Iron Man died with Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame, but many of his suits of armor still exist and will be used by other characters in the MCU.
Even after Iron Man‘s death, the MCU is still filled with suits of armor either designed or inspired by Tony Stark. Tony Stark’s creation of the first Iron Man suit marked the beginning of a new era within the MCU, as it signaled the rise of superheroes on Earth. Iron Man managed to stand side by side with gods, wizards, supersoldiers, and a wide variety of other superhumans thanks to technology alone, and Tony Stark was able to save the universe with just his genius intellect and creative mind.
All Iron Man armors in the MCU improved on several weaknesses Tony Stark found along the way, resulting in the incredibly versatile Iron Man Mark 85 armor he used against Thanos in Avengers: Endgame. But while Mark 85 was the last suit of armor Tony Stark worked on after most of his inventions were already destroyed, many others still survived. Without Tony Stark to claim his creations, it’s now up to his allies to defend his legacy and stop them from falling into the wrong hands.
5War Machine (Marks 2-5)
Don Cheadle’s James Rhodes was the first person other than Tony Stark to wear an Iron Man suit. The War Machine Mark 1 armor was originally the Iron Man Mark 2, which Justin Hammer equipped with new weapons and accessories in Iron Man 2. After Iron Man and War Machine defeated Whiplash, Tony Stark reverted the first War Machine suit to its original state, but it exploded when Aldrich Killian destroyed Stark’s Malibu mansion in Iron Man 3.
The rest of Rhodey’s War Machine armors, including the repainted Iron Patriot suit, were custom designs by Tony Stark, which took several beatings in Avengers missions and during Captain America: Civil War. Their exact fate is unknown, but it’s likely that Rhodey still retains the ones that survived the Avengers HQ’s destruction in Avengers: Endgame, as he understands that Iron Man technology should remain well protected after Tony Stark’s death.
4Iron Spider (& Stark Tech)
After Iron Man died, Peter Parker kept plenty of Tony Stark’s technology, including the EDITH glasses and the Iron Spider suit. After giving up the glasses to Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter Parker was able to design a brand-new suit with Happy Hogan’s help. However, Doctor Strange’s memory-wiping spell at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home caused Peter to lose contact with Happy and Pepper Potts, which means that Peter now has to create his own Spider-Man suits from scratch without any high-tech gadgets or AI technology.
Given that Doctor Strange’s spell rewrites reality to erase Peter Parker from everybody’s memories, the Iron Spider suit may have been rewritten to be a loan that the anonymous Spider-Man received from Iron Man. Otherwise, the spell may have been powerful enough to vanish the Iron Spider altogether, which means that it may have never existed outside Peter Parker’s memories. From the perspective of other Avengers, Spider-Man could have been wearing his homemade suit all along.
3Rescue
Iron Man created the Rescue armor after his Avengers: Infinity War defeat in order to keep Pepper Potts safe if a new threat ever arrived. Tony Stark wasn’t counting on having another chance to defeat Thanos, but fortunately, the Rescue suit was ready when the time to fight the Mad Titan finally came, and Pepper was able to join the Avengers in their biggest battle. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts has never been keen on superhero antics, so it’s possible that she will retire indefinitely and keep the Rescue armor hidden from anyone who could wish to harm Iron Man’s legacy.
If Morgan Stark grows up to be a superhero, however, she may want to wear the last Iron Man suit her father created and the only one her mother ever used. Since Riri Williams will already have taken the role of Iron Man’s successor as Ironheart, Morgan Stark may want to be active as Rescue. Then, Ironheart and Rescue could work together as a team just like Iron Man and War Machine before them.
2Ironheart (Marks 1 & 2)
Riri Williams doesn’t have any personal connection to Tony Stark in the MCU, but she was inspired by Iron Man. As a young genius, Riri Williams made her own Ironheart prototype by herself, which was just as bulky as Tony Stark’s Iron Man Mark 1 armor, but had many more capabilities from the start. After Riri’s escape from the Talokanil, the Ironheart Mark 1 armor was so damaged and incomplete that it may have been useless for Namor, Val, the Wakandans, or herself. However, it served as a basis for Riri’s Ironheart Mark 2, which she kept after the battle against Talokan in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
1Iron Man (Marks 50-85)
Tony Stark created dozens of Iron Man suits, but most of them were ultimately destroyed. Stark’s first 42 Iron Man suits were obliterated in Iron Man 3, where Aldrich Killian caused the first seven to explode and Tony Stark ordered the rest of the Iron Legion to self-destruct. Despite promising Pepper Potts that he would step away from Iron Man, Tony Stark continued to build new suits of armor, adding new features such as nanotechnology along the way. The Iron Man Mark 50 armor was annihilated in Stark’s fight with Thanos at Titan in Avengers: Infinity War, and his Iron Man Mark 85 died with him in Avengers: Endgame.
However, there are 33 unseen Iron Man suits between Mark 50 and Mark 85. These may have been incomplete prototypes Tony Stark discarded throughout the five years of the Blip, but they may have been kept under lock and key as a new version of the Iron Legion. It’s possible that Tony Stark didn’t use them in Avengers: Endgame to leave his loved ones with a reserve of Iron Man suits in case future villains threaten them or in case one of them decides to wear them in a future battle.
