It was 15 years ago today that Marvel released the first Iron Man movie. It was the adventure that kicked off the MCU. The film turned out to be a massive, unexpected success for Marvel Studios, which was on the brink of bankruptcy at the time. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) was just the superhero Marvel needed. The first movie laid the groundwork for what would become an amazing cinematic universe of interconnected stories featuring some of the best characters from Marvel comics.
To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Iron Man, Disney released a special trailer on its Disney Plus Twitter account. You can watch the clip below, but not without the inevitable warning: Some spoilers might be coming below regarding the future of Iron Man.
The Iron Man celebration couldn’t have come at a better time. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is about to hit theaters and conclude another MCU trilogy. And it’s a trilogy that was made possible by successes like the original Iron Man.
Guardians Vol. 3 is getting plenty of great press, which might make more people want to watch or rewatch the first two movies in the saga. And those are available to stream on Disney Plus, the exclusive home of most MCU movies.
All of Iron Man’s adventures are streaming on Disney Plus, too. From the character’s debut in the 2008 Iron Man to Tony Stark’s heroic death in Avengers: Endgame more than a decade later.
RDJ’s Iron Man became so iconic that he eclipsed other superheroes. All of a sudden, people were not talking about Superman or Batman. They had Iron Man on their minds. Even Sony wanted Iron Man in the Spider-Man: Homecoming movie, the Spider-Man reboot that Sony and Marvel worked on together so that Peter Parker could play in the same sandbox as the Avengers.
Will Iron Man return in Avengers: Secret Wars?
The Library of Congress acknowledged the popularity of the superhero late last year, inducting Iron Man into the National Film Registry. The movie that made Marvel’s MCU possible saw plenty of support from the public. That’s how it made its way to the National Film Registry.
Disney Plus is the only place to watch Tony Stark say memorable lines like “I am Iron Man,” or “I love you 3000.” The beloved character isn’t alive anymore in the present-day world of the fictional MCU.
However, we might not have seen the last of Iron Man in the MCU. Word on the street is that Marvel will have Tony Stark return in one form or another in time for Avengers: Secret Invasion. That story supposedly concludes the current Multiverse Saga. And the Avengers might need Tony Stark’s help to fight Kang.
We’ve explained time and again how it’s possible to have Tony Stark return to life so that Iron Man can help the Avengers without Marvel ruining the character’s heroic death in Endgame. Or how Marvel can employ RDJ to portray a totally different version of Tony Stark. Say, a more villainous Iron Man, who would fight against the Avengers rather than join them.
That’s all speculation at this point, of course. But Marvel knows that fans are dying to see Iron Man again in the MCU. And it’ll likely take advantage of the opportunity to bring RDJ back. By the time Marvel and Disney celebrate the 20th anniversary of Iron Man, at least one more MCU movie featuring the character might be available to stream.
Meanwhile, you can catch Iron Man in all the MCU movies RDJ appeared in on Disney Plus. The list includes movies you might want to rewatch for Guardians of the Galaxy action ahead of Vol. 3. That’s Infinity War and Endgame, of course, where Iron Man and the Guardians get to interact more than once.
