Warning! SPOILERS for Ms. Marvel.
Marvel Studios' weirdest Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) problem has a perfect solution. It has been several years since Tony Stark's death in Avengers: Endgame, but he remains a factor in the MCU Phase 4's storytelling. Surprisingly, Iron Man's legacy plays a small but important part in Ms. Marvel.
Marvel Studios' seventh Disney+ series introduces the franchise's newest hero, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) — a 16-year-old Jersey City native who is obsessed with the Avengers and gets her own unique powers. As she navigates her newfound capabilities, the Department of Damage Control starts hunting her. It's still unclear how exactly the organization shifted its purpose from cleaning up cities where Avengers' battles take place to targeting unregistered superheroes, but that seems to be its function now. In Ms. Marvel episode 4, they even took in the ClanDestine following a commotion in Jersey with the intention of locking them up. Regardless of how they changed their mission, their actions are tainting Iron Man's legacy, considering that he was funding Damage Control, as revealed in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Based on the events of Ms. Marvel, Damage Control has veered away from its initial role. Even if they now have a different mandate, using brutal force to execute it isn't a good look on them and by way, Iron Man. This is especially the case if Stark Industries and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) continue to fund them.
Justin Hammer Is The Perfect Answer To Ms. Marvel's Damage Control Plot Holes
Luckily, Marvel Studios has a fairly easy way to resolve this issue: by bringing back Iron Man 2 villain, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell). The Hammer Industries executive is essentially a dark mirror of Tony Stark. He's also the only Iron Man villain who survived and is due to return. Given this, he could have taken over Damage Control as its newest financier, hence the organization's revamped function, not to mention harsher actions that fit with Hammer's way of doing things. Beyond Ms. Marvel, this is also a great way to set up Armor Wars. The Don Cheadle-led Disney+ series will see Rhodey trying to keep Tony Stark's technology out of the wrong people's hands, and Hammer is a great candidate to be its primary villain.
For what it's worth, Hammer may even have an ulterior motive for taking over Damage Control. As seen in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the organization's link with Stark has already been established, which means there could be an assumption that beyond his death, those who survive have maintained ties with them. In Iron Man 2, it was revealed that Hammer knew Iron Man's weak spot: his fascination with his legacy. By taking over Damage Control and seeing it openly and ruthlessly carrying out its new mandate, the villain effectively taints what's an otherwise great legacy for Stark. This could be his revenge against the genius, billionaire Avenger.
Admittedly, using Ms. Marvel as a launching pad for Armor Wars is surprising, albeit quite genius. Despite being both on Disney+, there's no obvious link between the shows aside from Iron Man's ties to the Department of Damage Control. Even with that, it isn't that easy to see the organization as connective tissue for the projects. The setup isn't all too obvious, which would make the potential narrative transition feel more seamless.
Ms. Marvel airs new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.
