Storylines In The Iron Man Trilogy That Disappeared Without Explanation

Compared to the modern state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's easy the look back at the original "Iron Man" trilogy and consider it rather quaint. By today's standards, where dozens of different superheroes will appear in the latest "Avengers" movie and viewers can enjoy at least 3-4 Disney+ shows per year, the relatively grounded story of weapons manufacturer Tony Stark (immortalized by the great Robert Downey Jr.) learning to rise above his dark past and use his tech genius to save lives rather than destroy them seems remarkably straightforward. No alien conquerors or time-traveling wizards to be found in these films, just a character study about a man who builds increasingly elaborate mechanical suits.

Yet despite their simplicity next to the more universe-threatening stakes found in other MCU entries, the "Iron Man" trilogy manages to include a wide variety of plot threads, Easter eggs, and other references to the greater comic book world that these stories originated from. But while many of these storylines were carried through into Tony's other appearances (including "Captain America: Civil War," "Spider-Man: Homecoming," and all four "Avengers" movies), there are quite a few that were introduced and then abandoned in future installments, despite their potential ramifications. Here are the plot points from the "Iron Man" films that have seemingly disappeared without explanation.

Before his transformation into a hero, Tony Stark is characterized as a billionaire playboy with a love for gambling, drinking, and womanizing. To that latter point, one of his earliest interactions in the first "Iron Man" is with journalist Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb), who initially confronts him on the deadly consequences of his arms dealing before being seduced and going to bed with him that same night. Though she's later shown the door by Pepper, Christine pops up again later in the film to challenge Tony on his company's accountability and again to cast doubt on the official story surrounding his fight with Iron Monger (Jeff Bridges), which directly leads to his famous reveal — "I am Iron Man."

Based on these interactions, it's clear that Christine had potential as a figure who could call Tony out on his mistakes while also serving as a constant reminder of his cavalier past as he attempts to form a more stable relationship with Pepper. Yet this potential was never fully capitalized on. She makes a brief appearance in "Iron Man 2," where she abandons an interview with Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) to cover Tony's antics at Monaco, and she shows up in a few marketing videos in her capacity as a reporter, as well as making a blink-and-miss-it cameo in an episode of Marvel's animated "What If...?" series. But beyond that, she's yet to return in any of the films. Now that Tony has passed away in the main narrative, her reappearance seems even less likely.

Near the end of "Iron Man 2," Tony has a meeting with SHIELD director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to discuss his potential candidacy for the Avengers Initiative. Though an assessment by undercover agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) ultimately determines that while Iron Man would make for an excellent inclusion, Tony Stark would be more problematic, it's implied that this is only a temporary speed bump on the way to him fully joining the team in 2012's "The Avengers." However, Tony's status in the group isn't the only thing being set up by this scene.

Behind Tony is a map showing various points of interest across the globe, and many fans theorized that these would ultimately prove to be important locations later in the series. For example, a point located in Africa foreshadows the appearance of Wakanda, which was eventually showcased in 2018's "Black Panther." Nearby is a point in the middle of the ocean. It has long been thought that this is a reference to the lost city of Atlantis, home to popular Marvel character Namor the Sub-Mariner. (Or at the very least, it's been theorized to be Namor's private hangout.) So far, at least, this has yet to come into play within the greater MCU.

Following the attack on his beach house early in "Iron Man 3," Tony finds himself in the middle of Tennessee thanks to a previous flight path set up by JARVIS. Forced to hunt down leads on the Mandarin's bombings without any of his usual resources to rely on, he finds himself joining forces with Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins), a tech-savvy young boy who helps to house the damaged Iron Man armor and even saves Tony's life at one point. At the end of the film, Harley returns home to find that Tony has gifted him with a state-of-the-art workplace as thanks for his assistance.

This combined with their brief but memorable camaraderie throughout the film would suggest that there were big plans to have Harley continue on as a sort of apprentice/sidekick to Tony in future adventures. This never materialized, though, and there's a pretty obvious reason why. Shortly after this film released, Marvel worked out a deal with Sony to use the character of Spider-Man in the MCU, the result of which being that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) quickly ended up filling the Iron Man protégé role that Harley might have held. His presence now redundant, Harley only made one further appearance: He can be seen at Tony's funeral in "Avengers: Endgame," though he looks so much older that many audience members may not have even recognized him.

A running theme in "Iron Man 3" is the notion that Tony's drive to keep inventing new suits and safeguard the people he cares about is ultimately alienating himself from his loved ones and damaging his mental health. Though he's able to call on a vast number of unique designs to help combat Killian's soldiers in the finale, he comes to the realization that he can't hold onto his relationship with Pepper and his addiction to building at the same time. In a character-defining moment of sacrifice, he activates the "Clean Slate" protocol and destroys all of his remaining suits following the battle's culmination. 

This should mark a massive shift in Tony's growth over the course of the overall franchise. As a man who has defined himself by his ability to create and by a near-symbiotic relationship to the Iron Man persona, his choice to leave all of that behind in favor of his love for Pepper and his personal evolution is incredibly significant. 

Except that it doesn't stick. The next time we see Tony, in "Avengers: Age of Ultron," he has a new Iron Man suit, a swarm of drones known as the Iron Legion, and a massive Hulkbuster suit co-developed with Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). Plus, his commitment to tinkering inadvertently leads to the creation of Ultron (James Spader), the film's genocidal AI supervillain. Though it's eventually revealed in "Captain America: Civil War" that his return to a state of constant invention caused a rift in his relationship with Pepper, it's still jarring to see such a monumental shift in Tony's personality be all but ignored by the time the next film rolls around.

The Mandarin as a character has always presented a problem for the MCU. In the comics, he is Iron Man's greatest archenemy, the Joker to his Batman. It was inevitable that he'd have to appear on film at some point following the first movie's success. The issue is that, as presented on the page, he tends to trade in a lot of Asian stereotypes, which makes him incredibly difficult to adapt. Plus, the Mandarin comes with plenty of mystical elements, and the original "Iron Man" films were a lot more grounded in the realistic world than later films in the franchise.

So how did the MCU get around this? In the first film, the terrorist group that kidnaps Tony calls themselves the Ten Rings, a reference to the Mandarin's signature weapons, although the similarities largely end there. "Iron Man 3" made the controversial choice of introducing Ben Kingsley as a more real-world incarnation of the character, only to reveal him as an actor playing a character. Guy Pearce's Killian claims to be the real Mandarin, but neither version really track with the original character. 

In 2021, not long after Tony Stark's movie death, a newly definitive iteration was introduced via Tony Leung's Wenwu in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," who's depicted as a warlord who's been around for centuries and utilizes magical bracelets that give him both incredible power and long-lasting life. (We also learn he's well-aware of the fake Mandarin from "Iron Man 3" and not a big fan.) This is closer to the comic character — and significantly less problematic — but it also doesn't fully square up with what we see of the Ten Rings in the "Iron Man" trilogy. Was the group in the first film part of Wenwu's organization or another group that stole the name (a la Killian)? Their leader Raza (Faran Tahir) seemed to have his own world-conquering designs prior to his death, so it's hard to say how much they're connected, if at all. You can make it work if you really try, but it doesn't come easily.