While Iron Man is the MCU’s central figure, Tony Stark’s on-screen journey only scratched the surface of his comic book legacy. Even across a decade of appearances, vast portions of Iron Man mythology were streamlined or left untouched entirely. For a character defined by constant reinvention, the amount of comic book material that never made it to live-action is still impressive.
Many of Iron Man’s greatest inventions did translate successfully. The arc reactor powers all Iron Man suits, and Tony Stark attained the astounding achievement of finding a brand-new element. AI like JARVIS and FRIDAY are a staple of the MCU, and nanotechnology pushed Iron Man into near-fantasy territory by the end of his journey. Yet, a deep well of comic-book Iron Man tech remains untapped.
Stark Phones
Everyday Life Is Suspiciously Familiar In The MCU
Stark Phones have existed in the MCU since Phase 1, as Tony Stark uses sleek, transparent mobile devices that look decades ahead of contemporary consumer tech early on. These are clearly compact supercomputers capable of seamless AI integration and real-time data visualization. Given that this technology is already functional in the late 2000s and early 2010s, it raises the question of why the MCU’s Earth hasn’t fully transitioned into a holographic, Stark-powered digital age more than fifteen years later.
By now, everyday life in the MCU would look radically different if even a fraction of Tony Stark’s personal tech had gone public. This disconnect is something the MCU should eventually address. One possible explanation is that Stark prioritized Iron Man and the Avengers, and hence kept his best innovations for himself. Another is that all Stark technology is inseparable from Iron Man’s many controversies and failures, which makes corporations and consumers wary of mass adoption.
The Stark-Pym Myriad Engine
Iron Man’s Pym Technology Would Be World-Changing
Introduced in Captain America & Iron Man #633, the Stark-Pym Myriad Engine is a “miniaturized factory” that can build a swarm of robotic insect-like drones with an endless number of purposes. While Ant-Man uses his tech for combat, Iron Man originally intends to use his upgraded version for charitable purposes such as “fertilizing crops” and “delivering medicine to disease-ridden nations.” Remarkably, though, this invention doesn’t catch on, as investors are more interested in weapon manufacturing.
Hank Pym’s technology is an essential part of MCU lore, but its full capabilities haven’t been explored in depth. If the MCU introduces a soft-rebooted version of both Hank Pym and Tony Stark, the franchise could present a blend of Pym’s size-shifting tech and Iron Man’s EDITH-controlled drones. Only instead of a weapon or a defense system, it could be a potentially world-saving invention.
Superior Iron Man’s Extremis 3.0
The MCU Needs To Adapt Superior Iron Man, Eventually
Superior Iron Man’s Extremis 3.0 is the refined version of Tony Stark’s famous Extremis bio-tech virus. Extremis 3.0 rewrites the human body at the cellular level, meaning it cures diseases and enhances physical and cognitive abilities. This iteration is stable and remotely controlled, which makes it the holy grail of transhumanism. However, the catch is ethical. In the Superior Iron Man storyline, a morally inverted Tony distributes Extremis 3.0 only to charge a subscription for using it.
In a post-Secret Wars MCU, a new Tony Stark could eventually headline a Superior Iron Man adaptation where he offers miracles through a subscription model. Superior Iron Man is a critique of modern healthcare, Big Tech monopolies, and subscription-based dependency, themes the MCU hasn’t explored yet. There was no room in the original Tony Stark’s story for this storyline, and a new Iron Man would have to wait a while to star in it, but Superior Iron Man is too unique an arc for the MCU to overlook.
Tony Stark’s Sentinel Upgrades
The Stark Sentinels Could Be The X-Men’s Biggest Enemies
First devised by the evil Superior Iron Man during AXIS and later recreated by Iron Man’s rival Feilong using Stark’s resources, the Stark Sentinels possess repulsor technology, adaptive armor systems, and satellite-based surveillance with traditional mutant-hunting Sentinel capabilities. These upgrades turn already terrifying mutant-hunting machines into near-unstoppable weapons of oppression. Stark-enhanced Sentinels are much more durable, which makes them especially deadly to mutant victims.
The MCU can explore the concept of the Stark Sentinels once the X-Men are firmly established in a post-Iron Man world. With Tony Stark gone, human villains like Bolivar Trask or Orchis could weaponize salvaged Iron Man technology and blueprints to modernize their mutant-hunting tech under the guise of public safety. Of course, this only works later in the MCU timeline, after classic Sentinels have appeared.
Tony Stark’s Old-School Pocket Disintegration Ray
Iron Man’s Most Overpowered Weapon Needs To Be Used Sparingly
Iron Man’s pocket disintegration ray dates back to the Silver Age, when Iron Man gadgets leaned heavily into pulpy sci-fi. The device is exactly what it sounds like: a compact, handheld ray capable of completely disintegrating targets on a molecular level. The disintegration ray is inherently absurd, yet terrifying in execution, perhaps so much so that Marvel swept it under the rug not long after its introduction. Still, it underscores how dangerous Tony Stark’s intellect can be even without a full suit of armor.
The disintegration ray is too far-fetched to include in the MCU, especially during the first phases of the Infinity Saga. But now that Iron Man is dead, Tony Stark’s technology could fall into the wrong hands, leading to the creation of extremely dangerous weapons like the disintegration ray. A pocket disintegration ray could work as a hidden ace in an Iron Man villain’s armory, perhaps in Armor Wars or in another project like Vision Quest.
Sol’s Hammer
Iron Man’s Death Star Is A Terrifying Concept
Sol’s Hammer is a massive orbital weapon designed to channel and amplify solar energy into a planet-cracking beam. Originally conceived as a last-resort defense system, Sol’s Hammer is effectively a doomsday device capable of annihilating entire cities with a single strike, straight from outer space, like a Star Wars Death Star. Its sheer scale makes it the biggest Iron Man device to date, which only highlights how far Iron Man can go when pushed by fear and the need to protect Earth at any cost.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark goes to great lengths to defend the world, often to disastrous results. After Ultron, the automated Iron Legion, and EDITH backfire spectacularly, an MCU version of Sol’s Hammer would have likely condemned Earth either to an apocalyptic event or to an even bigger schism than Civil War. In a post-Stark MCU, the concept of Sol’s Hammer alone could still play a major role as a lingering legacy weapon, something governments, villains, and heroes would argue over.
The Iron Man Model 72 Mysterium Armor
Tony Stark’s Most Powerful Iron Man Armor Hasn’t Made It To Live-Action
The Iron Man Model 72 is the absolute peak of Tony Stark’s technological evolution in Marvel Comics. Forged using the indestructible, magic-resistant Mysterium metal from beyond the multiverse, the eye-catching Iron Man Model 72 boasts overwhelming strength and the ability to withstand forces that would tear whole realities apart. Naturally, Stark’s Mysterium suit is reserved for abstract beings and universe-level threats.
The Iron Man Model 72 is too overpowered for the comics, let alone for the MCU. Tony Stark’s Iron Man Mk 50 and Mk 85 already seemed too fantastical, and leaving Stark alive, equipped with nanotechnology, would have reduced the stakes of future stories. That said, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars‘ multiversal plot opens the door for Mysterium. If not an Iron Man variant, then Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom could coat his armor with a layer of Mysterium in Phase 6.
- NAME
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Anthony Edward “Tony” Stark
- FIRST APP
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“Tales of Suspense” #39 (1963)
- POWERS
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Genius intellect, armor providing flight, hacking, superhuman strength, reflexes, and durability.
- Franchise
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Marvel