Iron Man's tainted image deserves to be fixed in MCU Phase 4. Tony Stark, like his father, had always been keen about the legacy that he'll leave behind. This explains his penchant for innovation and advancing technology, not to mention fostering his contemporaries. Unfortunately, even with his selfless play in Avengers: Endgame, his reputation remains to be under attack due to his previous questionable actions.
Aside from wrapping up the primary arc of the Infinity Saga, the Joe and Anthony Russo functioned as Iron Man's swan song after the hero wielded the power of all six Infinity Stone to take down Thanos (Josh Brolin) resulting in his death. That said, his story didn't end there; Jon Watts' Spider-Man: Far From Home moved it forward by making him an integral part of the sequel's narrative.
Considering Peter Parker's relationship with Tony, the film tackled how the young hero coped with the demise of his mentor and father-figure. However, the film also incorporated Stark in a way that paints him in an entirely different light. And the damage done to Tony's reputation - and his legacy - needs to be fixed in Phase Four and more importantly, the MCU needs to work out whether Tony is supposed to be remembered as a hero or something else.
It's no secret that Quentin Beck/Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) was always going to be the primary villain of Far From Home, but what was totally unexpected was his connection to Iron Man. In arguably one of the most thrilling expository scenes in the MCU, it's revealed that he and other disgruntled former Stark Industries teamed up to steal EDITH sunglasses that were left in Peter's care; the high-tech spectacles allowing anyone to fully access Stark's database. This put Spider-Man in harm's way despite him not really have anything directly to do with the matter. At the end of the film, the young hero was left in his most vulnerable after Mysterio's surviving cohort, William Gitner Riva (Peter Billingsley) released a heavily doctored video framing Peter for the death of Beck, not to mention reveal his real identity.
The series of events in Far From Home effectively undermines Stark's heroic play in Endgame especially since there's still no resolution in sight to Spider-Man's current predicament. While the film started with the hero being celebrated around the world, viewers' perception of him was totally changed by the end of it considering what's been revealed regarding his history with Beck and his other former employees. With this, MCU Phase 4 needs to sort out its inaugural hero's legacy in one way or another.
Iron Man had always been a complex character; he was far from a hero at the beginning of his big-screen journey and even after he had an epiphany following his abduction in Afghanistan, he still made some questionable choices. However, he was never inherently bad; granted that he committed mistakes, but his intentions were always good. This was most obvious in Captain America: Civil War where he was pit against Captain America (Chris Evans); Stark would always look like the bad one compared to the seemingly morally unblemished Steve Rogers, but at the end of the day, his arguments about the Sokovia Accords were valid. When he realized that he wrongly judged Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) before finding out that he murdered his parents, he reached out and admitted his mistakes. To leave Stark's legacy tainted at this point where he's no longer in the MCU and can't redeem himself just seem unfair for a character who sacrificed his life for the greater good just a movie earlier.
Admittedly, fixing Iron Man's legacy will not be Marvel's priority in Phase 4. The franchise is currently in a rebuilding period with the introduction of new key players and the continuation of the surviving heroes' storyline, but given Stark's importance to the start and the end of the Infinity Saga, it's important that they soon decide how they want to remember Tony Stark in the MCU — as a hero or a villain.
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