Marvel Just Made Iron Man's Death Worse With New Release Before Avengers: Doomsday

Published Oct 21, 2026, 10:31 AM EDT Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more. Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics." The Marvel Cinematic Universe's latest release brought back all the trauma from Iron Man's death and managed to make it even worse nearly a decade later in one key way. Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark is the face of the MCU. He led the franchise's first movie and played a major role in protecting the universe as one of the Avengers. Sadly, that included Iron Man making the ultimate sacrifice in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. Since then, Tony has only appeared in Marvel Studios' TV shows, though in animated form, and as alternate multiverse variants of the character, not Downey's original Iron Man. The actor also did not voice Stark in any of those appearances, even though other MCU stars returned for the animated shows. This has brought a sense of finality to Iron Man's live-action death in the latest Avengers movie. That said, Downey is coming back to the MCU as a new character, Doctor Doom, to serve as the main villain of Avengers: Doomsday, which releases in theaters on December 18. However, before the next Avengers movie arrives, a new MCU release has made Iron Man's death worse. Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order. That TV show is VisionQuest, which comes as the final to the WandaVision trilogy — Agatha All Along is included in that franchise. Paul Bettany's return as Vision came with several MCU AIs appearing with human avatars. All of them were connected to Tony Stark in some form, and VisionQuest's latest batch of episodes has made Iron Man's death sadder for it. VisionQuest Makes Iron Man's Death Sadder 7 Years Later Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for VisionQuest episodes 3 and 4.As was the case for the show's debut, the new MCU series returned to Disney+ this Tuesday, October 20, with two new episodes. It was in VisionQuest episodes 3 and 4 that the Marvel TV show managed to make Iron Man's death even worse in connection to one of the show's AIs, F.R.I.D.A.Y. Before she appeared as a human in VisionQuest, played by Orla Brady, F.R.I.D.A.Y. served as Tony Stark's replacement for J.A.R.V.I.S., his own personal assistant. Back then, the character was voiced by Kerry Condon. It was F.R.I.D.A.Y. who was at Tony's side when Iron Man died in Avengers: Endgame. F.R.I.D.A.Y. was created to assist and protect Tony, and as she was unable to save his life, Brady's version of the character feels deep regret for what she views as her biggest failure. VisionQuest is all about finding the humanity within the AI, as Bettany's White Vision has the memories of the original Vision, but none of the feelings associated with them. That is why seeing F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s visceral reaction to Tony's death, which is still eating her from within seven years later, is such an impactful moment. Marvel's new series makes Iron Man's death even sadder. How Avengers: Doomsday Could Touch On Iron Man's Death In 2 Months VisionQuest is unlikely to be the only MCU release in 2026 to impact Iron Man's death in some form. After all, one has to assume that with Downey returning to the Marvel franchise in a couple of months in Avengers: Doomsday, the Tony Stark connection of it all has to be addressed. Even though the actor will be playing Doctor Doom, who is confirmed to be Victor von Doom, not a version of Iron Man, the fact that the two characters have the same face should be a major event whenever Doom's mask comes off. Additionally, the Russo Brothers have teased in the past that Iron Man's death in Avengers: Endgame connects to Doctor Doom in some form, claiming it was part of the story they wanted to tell. As such, it remains to be seen exactly what they mean by that. There is a chance that Downey could also be pulling double duty, playing Iron Man through time travel or as a multiverse variant in addition to Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday or 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars. By the end of 2026, Iron Man's death should be impacted yet again. Release Date 2026 - 2026-00-00 Network Disney+ Showrunner Terry Matalas Directors Vincenzo Natali, Christopher J. Byrne, Gandja Monteiro, Terry Matalas Writers Terry Matalas, Cindy Appel, Nicole Falsetti, Christopher Monfette, Matthew Okumura, Michael Taylor Franchise(s) Marvel Cinematic Universe Creator(s) Terry Matalas