10 years of movies left people sobbing in a movie theater over Stark’s death and 4 years later let’s bring him back for a cheap pop, sure, whatever
If there is 1 character that should be allowed to come back from the dead for secret wars it’s Tony Stark. (And Steve Rodgers, but idk if he’s dead)
I would like to see RDJ Iron Man in a shot with the other returning actors + phase 4 - 6 characters. It will be only one film and it will be 7 years after RDJ exited the MCU. These are movies based on comic books. Let them have the fun that the source material provides. So long as it’s not the 616 Stark being resurrected then there’s no difference between the recent Loki and Gamora comebacks, neither of which seem to dampen their 616 deaths. If it works, it works. Whoever is against some of the dead characters return as variants for a one-off might have a tough time enjoying Secret Wars for what it very well may be: a celebration of all Marvel material before it, a big woo-ha for all Marvel actors across the multiple franchises that have left a lasting mark.
Honestly, if anyone thought Marvel wouldn’t have RDJ in Secret Wars in some capacity they were fooling themselves. Tony and Steve arguably built the MCU into what it is. To have an event like secret wars that features cross dimensional/universal characters from different studios, timelines, and universes and not feature the big two was probably never even up for debate in the marvel writing room.
I think it's less "we don't want more Iron Man/RDJ" and more "they did his arc well and we don't want it to be unnaturally extended just for kicks/money".
I’m sure RDJ wouldn’t come back unless he thought there was a good reason. He’s stated multiple times he never wants to just come back unless there is something that justifies it.
The other thing is that they haven't done anything yet to make this new generation of MCU feel like it can stand on its own two feet and then just going back to the well of the original cast seems real meh.
Secret Wars is gonna be so dumb. A flashback cameo in Armor Wars could be nice. I’m currently down on everything else Marvel Studios outside of Guardians 3, but I still find myself rooting like a fool for that one to get the right pieces to work.
Of course Tony being on screen will have to be extremely well earned to not lesson his death in endgame, but honestly they’ve had years already to think of a way to honor what has happened and still let him interact with characters that will be in secret wars.
Many new characters will have their moments to shine throughout phase 5, phase 6, and Kang Dynasty, which is rumored to focus only on the new characters and their alliances going against Kang. If any new characters don't have much time to shine it won't be because RDJ's Iron Man is in one film for a screen time of about 10 minutes, but will be because Marvel is shuffling a lot of new characters. This is why I was initially against the idea a few years ago, but after seeing how Loki was handled and how Gamera seems to be handled based on leaks, I am open to the idea of a variant for just one film. If they allow a side of the character to be shown that is different from what the 616 version offered, then sure.
Okay gotta be honest, got Secret Wars and Armor Wars mixed up, Secret Wars makes more sense I guess. I still don’t like it, but my bad for being so annoyed lol
If it was for Armor Wars then I would agree that it’s dumb. A flashback is fine given Stark’s close relationship with Rhodes, but Rhodes is the real OG of the MCU now and his film needs to fit all the corners just right. Hopefully it does the character justice after so many years.