Tony Stark is fast approaching the peak of his weapon-crafting abilities.
Ten years on from Jon Favreau’s Iron Man movie, and Stark is now a bona fide figurehead of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is about to reach a mini-climax of its own thanks to Avengers: Infinity War.
Well, we say mini-climax when really we mean one of the biggest and most Earth-shaking movies of 2018. Because even though Avengers 4 has been penciled in for release in 2019, there’s a real sense that Joe and Anthony Russo have upped the stakes quite drastically in time for Infinity War.
But don’t be fooled into thinking that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are about to bring a knife to a gunfight; as Robert Downey Jr. tells Entertainment Weekly, Tony Stark will be piloting the Bleeding Edge armor late next month, and it’s equipped with extra rocket thrusters that have been woven into the Tony’s mechanical arms. Not only that, but the suit is the arc reactor. And the arc reactor is the suit.
Per EW, here’s what Downey Jr. had to share about the chemistry coursing between Marvel’s science bros, who can be glimpsed in the gallery above alongside Black Panther‘s Shuri, undoubtedly the new whizzkid of the MCU.
I love how Cumberbatch just comes in and kind of draws flaming circles anywhere and can basically step into your movie. That’s fun. And we wanted to keep a little bit of the Science Bros thing alive, even though Ruffalo has been on such an amazing Banner/Hulk journey himself. I really, really, really enjoyed getting to know and work with and play around with Benedict as Strange. Benedict Wong also, by the way, is fantastic.
Finally, when it comes to the dynamic between Tony Stark and young Peter Parker, RDJ hinted that Marvel plans to keep that father-son bond alive in both Avengers: Infinity War and its untitled sequel:
I think [Marvel] is smart: ‘Oh yeah, we like the Parker/Stark thing.’ So let’s keep them at close quarters as long as we can. Someone under your tutelage is now firing on all cylinders, but you’re responsible for bringing them into deeper water. We knew that would be fruitful.
Call it Bleeding Edge or Model-Prime or the best damn suit Tony Stark has ever produced, this is clearly a massive upgrade for everyone’s favorite genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist – Iron Man 2.0, if you will – and below you’ll find a better look at Stark’s new duds ahead of Infinity War‘s global launch on April 27th.
