It’s officially the end of an era for Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man franchise. In 2008, Iron Man kickstarted what would soon become known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, introducing audiences to an interconnected transmedia project like nothing ever seen on screen before. With Downey Jr. at the helm, reclaiming his spot in Hollywood as a blockbuster icon, the Iron Man sub-franchise spawned a $2.4 billion trilogy, and Tony Stark became the emotional anchor of the entire MCU; his hero’s death is one of the most moving and pivotal moments in Marvel’s theatrical timeline.
Even now, years after that snap in Avengers: Endgame, the MCU can’t seem to say goodbye to Robert Downey Jr. The actor will be back in Avengers: Doomsday this December, not as the one true Tony Stark but as the long-awaited villain Doctor Doom (this shocking identity swap also takes place in the comics), setting up a cataclysmic event that will bring an end to Marvel’s Multiverse Saga. And yet, despite Downey Jr.’s return, it doesn’t look like Marvel Studios is having the same problem saying goodbye to the Iron Man sub-franchise as a whole.
Earlier this year, Marvel Studios released Wonder Man, one of the most refreshingly grounded and compelling Marvel shows on Disney+. It also featured one of the franchise’s all-time best (and unlikely) friendships. In the show, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s superpowered wannabe Hollywood star, Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man, becomes great friends with one of the MCU’s oldest and most controversial characters: Sir Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery.
Slattery debuted in 2013’s Iron Man 3, a down-on-his-luck English actor hired to portray a ruthless warlord known as the Mandarin. The twist, though certainly unexpected, dismayed audiences at the time, especially because the Mandarin is one of Tony Stark’s most famous adversaries in the comics. Even so, Slattery returned, first in 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which finally introduced the MCU’s real version of the Mandarin, Tony Leung’s Xu Wenwu, and then again in Wonder Man.
Unfortunately, while Marvel originally renewed Wonder Man for a second season, the studio reversed the decision a few weeks later, likely marking the end of an era for the Iron Man franchise and Trevor’s MCU journey. Without Slattery — and with Tony’s best friend, Rhodey, currently somewhere in limbo after being taken over by a Skrull in the critically maligned Secret Invasion — there are very few active characters left in the MCU still representative of the Iron Man franchise. It’s hard to imagine Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts turning up in Doomsday, and Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan didn’t even have a cameo role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Trevor Slattery’s MCU Role Reveals A Harsh Truth About The Iron Man Franchise
Though Trevor Slattery’s surprising recurring appearances throughout the MCU have become a genuine comedic delight, his arc does reveal a harsh truth about the MCU’s Iron Man franchise. Iron Man’s MCU rogues’ gallery is surprisingly sparse and frustratingly shallow. In the comics, the Mandarin has always been one of Tony Stark’s most compelling and enduring enemies. Yet, because of Slattery’s deception, Tony never even crossed paths with the real Mandarin. In Iron Man 3, he was instead forced to contend with Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), a one-off villain with Extremis-enhanced powers. Killian also died in Iron Man 3.
In Iron Man 2, Tony Stark fights against Whiplash and Justin Hammer. Both are undeniably Iron Man-centric villains as depicted in the comics, but neither made a massive impact on Iron Man 2′s story or the MCU as a whole. Sam Rockwell was wasted as Justin Hammer, and while Mickey Rourke’s performance as Ivan Vanko/Whiplash was fine, the character’s backstory and motivations were disappointingly basic, all too easily dealt with. Like Killian, Vanko also died in the same movie in which he was introduced.
Of all Iron Man‘s MCU villains, Obadiah Stane is undoubtedly the most effective. Jeff Bridges kills it in the role as the ultimate deceiver, giving Tony Stark genuine personal stakes to fight for in the first Iron Man movie. He’s ruthless and cunning, and the scene in which Stane paralyzes Tony and extracts the arc reactor out of his chest, knowing it would likely kill him, remains one of the best sequences in the MCU. Still, like his successors, Stane was a one-and-done villain, never allowing the character and his rivalry with Tony to reach their fullest potential.
There are plenty of other villains in Iron Man’s comics rogues’ gallery that never made it to the big screen, either, repurposed for other MCU heroes, used in Avengers movies, or dismissed altogether, like Spymaster, Crimson Dynamo, Fin Fang Foom, or Titanium Man. While Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark made an incredible impact on the MCU and pop culture as a whole, the same can’t be said for his enemies. The Iron Man franchise features nothing that comes even close to Thor’s frenemy relationship with Loki or Captain America’s tragic history with the Winter Soldier.
Trevor Slattery may not have been a genuine villain, but at least he was given the chance to return, bringing something new and unexpected to the MCU after his Iron Man debut. It’s a shame that Trevor Slattery’s MCU journey will be cut off so abruptly. It’s truly the end of one of the most surprising eras in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on December 18, 2026.
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