Avengers: Endgame - What Does The Ending Really Mean?

5. Iron Man's Perfectly Fitting Ending

Heading into Endgame, there was a big question over who would die out of the MCU's two leaders: Captain America or Iron Man? And now we know. Steve Rogers gets to live his life, while Tony Stark dies, and that's the ending he absolutely needed to have.

This is the end of an era, and it's an era built by Tony Stark. That's why the post-credits 'scene' is the sound of him making his first Iron Man suit. He built this universe, and has left it in a much stronger place. In the film, Iron Man saves the world, and leaves it - with Thanos gone and all the heroes back - in a much stronger place.

The MCU is, in part, defined by its father figures, and Tony is the father of the MCU. he's the father figure to Peter Parker and, in the movie, the actual father of Morgan Stark (who is absolutely class and will hopefully still feature). He even gets to resolve some issues with his own father, Howard, in a really touching sequence. And father figures in the MCU can't last. They are what the heroes grow beyond. Iron Man has laid down the template, and everything now moves beyond him in honour of his legacy.

His taking the Stones, saying his classic "I am Iron Man" line before snapping his fingers may kill him, but that wraps up his whole arc. His thing was, in Cap's words, not being the guy to lay down on the wire. Him making the sacrifice play has come to define his journey, and doing it here - not as a moment of sheer recklessness, not because he has nothing to lose, but because it's what HE needs to do and because it's about things so much bigger than him - is the most fitting way possible to end the story that started it all.