As the focal point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for over a decade, and the marquee face on all the marketing for every movie he was involved in, there was no other candidate to save the universe from the threat of Thanos at the end of Avengers: Endgame than Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark. As well as allowing the actor to bow out gracefully, it once again reinforced that every major plot thread throughout the Infinity Saga was directly connected to Iron Man in some way, so it was fitting that he brought the sprawling narrative to a close.
Any major franchise is going to let their biggest name enjoy the biggest moments, but there’s much more as to why Tony was the one to perform the final Snap besides the fact that RDJ was the MCU’s main drawing card. For starters, he was the first one to take the intergalactic threat seriously after The Avengers, although he could have handled it a little better having accidentally created the maniacal Ultron.
Even with his armor on, though, Iron Man is far from the most powerful superhero in the MCU, and we already saw what the Infinity Gauntlet did to the Hulk, while Thor was in no frame of mind to carry the burden. Doctor Strange, meanwhile, made it clear that Tony was the man to get the job done, as the Avengers fortuitously found themselves in the one version of the timeline where they could win.
After Bruce Banner had almost destroyed the second Gauntlet, Stark was realistically the only person that could have done it anyway after ensuring that his suit had the tech required to harness the Infinity Stones. He might not have wanted to sacrifice himself, but by building a backup Gauntlet into his armor, it was clear that the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist was prepared for every eventuality in Avengers: Endgame.
As ScreenRant explains:
Looking at the events leading up to the climactic battle as well as the battle itself, there’s a practical reason why Iron Man was the only one who could’ve done Endgame‘s final snap. There was only one traditional gauntlet – the one used by Smart Hulk to bring back those who perished during Thanos’ snap in Infinity War. Since the team hadn’t decided yet on who was going to do the snap, they created a glove that molded itself to the hand of its wearer. After Smart Hulk’s reverse snap, however, it was toast and stuck in the size of the green creature’s hand. So only he or someone who was the same size as him, like Thanos, could’ve used it from that point. And so, Iron Man’s backup gauntlet in his armor was the only option left for the second snap.
Tell us, though, do you think someone else should’ve performed the final Snap? Let us know down below.