Avengers 4: Does NEW theory prove Iron Man is the real threat to Thanos?

Infinity War was, to say the least, leaving fans with most of their heroes wiped off the face of the earth.

Parsing details from interviews and tidbits of the movies and comics, fans have come up with a plethora of theories.

Does a NEW theory prove Iron Man is the real threat to Thanos?

A new theory has blossomed and this one is down to some comments made about Thanos and Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Joe and Anthony Russo, Infinity War’s co-directors revealed Thanos held Iron Man in high respect.

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This relationship was betrayed by the near prescient lines of dialogue in the film.

Infinity War’s digital download also revealed commentary from screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

The filmmakers both concurred with the Russo’s that Thanos’ declaration of respect for Iron Man was due to the parallels between them.

“You realise this interesting parallel between Thanos and Tony,” said Markus on the track (text from ComicBook.com).

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“They’re both aware of something from an early point and constantly having to deal with being smarter.

“Thanos is a futurist as much as Tony Stark,” he added.

But the reason fans think Stark may be the only real threat to Thanos goes way back to the Battle of New York in The Avengers.

Stark was actually the only person to ever defeat Thanos.

“[Thanos is] aware of Stark from the original Battle of New York as the person who undid the plan,” Joe Russo said.

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“It’s interesting because, as Thanos moves forward from this moment, once he disposes of his armour, he almost becomes a holy warrior where he doesn’t spend a lot of his energy intentionally trying to murder people unless they are, in some way, a threat to his agenda.

“Almost no-one ends up being a threat to the agenda except for Tony, who I think he feels has a sort of existential connection to Thanos.”

One can imagine Thanos sat in front of the Titan version of Wikipedia, learning everything there was to know about Stark.

It is often those closest and held in highest esteem which can be these heroes, and villains, undoing.

Stark’s role in the defeat of Thanos was laid out clearly by Doctor Strange during Infinity War, but the seeds of that role came long before.

Avengers 4 is in cinemas Friday, April 26, 2019.