The MCU Has Officially Wasted Both of Iron Man’s Successors

Since Avengers: Endgame, there has been an Iron Man-shaped hole in the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it’s actually created its fair share of problems for the franchise. In addition to movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home being so much sadder because they don’t include Tony Stark/Iron Man—who absolutely would have resolved Peter Parker’s problems more effectively than Doctor Strange, but that’s another matter entirely—fans have definitely been feeling this loss for years now. In fact, despite Tony Stark’s sacrifice being among the MCU’s most meaningful, one has to wonder if this was the right choice.

Yet, the MCU has attempted to introduce a number of Iron Man successors in recent years, a few of which had some truly great potential. Those possibilities have sadly dwindled if not entirely died off in the time since, though, particularly with the two Iron Man successors who had the most potential and then were completely fumbled by the franchise.

The MCU Made Some Bizarre Choices With Rhodey

It should come as no surprise that Tony Stark’s longtime good friend James Rhodes/Rhodey/War Machine was among the best Iron Man successors following Tony’s death in Endgame. In addition to Rhodey’s close relationship with Tony, which makes him feel like a natural choice to continue this story, Rhodey comes with his own souped-up suit that even visually makes him a shoo-in for an Iron Man successor. Unfortunately, the MCU has made some downright bizarre decisions when it comes to this character.

Most notably, the MCU streaming series Secret Invasion revealed that Rhodey had been replaced by a Skrull, with some narrative hints suggesting that this had happened as early as Captain America: Civil War. Although the real Rhodey has since returned and remains alive, meaning that his narrative could continue, this odd detour in his story does pose some problems for that. For one, this show proved massively unpopular, even outside of Rhodey’s arc, and that will no doubt cast a shadow over whatever comes next for the character.

Of course, Rhodey’s specific story in the show is something that will need to be addressed in any future project of which Rhodey is a part, and that will create narrative complications and remind viewers about the disastrous show. One very promising project that perhaps could have cleared this hurdle was Armor Wars, but there’s been little if any movement there. Given all of this context, it’s difficult to imagine that Rhodey really could be an Iron Man successor at this point, even though he started off with so much promise.

Ironheart Wasn’t Given The Attention It Needed (And Deserved)

Like Rhodey/War Machine, Riri Williams/Ironheart has plenty of potential as an Iron Man successor—at least, she did initially. Riri was introduced in the 2022 Black Panther sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, as a genius college student who accidentally got herself wrapped up in some incredibly dangerous circumstances because of her advanced tech. Specifically, Riri created a Vibranium detector that unfortunately put her on the radar of both Wakandans and Talokanil in a bad way.

Throughout the movie, however, Riri goes from an anxious young woman who is in way over her head to a genuine hero with a powerful suit of her own. That perfectly dovetailed into her own show, Ironheart, which hit Disney+ in June of 2025 and seemingly set her up to step into Iron Man’s shoes in the MCU (as the name alone suggested). Frustratingly, though, that show received shockingly little attention. Sure, part of this stems from audience interest; that can’t be denied.

However, audience interest and investment in a story or a character also cannot and should not be separated from the amount of attention that a franchise gives it. Truthfully, Marvel didn’t set Ironheart up for success; marketing for the show seemed much quieter than myriad other new MCU projects, including other streaming shows, have received, and it just didn’t seem like a story the MCU was really focused on. Because of that, Riri has essentially fallen to the background, and that makes the likelihood of her really becoming an Iron Man successor feel lower than ever.

Is This Why Robert Downey Jr. Is Back?

With both Rhodey and Riri seemingly sidelined in the MCU for now, it seems the hole that Iron Man’s death left behind won’t be filled for the foreseeable future, and that raises questions about the intention behind Avengers: Doomsday bringing Tony Stark actor Robert Downey Jr. back, this time as Doctor Doom. For now, audiences remain in the dark regarding why this casting choice for Doctor Doom was made and what it might mean narratively, although a range of theories about Doctor Doom have suggested answers, including that this may be a Tony Stark variant.

Whatever the case may be narratively, though, the treatment of Riri and Rhodey as characters and the return of Robert Downey Jr. arguably suggest that Marvel is no longer interested in having a true Iron Man successor and is now trying to walk that death back in other ways. Of course, that’s speculative for now, and only time will tell, both in terms of Doomsday and what ultimately happens with Riri and Rhodey.

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