There is a long-standing belief that the world of comic books will never stick with the concept of death. With super powers, time travel, outer space, and even alternate universes at their disposal, it kind of makes sense. If you can make anything happen, why wouldn't you make anything happen - even if that means bringing back a character you once killed off.
That has spilled into the live-action world of superhero adaptations in film and television too. Hey, if it works for the source material, right? And Marvel Studios is pulling it off extremely well now with its Multiverse Saga, using the many, many parallel dimensions that the various Marvel Cinematic Universe characters encounter to introduce alternate versions of some of the franchise's most popular characters - even ones that died in previous Marvel movies.
Now, a recent Marvel Studios project has brought back one of the MCU's biggest characters through this very method.
Iron Man "returns" in MCU-adjacent show Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
The Multiverse Saga has just reunited us with one of the MCU's most beloved characters, or a version of him at least. That's right, Iron Man himself, Tony Stark, made a quick appearance in Marvel Animation's Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, showing up to apprehend Doctor Otto Octavius (a.k.a. Doctor Octopus) in an epic moment.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is produced by Marvel Studios as part of the Multiverse Saga, but it takes place on a parallel Earth to the events of the MCU. You can still see the franchise's influence as the Disney Plus series showcases the events of the infamous Avengers Civil War, in which Steve Rogers and Tony Stark disagreed over the Sokovia Accords. Those events played out a little differently in this series, however, as Spidey didn't join the fight (like he did in the MCU movies) and Tony ultimately begins to work for Secretary of State Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross.
In the MCU, Captain America and his team of Avengers became outlaws, while Tony and those who backed Ross' pitch did not. However, Tony also seemingly cut ties with Ross as he inevitably agreed with Steve that The Avengers should not be controlled by the government. And that led to him temporarily retiring the Iron Man armor until he eventually brought it back to save the world from Thanos.
Tony sacrificed himself to defeat Thanos and prevent him from killing his formerly fallen friends once again in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. It was a pivotal moment for the MCU as the Marvel franchise prepared to move on from some of the original Avengers, and it was also an incredibly emotional one. The character, played by Robert Downey Jr., was a fixture of the franchise since its inception in 2008's Iron Man, so the decision to kill Tony off shocked people around the world.
With that in mind, it was nice of the MCU's Multiverse Saga to take us to an Earth where that hadn't happened to Iron Man (at least not yet), so that we could see him again. Although it wasn't a major role, and the character wasn't voiced by RDJ, you can't deny that it's not always great to see one of the classic Avengers show up in a Marvel Studios project.
That won't be the only clever way that the franchise finds a way to bring a version of Iron Man into the Multiverse Saga either. Upcoming movies Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will bring back Robert Downey Jr. as primary villain Doctor Doom, who is expected to be a doppelganger / variant of Tony Stark. The absolute craziness of the Multiverse Saga, indeed.