office numbers, stating that they worked hard for years to reach that moment and would never want to undo it.
After starring in 10 films, Robert Downey Jr.‘s portrayal of Iron Man came to an end in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, the highest of peaks of almost any film franchise in history. Marvel is known for bringing back characters who appear to have met their demise, but according to Marvel President Kevin Feige, this won’t be the case for Tony Stark. Feige has been emphasizing the importance of preserving the impactful moment from Endgame and has no plans to revisit or alter the fate of the character — multiverse or not.
Even during reshoots and the need for additional dialogue for Stark’s final moments in Endgame, Downey was initially hesitant. According to Joe Russo, the co-director, the cast had already emotionally moved on after bidding tearful goodbyes on the last day of shooting. Downey was assured that it would be the absolute final time he would have to revisit that emotional farewell.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, to celebrate Downey’s “third act”, following the magnificent acclaim he received for his performance in Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer, both Feige and Russo commented on Downey’s work within the franchise, with Feige assuring fans they will not cheapen Stark’s sacrifice for the sake of popping a box office number, despite recent reports to the contrary.
“We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again. We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”
Russo added that Downey was already reluctant to even shoot additional dialogue as the character before coming in to film his now-immortalized final words of “I am Iron Man”. “We’d already said tearful goodbyes on the last day of shooting. Everybody had moved on emotionally,” Russo said. “We promised him it would be the last time we made him do it—ever.”
Will Any Other ‘Avengers’ Stars Return?
While Marvel is having a historic downturn, it seems as if Feige and the studio would prefer to look ahead and change their methods. Having overwhelmed fans with “content” since the advent of Disney+, next year will see the release of just one Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the shape of Deadpool 3. However, with two Avengers films on the horizon, it wouldn’t be a massive surprise to hear speculation of Downey’s co-stars Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, who both also departed the franchise after Endgame, brought back into the fold. However, Evans has confirmed that he has not yet been asked to return at this time.
Avengers: Endgame and the entire MCU is available to stream on Disney+.
Avengers: Endgame
After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to reverse Thanos’ actions and restore balance to the universe.
- Release Date
- April 24, 2019
- Director
- Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
- Cast
- Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner
- Rating
- PG-13
- Runtime
- 180
- Main Genre
- Superhero