Massive spoilers for Avengers: Endgame if you've not yet seen it, but chances are, you know what we're going to talk about even if you didn't pack yourself into a theatre at 8AM on the first day of screenings. Iron Man, or at least the Iron Man played by Robert Downey Jr., sacrifices himself to deal with Thanos once and for all at the end of the final battle.
According to an interview with the Russos and RDJ himself, though, Iron Man's end could have come about much sooner. Speaking to CBR, Joe Russo explained that when making these big MCU blockbusters, they're often throwing around ideas and seeing what wins.
"Mine is just 'don't kill me,'" RDJ joked. Russo added that there was a moment during the making of Infinity War where he thought killing Iron Man could be a great twist. "There was a moment where we thought, 'They're not expecting it. This could be the best place to possibly do it.' But then we'd have to figure out how he could potentially still participate in the next movie. And then we went, 'Fuck it, let's just do it in the next movie,'" he said.
The decision to end Iron Man at the end of Endgame felt like the right one, and gave RDJ a proper send off rather than having his character's death feel like a cheap shot. Robert Downey Jr. will be back in this year's Avengers: Doomsday, playing the main antagonist Doctor Doom.