Avengers: Infinity War - 8 Compelling Hints Iron Man Will Die (& 4 He Won't)

Why He'll Die

8. It Suits His Story Arc

From the very start of Tony Stark's arc as Iron Man back in 2008, he's had a lot of things to atone for. He was a conceited, selfish weapons-dealer whose behaviour for the first three quarters of his life had been mostly deplorable, with his skills mostly wasted and his vast wealth ploughed more into self-destruction than philanthropy or in service of the world.

Ultimately, he was basically guilt-tripped into becoming Iron Man (even if he did it in a particularly Tony Stark-like way) and since then he's had more reasons to feel like he needs to atone heaped onto him. His weapons killed the twins' parents, his anxiety and PTSD led to the creation of Ultron, he was partly responsible for the Sokovian incident and then he turned on his friends and led to the paralysis of his best friend, Rhodey. He doesn't seem to care about endangering a teenager in Spider-Man, but that will probably come full-circle too.

He HAS had opportunities to make up for it and he has appointed himself Earth's chief protector (for better or worse), but he hasn't had what an arc like his usually demands: a real heroic sacrifice. He tried in The Avengers, but was foiled and since then he's spiraled further.

In short, the idea of him ultimately laying down his life in a purely altruistic fashion absolutely suits the way he's been developed as a character.