In a world of multiverses where anybody can return to the MCU, Robert Downey Jr’s beloved Tony Stark is the one red line for Kevin Feige, it seems.
Given that Marvel Studios is in a sticky spot at the moment, there’s been lots of speculation as to how the company can effectively course correct its ongoing films, grandly titled The Multiverse Saga. The latest film to release, The Marvels, looks like it is going to be the lowest-grossing MCU film ever, theatrically at least, and there are plenty of people out there that saw this coming.
You can count Marvel Studios itself within that group, given that it both cut and marketed the film in a markedly different way to try and control the damage the inbound damage that it would incur from the film’s limp box-office reception. However, the studio will also be looking ahead to try to figure out how to lure audiences back into cinemas and build some momentum for its brace of Avengers films, the first of which is set to arrive in 2026.
Naturally, lots of chatter has speculated that one way to bring back audiences is to look into the MCU’s past and revive some fan favourite characters, with a Variety report that we covered back in early November claiming that a plan was forming to bring back some (or all) of the original Avengers team.
MCU head honcho Kevin Feige since has spoken to Vanity Fair about this matter, in relation to one character at least, stating that Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark is one member of the team that will not be returning. Says Feige: “We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again. We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.”
Characters return from the dead in comic books all the time and as such, the MCU has proved to be something of a revolving door for characters being resurrected from the grave. Despite having to routinely misdirect fans in the name of spoiler avoidance, Feige is (hopefully) shooting straight with this one, though. His reasoning is sound, and no matter how desperate things get, messing with some of the narrative highlights of the MCU’s Infinity Saga could end up backfiring spectacularly. Let’s hope this statement holds true.
Read more: The Marvels review | Promising sequel gets bogged down in MCU lore
