It's been over a year since audiences witnessed Robert Downey Jr. embody Tony Stark for the last time in AvengersEndgame. While fans were largely satisfied with his farewell, the character's death halted countless potential Iron Man storylines and relationships for the MCU to pursue. One example of this is the unexplored friendship between Carol Danvers and Tony Stark.

The only significant scene between Brie Larson and Downey's versions of the characters comes at the beginning of Endgame when Captain Marvel rescues the stranded Stark and Nebula in the middle of outer space, but this moment is held between strangers, and ultimately they remain that way. In recent comics, Carol and Tony often have some form of familiarity, whether that is in the form of a romance, rivalry or most often a close friendship.

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Tony and Carol's modern relationship in the comics began with Marvel's iconic storyline, Civil War written by Mark Millar and drawn by Steve Mcniven. Captain Marvel supports Iron Man as a leading advocate of the Superhuman Registration Act and is a key ally and enforcer for him in the fight against Captain America. While this is more of a business alliance, it established their future in the main comic universe, which would see the two go from allies to peers to close friends.

The friendship between Carol and Tony really develops in the 2007-2010 Mighty Avengers run. In the fallout of Civil War, Tony becomes the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., and he personally selects Carol to co-lead and assemble a new Avengers lineup alongside him. Especially in the early issues, Tony demonstrates his respect for Carol's power and leadership abilities, and he supports her as she rises to the forefront of the superhero team.

With the massive box office success of Captain Marvel, Marvel and Disney certainly plan on keeping Larson's Danvers at the heart of the Avengers franchise moving forward. It's a shame that fans will never get to see the dynamic between her and Downey's Tony at the helm of the team together. Maybe in another timeline with a different send off for Downey, Tony could've dubbed her as his successor, but there wasn't enough time to develop an on screen relationship between Larson and Downey that held significant emotional weight for fans before his exit.

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In the last couple of years, Captain Marvel comics have emphasized Carol and Tony's close, platonic bond. Writer Margaret Stohl and artists Marguerite Sauvage and Carlos Pacheco's limited series The Life of Captain Marvel features some of the most heartfelt moments in their history. The series is book-ended by their respective parental issues. In Issue #1, they divulge to one another their similar father issues, and in Issue #5 Tony comforts Carol in the wake of her mother's death.

Tony is often regarded as one of the most human and relatable characters in comics, and Stohl utilizes this characteristic within the story to make both characters empathetic. It showcases their similarities and why they intimately understand and support one another. Again, with more time for on-screen character development, some of the MCU's most emotional moments could have been between Tony and Carol.

Most recently, Kelly Thompson's work on Captain Marvel often features stories that explore Carol's friendships. Tony plays a role in this dynamic in several issues, notably in artist Carmen Carnero and colorist Tamra Bonvillain's Captain Marvel: Re-Entry Issue #1, when he helps Carol cope and wrestle with her identity upon her return to Earth, and in Issues #9-11 of Captain Marvel: Fallen Star, where Tony is one of her lifelines in her time of crisis.

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Their friendship is even one of Tony's weaknesses in Captain Marvel: The Last Avenger Part Two, story by Thompson, art by Lee Garbett and colors by Bonvillain. Carol belives Tony will hesitate to fight her because of their relationship, and she is right. Seeing Captain Marvel as a villain could've been interesting if adapted to the MCU, but it would only work if if their friendship was explored before hand.

The cinematic portrayals of the characters are similar in many ways as well. They are both brash, sarcastic, talented and natural leaders. They even share strikingly similar origin stories; substitute Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) for Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) and rearrange some plot elements, and the basic stories of Iron Man (2008) and Captain Marvel (2019) are virtually identical.

With Downey's time in the MCU over, Marvel and Disney never got the opportunity to develop chemistry between his iteration of Tony and Larson's Captain Marvel. There is plenty of precedent in the comics to suggest that fans missed out on what could have been an explosive on-screen friendship that would have injected even more drama and action into the MCU for years to come.

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