Avengers: Endgame - 13 Best Callbacks To The MCU

It may be easy to forget now, eleven years removed, but the end of the first Iron Man film was actually a subversion in and of itself. In a time when superhero entertainment was positively dominated by the plot mechanic of the heroes having to maintain their secret identity, Iron Man chucks all of that out the window, having Tony announce to the world in the film's closing moments, "I am Iron Man", rather than delivering the fake spiel S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted him to about not knowing the true identity of Iron Man.

It was a moment that was core to Tony as a character; he was never one to shy away from glory or from pain. In Endgame, he takes the full burden of the fate of the world on his shoulders and sacrifices himself for it, using the gauntlet to destroy Thanos and his armies, killing himself in the process.

Before Thanos snaps his fingers he says "I am inevitable". In response, before Tony snaps his fingers he says, "I am..." and then pauses for a moment. He finishes with the words "Iron Man" but its not a gloat, not a victorious cry. It's the final words of a man who knows, as Pepper said earlier in the film, that he'd never be able to rest without finishing this himself.

It's a great moment and one entirely befitting of this character's final act of heroism.