If you’re still heartbroken over the fact that Tony Stark was killed off in Avengers: Endgame, you might be a little annoyed to find out he wasn’t always going to die in the movie.
Anthony and Joe Russo had a mammoth task when it came to making Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame and creating a satisfying end to the 23-film Infinity Saga. Thankfully, they had writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely on their team.
Markus and McFeely succeeded in writing a pretty incredible ending to the saga (though we do have a few grievances), but it turns out Iron Man’s fate was never set in stone.
Markus spoke to Canada.com to reveal he and McFeely had a lot of freedom with the characters.
“We weren’t there to just kill characters off. We were told, ‘If the story demands it, you can take people off the board. But if there’s a good story to be told and no one dies, go ahead and tell that one too.
“In Endgame, we were trying to finish arcs and for Iron Man/Tony Stark to give up his life and sacrifice himself for the good of the universe seemed like a really good narrative closure for the billionaire playboy who had been learning over the course of several films (to be a better person).”
I’ll be honest, it makes total sense, despite the fact that it was sad AF.
Robert Downey Jr’s contract with Marvel was set to come to an end with Endgame, but it was never the plan to kill him off. The writers were then given the freedom to create the perfect ending for him, which sadly meant killing him off.
What perhaps made the scene even more special was that it was the last one shot for the movie. The directors and writers were on set trying to make the scene as emotionally satisfying as possible.
The line, “I am Iron Man,” that Tony says while snapping Thanos and his army away was honestly pretty perfect.
I wonder what Markus and McFeely might have planned for Tony had he not died at the end of the film. Would he have simply retired and lived out his days with Pepper Potts and their daughter Morgan Stark?
Guess we’ll never know…