Marvel Refuses To Bring Back Iron Man, Say No Way Home Writers

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WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man: No Way Home

Spider-Man: No Way Home writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers say bringing back Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark/Iron Man is essentially a “non-starter” at Marvel Studios. Iron Man was the face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe throughout its first three phases, championing many of its characters with Stark tech and witty one-liners. However, it wasn’t until Captain America: Civil War, and the introduction of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man, that he became a mentor.

Following Sam Raimi’s trilogy and Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man films, Marvel Studios and Sony decided to forgo Spider-Man’s well-known original story in the MCU. Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming saw Peter struggle with being just a «friendly neighborhood Spider-Man» while waiting for an Avengers-esque call from Tony - who many assumed was the MCU equivalent of Uncle Ben. Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame had a huge impact on Peter, which was then explored in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). That being said, Spider-Man: No Way Home completed Watts’ Homecoming trilogy with a bittersweet, multiversal storyline that brought back iconic characters from Sony’s past franchises.

Related: Spider-Man: No Way Home Makes Tony Stark's Sacrifice Even More Tragic

In a recent interview with The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith podcast, No Way Home screenwriters McKenna and Sommers discuss moving on from Iron Man after Far From Home. The pair had to resist the multiversal urge to undo Tony’s Endgame death and position another character, Aunt May, as the MCU’s true Uncle Ben. According to the pair, bringing back Iron Man is a non-starter in the halls of Marvel. Read the full quote below:

I think