WARNING: The following contains slight spoilers for Hawkeye, now streaming on Disney+.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is filled with iconic imagery and set design. One of the most recognizable settings seen across various MCU titles is Stark Tower, which later became Avengers Tower after the Battle of New York in 2012's The Avengers. First constructed and maintained by tech genius Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Stark Tower originally served as a power source for New York City, with its arc reactor technology designed to run the city's entire electrical grid. However, throughout the Infinity Saga, Stark Tower has undergone a few changes, leaving the building's ultimate purpose and function now unknown.
At the end of The Avengers, Stark rebranded the building as Avengers Tower, utilizing it as a high-tech headquarters for the Avengers. After the events of Age of Ultron left the building destroyed, they were forced to move into a refurbished Stark Industries warehouse while Avengers Tower went through renovations. This served as the Avengers' new home until the finale of Captain America: Civil War, which depicted Tony selling the tower to an unknown buyer and shipping all of their important artifacts to the new Avengers base.
This was the last on-screen appearance of Avengers Tower until it was briefly glimpsed in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Though it was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice that Avengers Tower had undergone a major redesign, including some kind of atrium/botanical garden in the middle of the high-rise building. Who is inhabiting Avengers Tower at this present moment in the MCU? Hints from Loki, Hawkeye, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Spider-Man have fans theorizing about endless possibilities.
Is Avengers Tower Going To Be the New Baxter Building?
With the announcement that Marvel plans to reboot the Fantastic Four franchise (again), one theory making its rounds on the Internet is that Avengers Tower is going to become home to the super-team consisting of Reed Richards, Susan and Johnny Storm and Benjamin Grimm. In Marvel Comics, the Fantastic Four call the Baxter Building (located in Manhattan) their home base, with Richards remodeling the top five floors of the building as a high-tech laboratory similar to what Tony Stark did with Stark Tower. Is it possible that Stark sold his tower to Reed Richards? Probably not. Like the Bleecker Street sanctum in Doctor Strange, both the Baxter Building and Avengers Tower are their own entities pertaining to their respective superheroes. Given how expansive the MCU is, it's entirely feasible for all of these buildings to coexist within the same city without having to combine two of them.
Could Kang Be the New Owner?
In Episodes 4 and 5 of the Disney+ Marvel hit Loki, fans were quick to spot a version of Avengers Tower in the Void, a place at the end of time where the Time Variance Authority sent variants that were pruned from their respective timelines. Upon first glimpse into the Void, viewers recognized a pruned Avengers Tower crumbling in the post-apocalyptic wasteland at the end of time. While the physical appearance of the tower is easily recognizable, one detail sticks out as a major difference from the Avengers Tower fans had previously known: the name "Qeng" emblazoned on the side of the skyscraper. Qeng Enterprises purchased Avengers Tower in the Marvel Comics, with its owner Nathaniel Richards named as a variant of Kang the Conqueror, and a relative of Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four.
Loki's season finale revealed that variants of Kang will be appearing across several future Marvel projects, most notably as the main villain in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Not only is Kang's MCU arrival exciting for the development of Phase Four, but it also opens up many doors for potential Kang variants to make their entrance in other MCU titles, given Kang's extensive backstory with many different heroes within the comics. With the spotting of the Qeng Enterprise logo on Avengers Tower, fans may see Nathaniel Richards and Qenq Enterprises popping up in the MCU sometime soon.
Could Stark Tower Become the Thunderbolts' Home Base?
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier introduced audiences to Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who later made an appearance in the post-credits scene of Black Widow. While much about Val is still unknown, it's clear by her conversations with both John Walker/US Agent (Wyatt Russell) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) that she and her colleagues have an interest in skilled and super-powered humans. All signs point to her collaboration with Secretary Thaddeus Ross to mount the Thunderbolts at some point in Phase Four.
The Thunderbolts are a team of former villains within Marvel Comics including fan-favorites and heavy-hitters like Baron Helmut Zemo, Taskmaster and at one point, Hawkeye. Other notable members worth mentioning are Norman Osborn, who appeared as the main antagonist in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and the Swordsman Jacques Duquesne, whose appearance on Hawkeye has fan frenzy for the Thunderbolts at all all-time high. If Marvel is gearing up to introduce the Thunderbolts within Phase Four, they would need a home base to operate out of. Given Tony's complicated history with Secretary Ross after the controversial Sokovia Accords, could he have sold Avengers Tower to Ross as a sort of peace offering at the end of Civil War?
Will Hawkeye Connect It to Wilson Fisk?
As Hawkeye progresses on Disney+ this holiday season, the introduction of the criminal hierarchy of New York has some fans guessing whether or not Avengers Tower has fallen into the hands of someone more sinister than Ross and Valentina. The opening episode of Hawkeye shows a black market auction selling various artifacts from Avengers Compound, including the suit and sword of Ronin (Clint Barton's assassin persona from Avengers: Endgame) and a wristwatch with unknown value or purpose, though the Tracksuit Mafia is keen to get their hands on it. It's possible that whoever runs the Tracksuit Mafia is residing in Avengers Tower right now, and requires this watch for some ultimate supervillain plan.
Clint (Jeremy Renner) mentions to Kate Bishop in Episode 2 that Tony sold Avengers Tower years ago, but neglects to mention the buyer's name. With signs pointing to Wilson Fisk as the head of the Tracksuit Mafia, he may be residing in Hawkeye's former base at this very moment. With the financial means and sources to purchase a building as iconic as Avengers Tower, and having an entire crime ring to conceal, Fisk is a definite contender for the new owner of the building. With Fisk's connection to the Hawkeye, Daredevil and Spider-Man characters, and with Kang the Conqueror's arrival imminent, the reveal of Avengers Tower's new owner is sure to shake up the image of the MCU as fans know it.