The Reasoning: It Makes Sense From A Dramatic Perspective It might sound downright crazy to suggest that a character as iconic and so brilliantly cast as Iron Man - credit to the wonderful Robert Downey Jr. - should die in his next motion picture venture, but if we're all being totally and utterly honest with ourselves, hasn't Tony Stark pretty much run his course - as far as story arcs are concerned, anyway. Because even Iron Man 3 seemed to consider that Iron Man lacked places to go... what is left to do? Maybe killing him off seems a bit harsh, but consider for a second the impact of a death on this scale. Firstly, it enriches the MCU in ways that other deaths simply cannot: by killing off Iron Man, Marvel would literally be saying: "All bets are off. Anybody can die in our universe - even our most popular characters." And given that Downey Jr. seems reluctant to reprise his role in Iron Man 4, it actually seems like a fairly logical decision. Do it! Like this article? Are we being too harsh? Not harsh enough? Let us know in the comments section below.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
