Avengers: Endgame brought the MCU's Infinity Saga to a close, and bid farewell to arguably the most beloved of Earth's Mightiest Heroes in the process. Tony Stark made the ultimate sacrifice to restore the devastation wrought by Thanos, using his makeshift Infinity Gauntlet to will the Mad Titan and his forces out of existence.
We're sure we don't need to remind you of Stark's now iconic final words, but it sounds like the hero could have gone out on a slightly more flippant note!
Robert Downey Jr. took part in a quiz during his appearance on the Hypocondriactor Podcast, and one of the questions asked him to recite Iron Man's final words to Thanos.
“Correct answer is ‘I am Iron Man,’ but I had so many alt lines that I wanted to put forward. Oh god, let me think. They were all super smart-ass lines like I was trying to, y’know, dumb stuff like, ‘You are so f-cked’ or whatever. You know what, I’ll have to go back to my notes. I get the Infinity Stones and then have the power to snap and have whatever I wanna have happen - Oh, I was gonna say ‘Oh, snap.'”
We're not sure how seriously any of these particular responses were considered (we're guessing not very), but we do know that Downey Jr. and the writers/directors did throw out quite a few alternate suggestions for the line. Honestly, it's difficult to imagine a more fitting sign-off for the Armored Avenger, so we're glad "I Am Iron Man" made the cut.
There have been rumors that Downey Jr. is set to return as Tony Stark now that the Multiverse is open for exploration, but we don't see it happening. Maybe for a small cameo appearance a few years down the line, but the actor seems to be fully aware that bringing his take on Iron Man back too soon would be a mistake.