Tony Stark Needs to Die in Avengers: Infinity War

The Marvel Cinematic Universe sometimes seems locked in a haphazard game of Final Destination with Tony Stark. Over the years, Tony has narrowly avoided death, or worse, retirement, in Iron Man 1-3, Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War. Each of his major appearances could have served as an exit point, providing enough character growth and closure to give Tony’s story a satisfying end. But just when Iron Man 3 promised an end to Iron Man, if not to Tony Stark, Marvel Studios put him back in the suit and made him the second lead of Captain America: Civil War.

It’s understandable that Marvel Studios would be reluctant to keep Tony around, of course. Iron Man isn’t just the character who launched the MCU; he’s become, and remains, the MCU's anchor. That, and his toys still sell pretty well. But 3 phases and 18 films later, that anchor isn’t keeping the studio steady anymore. These days, it’s holding the MCU back.

It’s time for Tony Stark to die.

Tony Stark was a weirdly brilliant choice to begin the Marvel franchise with. He’s a founding Avenger in Marvel Comics (10 times over if you count Ultimates and other alternate universes), and has helmed a solo title since 1968, but while Tony Stark has always had fans, until his big screen, the character had nothing like the profile of Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, or the X-Men. He was comics popular, not pop culture popular, and the character offered none of the moral clarity that most superhero properties did. He started out the bad guy, and never fully left that behind.

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Tony Stark, an arms dealer and playboy, was built to be despicable. He's a man who profited off of war, and lived in the lap of luxury because of it. On top of that, he's a shallow man with no real friendships, and a tendency to treat women as disposable, renewable resources. Although he mostly reformed when he was disabled by one of his own bombs, kidnapped by terrorists and forced to build his first, clunky, jury-rigged suit, that gross core of him didn’t die when Iron Man was born.

Decades of Iron Man comics, and now a decade of Iron Man and Avengers films, have mined that transformation. Tony’s story is, in every universe and iteration, one of perpetual redemption. He's a man whose worst enemy is his own past, and often present, self; a man forever trying to claw his way up from villain to hero and make something good of all the bad he’s done. But because of his deep sense of guilt, and his propensity to make the same mistakes over and over again, it’s a redemption that will never be complete -- as long as he's still living, that is.

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In Iron Man, Tony faced up to what being the Merchant of Death really means, that his stock in trade was creating the means for the mass murder of the guilty and innocent alike. He also had to come to terms with the consequences of being an absentee CEO who puts his trust in the wrong hands. His response a simplistic one: To become Iron Man and address the problems directly through violence.

In Iron Man 2 he had to... do it all over again, but this time with heavy metal poisoning. And in Iron Man 3, his past came back to haunt him again, but this time it was a more recent past. Sure there’s long-ago snubbed loser turned fire-breathing superman Aldrich Killian, but the film is far more concerned with how choosing to become Iron Man, his first, best and only therapy since his being kidnapped, has put his loved ones in harm’s way. Each film has a complete arc where Tony is confronted with his guilt, both real and imagined, and moves to fix the problem, violently.

Iron Man 3 completes the character’s mega arc, with Tony realizing that to build the brighter future he wants, personally and for the world, he needs to stop being Iron Man and focus on more personally, socially important things.

But then there are the Avengers films, each of which replay that same old Tony Stark tune. In Avengers, Tony’s clean energy project is used to power the portal Loki opens to start his invasion of Earth. That, along with his visceral need to prove himself to the likes of Steve Rogers and Nick Fury, is what drives Tony to join the Avengers and sacrifice himself in the final battle.

Age of Ultron, released after Iron Man 3 so neatly got Tony out of the suit and into living his actual life, puts him right back in the armor. Not only does his (and Bruce Banner’s) reckless sciencing allow an Infinity Stone, the Mind Stone, to fuse with a global AI and become Ultron, it’s a Stark Industries weapon that gets the whole disaster going by galvanizing Wanda Maximoff to seek revenge against Tony. He designed the weapon that killed her parents, and she induced the panicked mental state that had him revive the Ultron defense project. His recklessness in trying to save the world endangers it. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

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These are bad Tony Stark stories, but more importantly they’re just plain bad stories. Tony is locked in an endless moral laundry cycle, and the Avengers films warp to accommodate it. Age of Ultron neglects an opportunity to develop the Avengers’ team relationship in favor of Tony’s personal angst and responsibilities. Captain America: Civil War is a remix of Iron Man 3 as much as it is a sequel to Winter Soldier and Ultron, and strangely, seems more concerned with exploring Tony’s post-Ultron political philosophy than it is with Steve’s.

In fact, Civil War spends so much time with Tony that you could write a book about what he thinks superhero “accountability” looks like. But as for the titular hero, beyond “save Bucky,” Steve Rogers’ motivations and ideology are frustratingly murky. Did Steve ever get a chance to read the Accords he was opposing? Why exactly did he live in Tony’s house while hiding the truth of his parents’ death from him? And who even is this new, partially de-programmed Bucky Barnes, beyond a guy who doesn’t shower and likes plums?

The necessity of fitting in another ride on the Tony Stark guilt merry-go-round, as well as every superhero the MCU had on hand, detracted from Steve and Bucky’s story, just as in Age of Ultron, it detracted from the team’s story. If Steve and Tony are destined to be frenemies, then every time they appear on screen together, Steve’s character must bend to fit him into this role. If Tony’s fundamental - and in the MCU, only - story is perpetual redemption, then every Avengers movie must afford him the opportunity to seek it. The only way to stop this cycle is, well, death.

Marvel Studios seems to understand this.

Launching the MCU with Iron Man served as proof of concept; yes, moviegoers could and would embrace unlikeable and even unheroic heroes. If Iron Man could make it on the big screen, then so could Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy and any number of properties that don’t immediately seem bankable. not only did Iron Man make it, in his wake so did dozens of other Marvel characters, spinning off franchises within the MCU's mega-franchise. Netflix, ABC, and Hulu all operate miniature Marvel franchises unto their own. Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor and Black Panther are massive box office successes that tie into the other MCU films, allowing Marvel Studios to craft its biggest crossover movie yet in Avengers: Infinity War. But none of them rely on the Avengers or suffer from the accompanying Tony Stark effect, and they’re better films because of it.

Infinity War, the big and loud crossover the MCU has been building towards since time immemorial (aka 2008) is the point where Robert Downey Jr’s 6 film contract is finally up. With so many other properties to choose from, the MCU may finally find itself willing to let Iron Man go, and not re-up Downey’s contract. It may let Tony blow up his suits - for real this time - and strut into superhero retirement.

But Iron Man’s death isn’t enough. Iron Man 3 already provided a symbolic death, an opportunity for Tony to move into a new story cycle, one without the Iron Man suit -- and Age of Ultron and Civil War erased that chance. Infinity War or Avengers 4 need to definitively, permanently, no-take-backs kill Tony Stark. It may seem crazy, but considering Robert Downey Jr. doesn't need to be on screen for Tony Stark to be operating in the background, it's really not. Marvel can keep Iron Man around, even without RDJ being involved.

The MCU has been flirting with Tony Stark’s death since his very first appearance. It knows, just as we do, that Tony’s story can only end in death - anything less is a terrible invitation for the cycle to start back up again. In Infinity War Marvel Studios needs to commit to this harsh reality. Tony Stark must die for the good of humanity -- and the MCU.