Ty Simpkins made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Harley Keener in 2013's Iron Man 3. Harley helped Iron Man get his suit operational again so as to take on the Mandarin. He later returned for Tony Stark's funeral in Avengers: Endgame. Simpkins has now expressed his interest in playing Iron Lad in the future.
Asked by IGN if he would be willing to take up the mantle of Iron Man or play Iron Lad, the now 17-year-old Simpkins replied, "Yes, one-hundred percent. I would love that!"
Of course, the character of Iron Lad in the Marvel comic books is significantly different from that of Harley Keener. In the Marvel Comics, the mantle of Iron Lad belongs to Nathaniel Richards (that is, the Nathaniel Richards native to Earth-6311), who is a founding member of the Young Avengers. However, despite being something of a successor to Iron Man, Nathaniel is much more closely associated with the Fantastic Four line of characters.
In fact, in addition to being a distant relative of Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (and allegedly Doctor Doom), Nathaniel is the younger version of the villain known as Kang the Conqueror. When asked if he'd be willing to play a villain, Simpkins said, "I'd do it, I'd do it. Without a doubt."
Simpkins also explained that he thought Tony and Harley stayed in touch after the events of Iron Man 3, which helps explain why he was at his father figure's funeral.
RELATED: Avengers: Endgame Will Cross Another Box Office Milestone This Weekend
As Disney only obtained the rights to the Fantastic Four recently, it seems safe to say we won't see Nathaniel on the big screen anytime soon. However, Harley Keener is still hanging around somewhere out there.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Don Cheadle as War Machine, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, with Gwyneth Paltrow Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Josh Brolin as Thanos. The film is in theaters now.