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Will Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) return in Heart of Iron next year?

author:Sweet potato talk about movies

Dominic Thorne's Heart of Iron will premiere on Disney+ next year, and many fans are wondering if this will open the door for Robert Downey Jr. to return to Iron Man?

With the release of "Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever", Dominic Thorne's Riley Williams made her first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and she will launch her own solo series when "Heart of Steel" hits Disney+ next year. However, Riri's debut surprisingly leaves a pretty big question: What is Heart of Iron related to Iron Man in the Marvel Universe?

Will Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) return in Heart of Iron next year?

Many fans are naturally curious about how Riri's story would relate to the late Avengers without Robert Downey Jr.'s iconic Marvel hero, since Tony Stark passed away in 2019's Avengers 4: Endgame, and there's no indication that in Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever, Riley is connected to Stark, except that she attended his alma mater at MIT!

"Black Panther 2: Forever Wakanda" director Ryan Koogler recently said that although in the Marvel Universe "there is a connection between (Riri) and Tony, it's a complex connection. "It could be a sign that Ironheart won't complete the handover as smoothly as Sam Wilson's Captain America or Kate Bishop's Hawkeye."

For now, Riri Williams' relationship with the talented billionaire seems to be less than expected, leaving fans wondering if Riri still doesn't have to make the necessary connection with Tony Stark, which could mean she might meet Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man in some form on her Disney+ show of the same name.

The most popular theory about Robert Downey Jr.'s return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe has always been his return in the form of artificial intelligence, in fact, he was last featured in Avengers 4: Endgame in hologram form.

In addition, some fans believe that the Edith glasses in Spider-Man: Far From Home were given to Peter after Tony Stark's death, which would not have been possible if only Stark could get his hands on the glasses. If a digital version of Tony Stark lurks online, still trying to put an armor suit on the world, he might approach Riri once he spotted an MIT student mimicking his flashy heroic style.

Will Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) return in Heart of Iron next year?

The artificial intelligence seems to be Robert Downey Jr. The most practical path back to Tony Stark, as it will hardly discredit Iron Man for the sacrifice of his life, and Riri no longer needs her Wakanda AI to help her wear her own iron suit – just as good enough to have Tony Stark as her new armor, imagine Stark trying to teach Riri to fly, only to tell him that she has flown with Dora Milaje.

In contrast, Marvel may choose to take a tougher approach to dealing with Ironheart's connection with Iron Man and putting Riri in conflict with the late Avengers, and one theory as to why Riri may not like Tony Stark very much is that he funded the device she built to track Wakanda's eternal vibranium, which led to a secret underwater civilization trying to kill her and go to war with the ground world.

Will Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) return in Heart of Iron next year?

This is possible through Stark's September Foundation grant awarded to MIT students in Captain America 3: Civil War. Riri may blame Tony Stark in part for Wakanda's eternal death and destruction, as he blindly funded her studies without considering the potential consequences.

This could mean that Ironheart's morals and beliefs will be different from Tony Stark, and Riri's personal struggles and how she copes with them may be explored in the Disney+ series; Stark's rather reckless coping mechanisms could also be amplified if they have any effect on Riri.

The Heart of Steel series may have an interesting twist, exploring the misuse of MIT's September fund, and Riri Williams may succeed Iron Man, using the billionaire's impulsive generosity to bring justice to others.

If so, this could include Riri analyzing multiple memories of Stark's work at her school and realizing that Stark's guilt caused unintentional harm, or even using Iron Man-style projected holograms to reconstruct scenes or memories including Tony...

Will Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) return in Heart of Iron next year?

In addition, from the perspective of the film industry, the possibility of Robert Downey Jr. starring in "Heart of Steel" is very small, considering that almost every Marvel cameo has been leaked in advance these days, coupled with the high cost of showing RDJ on Disney+ shows, the resources required to make Iron Man's cameo successful may exceed the production value of the upcoming series.

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