Marvel Executive Lays Down Final Word On Iron Man's Return

The events of Avengers: Endgame left the Marvel Cinematic Universe in what sure seems like a pickle. A sudden charisma vacuum was present. Iron Man was gone, taking his valley girl cadence and a hefty percentage of the MCU's marketability with him.

For many fans, a world without Tony Stark was like a world without sunshine: cold, dark, and bad. He had, after all, been the jumping off point for the entire franchise — if there hadn't been an Iron Man, who would Nick Fury have told that there were other superheroes who weren't Iron Man? And so, the logic goes, Disney must be gunning to bring the character back, right? There would certainly be precedent for work-arounds to be found in the comics. Iron Man has died and come back to life, died and replaced himself with an Iron Man hologram, had a younger, time-displaced version of himself take over for him — the options seem endless.

Now, Marvel Studios' executive vice president has weighed in on a possible return for the Most Sensational Superhero of All. Victoria Alonso, who has been called "the most powerful woman in Hollywood" as the result of her producer credits on literally every MCU movie, spoke with the Spanish-language publication Clarin this week, and addressed the potential for a Robert Downey, Jr. homecoming. The prognosis isn't great.