There have been rumblings for a while now that Robert Downey Jr. will return as Iron Man during Marvel Studios' Multiverse Saga. If the actor is ever going to come back for an encore, then a movie like Avengers: Secret Wars would be the place to make it happen.
Yesterday, news broke that Marvel Studios is considering reuniting the MCU's original six Avengers - Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) - in a future movie.
It's now rumoured that Downey has already signed a deal to return, setting the stage for him to likely play a key role as Iron Man in the remainder of this Saga.
We bid farewell to Tony Stark in 2019's Avengers: Endgame when the hero made the ultimate sacrifice to defeat Thanos. However, the Multiverse opens the door to all sorts of possibilities, including Downey returning as an Iron Man Variant...who may be good or bad.
Previously, we've heard that he might play the Earth-838 Variant who comes to Earth-616 seeking revenge for what happened to his fellow Illuminati members.
However, if the original Tony's legacy is going to be addressed in Armor Wars, for example, then we're sure something will be shot for that too. It could be through a pre-recorded message similar to the one at the end of Endgame or perhaps even a flashback sequence. We'll see.
We also have a brief update about reports Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine will be front and centre in Secret Wars. It sounds like the duo will be just two members of a larger team assembled by the TVA, with Tom Holland's web-slinger picked to represent Earth-616.
Whether this leaves Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker is hard to say, though we're sure he'll swing his way back into theaters either for this movie or The Kang Dynasty.
As for recent rumblings Doctor Doom will replace Kang the Conqueror as the Multiverse Saga's big bad, it may be best to temper expectations for now...