Avengers Endgame: Why No One Else Could’ve Done Iron Man's Snap

There's a practical reason why no one else could've done the final snap in Avengers: Endgame other than Iron Man. As the first hero to acknowledge the arrival of a bigger threat, Tony Stark had been fretting about Thanos since the events of The Avengers. This nagging feeling haunted him for years and it even forced him to make bad choices, until everything he dreaded played out before his very eyes in Avengers: Infinity War. Given this, it makes sense from a creative perspective for him to take down the Mad Titan.

That said, there's also an argument to be made about how Avengers: Endgame didn't properly justify why Iron Man was the one to do the snap, especially since it meant him dying from it. With the final battle bringing in almost every hero from across the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there were some significantly more powerful characters who could've done the snap and survived. Granted that Doctor Strange's vision supposedly saw Tony wielding the power of the Infinity Stones, but the outcome would've arguably been the same if Captain Marvel or perhaps even Scarlet Witch pulled off the move.

Looking at the events leading up to the climactic battle as well as the battle itself, there's a practical reason why Iron Man was the only one who could've done Endgame's final snap. There was only one traditional gauntlet - the one used by Smart Hulk to bring back those who perished during Thanos' snap in Infinity War. Since the team hadn't decided yet on who was going to do the snap, they created a glove that molded itself to the hand of its wearer. After Smart Hulk's reverse snap, however, it was toast and stuck in the size of the green creature's hand. So only he or someone who was the same size as him, like Thanos, could've used it from that point. And so, Iron Man's backup gauntlet in his armor was the only option left for the second snap.

Hulk snaps the Infinity Stones in Avengers Endgame

As he was in dealing with the whole Thanos situation, Iron Man was proactive in preparing for the reverse snap. He came up with a contingency plan in case their initial scheme somehow failed or if they ever needed another way out down the line. It proved to be useful as in the midst of the chaos during Endgame's final battle, further motivated by Doctor Strange's reminder that they only had one shot in defeating the Mad Titan, Tony made use of the make-shift gauntlet fitted in his suit. If he didn't have the foresight to create another, albeit much weaker gauntlet, only Hulk would really been able to do the final snap in the film, in order for Avengers to emerge from the Infinity Saga victorious.

As tragic as it was ending Iron Man's personal story in the MCU the way it did in Avengers: Endgame, there's poetry in the way his overall story played out. Developed across 10 films in 11 years, there's a clear personal journey for Tony Stark ending with a sacrificial play after starting out as a selfish industrialist, which brought his story arc full circle. So while it was bittersweet to see the franchise's inaugural hero die, it was a more impactful way of wrapping up his story, further solidifying his place in the MCU.

More: Every MCU Character Strong Enough To Pull Off Iron Man's Endgame Snap