What If Iron Man Survived Endgame's Snap? How Phases 4-6 Change

The MCU's Multiverse Saga would have been very different had Iron Man survived the snap. It's easy to forget that, when Marvel launched their shared universe back in 2008, it was seen as something of a gamble. The decision to cast Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark was equally risky, and yet it proved so successful it set the tone for everything that came afterwards. Iron Man became the MCU's flagship hero, his story building to a climax in Avengers: Endgame.

In thematic terms, Avengers: Endgame was the perfect end to Tony Stark's story. He had started out as an egotistical, self-centered figure, building to the moment when he proved himself a real hero in The Avengers. There, Steve Rogers angrily claimed he wasn't "the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you." Stark proved Captain America wrong when he flew a nuclear missile through a portal, and ultimately he proved it again in Avengers: Endgame when he chose to sacrifice himself to defeat Thanos. Doctor Strange had seen 14 million futures, and he claimed this was the only one in which Thanos was stopped.

Curiously, though, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness seemed to be a rejection of this logic. There were striking parallels between the third act and Avengers: Endgame, because both saw Doctor Strange tempted to let one person die for the greater good, and in Doctor Strange 2 the Master of the Mystic Arts decided he was wrong to trade lives. This raises the intriguing question of what would have happened if Doctor Strange had chosen a different path, and Tony Stark had somehow lived. Here's how the MCU Phases 4-6 would have been different had Iron Man survived.

How Could Iron Man Have Survived Avengers: Endgame's Snap?

It is, of course, quite difficult to imagine a scenario where Iron Man survived Avengers: Endgame's snap. Surprisingly, though, a hint was offered in Marvel's What If...? episode 9, in which Killmonger wore a vibranium suit that proved able to absorb the energy of the Infinity Stones. A single carefully-chosen word by Doctor Strange on Titan could conceivably have led Stark to pursue vibranium technology in the five years between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. A Mark 85 suit made of vibranium would have allowed Stark to use the Infinity Stones without harm, allowing his survival.

Would Iron Man Have Reformed The Avengers?

The Avengers charge into battle in Avengers: Endgame

In this version of the MCU timeline, then, Tony Stark would have gotten his own personal "Happily Ever After." There were hints in Avengers: Endgame that he'd tried to retire from the superhero lifestyle to live with Pepper Potts and his daughter Morgan Stark, but that he'd just kept getting drawn back in. Stark would likely have continued to try to retire, and the best way would have been to take advantage of the returned superheroes and relaunch the Avengers Initiative. This would immediately have lent the MCU's Phase 4 a stronger narrative thread, because there'd have been an active superhero team monitoring affairs across the world. No doubt they'd have been seeking to incorporate the new heroes of Phase 4 into their number; it's certainly easy to imagine Moon Knight and She-Hulk being instantly recruited (perhaps even whether they liked it or not, given them may well have been compelled to do so under the Sokovia Accords).

Spider-Man's Post-Endgame Story Would Have Been Completely Different

Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) in Far From Home; Tom Holland promotional photo as Spider-Man; Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) with the Infinity Gauntlet

The most dramatic change, of course, would have been to Spider-Man's post-Avengers: Endgame story. The MCU's Spider-Man has lived in Iron Man's shadow, profoundly affected by his relationship with Stark. In the main MCU timeline, this led to Spider-Man inheriting some of Stark's greatest tools, setting up a crazy chain of events that led to his secret identity being revealed to the world - and, in a perfect illustration of chaos theory, to a potential multiversal catastrophe. Naturally, none of this would have happened in a timeline where Stark survived his snap. Instead, it's likely Spider-Man would have been folded into the Avengers, continuing to use the Stark internship as an excuse to explain his frequent absences from school.

Spider-Man could still have crossed paths with Mysterio, though. Just as in the main timeline, Mysterio would be motivated by a hatred of Stark, and he could potentially have decided to use Spider-Man as a way to gain access to Stark technology. The plan would have had to be very different, however, because Mysterio wouldn't dare draw too much attention in case other members of the Avengers were brought in. This version of the story would have been less spectacular, more grounded in New York City, and it probably wouldn't have ended with the secret identity reveal.

Do We Get Iron Man 4?

Tony Stark's story, meanwhile, could easily have continued in Iron Man 4. Oddly enough, there's a sense in which the next few years will tell the best Iron Man 4 story without Tony Stark - Armor Wars, adapted from a story in which Iron Man attempted to track down lost Stark technology across the planet. The MCU's version seems to focus on characters like War Machine and Ironheart, a comic book superhero who reverse-engineered Stark technology while studying at MIT and apparently a close ally of Wakanda in the MCU. But Armor Wars would work a lot better with Tony Stark himself, precisely because the discovery his technology was leaking out into the world would be the perfect incentive to force him out of retirement.

How Iron Man Would Have Fit Into The Multiverse Saga

Meanwhile, Tony Stark would surely have been a major player in the Multiverse Saga. Stark discovered the secret of time travel in Avengers: Endgame, figuring out how to use the Quantum Realm to travel in time. He'd surely have remained interested in the idea, focusing on developing the technology and in so doing unlocking secrets of the multiverse. Indeed, it's not difficult to imagine Stark reaching out to Doctor Strange and the Masters of the Mystic Arts, with science and sorcery combining to master the multiverse. Had Iron Man survived, then, he could easily have helped Earth's heroes prepare for the coming multiversal war and Kang the Conqueror.