7 Years Later, The MCU Has Totally Erased One Tony Stark Story

Published Sep 27, 2026, 3:25 PM EDT Liz Declan is a Lead Writer for ScreenRant, primarily covering movies. She is a massive fan of Star Wars, the MCU, and Supernatural. In addition to writing, Liz loves attending and covering conventions and interviewing actors. Find her on TikTok and Instagram @va.va.vera The brand-new theatrical release of Avengers: Endgame Encore has Marvel fans revisiting what many still see as the best MCU movie to date (perhaps only in competition with Spider-Man: Brand New Day at this point), and with that has come a re-evaluation of various details, characters, and story arcs in Avengers: Endgame. Of course, part of that comes down to the four scenes that were added in this new extended cut of the movie, but equally impactful was seeing these stories again with seven years of additional context from myriad movies and TV shows. This is certainly true of characters like Wanda Maximoff, who has had a truly massive arc since Endgame, which includes not only WandaVision, when she accidentally created Westview and, among other things, a version of Vision and her twin sons Tommy and Billy (and learned, officially, that she is the Scarlet Witch), but also with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The latter saw her in full-blown villain mode and ended with her death—although fans are holding out hope that her MCU story isn't truly over yet, with many suspecting that she will be back in Avengers: Doomsday. However, even characters who haven't had appearances in MCU movies or shows in the time since have had their stories in Endgame impacted in various ways. Perhaps most notable is Tony Stark's arc. Although Tony sadly died in that movie and hasn't been seen since, he has continued to feel ever-present in various projects over the last seven years, and that's not just because we know Robert Downey Jr. is returning as Doctor Doom. Instead, myriad major Marvel moments have reframed Tony's Endgame role, including heartbreakingly erasing one of the most important stories. Tony Stark Joined the Fight To Save Peter Parker The beginning of Endgame reveals that Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff never gave up their role as Avengers, although it looked quite different after the events of Avengers: Infinity War. However, five years later, Tony has completely changed his life. He's now living in a remote cabin with Pepper, and he has a young daughter named Morgan. Because of that, understandably, when Nat, Cap, and Scott Lang come around asking him to help them with time travel, he refuses. Ultimately, there is only one thing that gets Tony to be willing to take this massive risk, and that's Peter Parker. It was clear from the moment Peter vanished in Infinity War that this was the most brutal loss for Tony. When he finally lands back on Earth at the beginning of Endgame, essentially the first thing he says to Steve is that he "lost the kid," referring to Peter. After he dismisses Steve, Nat, and Scott, it's only a photo of Peter that makes him consider getting involved. While more implicit, this also feels like a major reason why Tony was willing to use the Infinity Stones to snap away Thanos and his army, knowing that doing so would very likely if not certainly kill him. There are no doubt many factors in this decision, but Tony had just spent the last several scenes reuniting with Peter and fighting alongside him; he genuinely cared about Peter, arguably loving him like a son, and he wasn't going to lose him again. No One Will Remember How Much Peter Meant To Tony While MCU fans aren't likely to ever forget this story or what Peter meant to Tony (and vice versa), in-universe, the relationship between the two has effectively been erased, including Tony's true motivation for joining the Endgame fight in the first place. Devastatingly, this has implications for Tony's story overall. Tony cared so much about Peter and felt so responsible for his fate that he was willing to take a risk on the very existence of his daughter, Morgan, for just the chance to bring Peter back. In the end, as mentioned, he also died for him—and others, of course. Yet, after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which everyone forgot who Peter Parker was, that has undoubtedly been erased, at least for the most part. Yes, perhaps people will still know that Iron Man had a connection to Spider-Man, but his relationship with Peter was so much more than that. Unless that spell eventually gets reversed, which seems unlikely for various reasons at this point, it seems that no one will ever truly remember why Tony Stark was willing to risk everything in Endgame, and that's tragic. Release Date April 26, 2019 Runtime 181 Minutes Director Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Cast Steve Rogers / Captain America Writers Keith Giffen, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck, Jim Starlin, Joe Simon, Steve Englehart, Jack Kirby, Steve Gan, Bill Mantlo, Stephen McFeely, Christopher Markus Prequel(s) Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, The Avengers