Who Dies in Avengers: Endgame?
Yes, the Rumours Are True — Not Everyone Makes It Out of Avengers: Endgame Alive
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Ready for the most crushing death of all? The one that made me cry so many tears during my screening of the film that the stranger next to me slowly turned his head and whispered, "Are you alright?" Welp, yes, Iron Man is dead. He dies. Tony Stark is gone. What is even the POINT of anything anymore, you guys?! Tony is usually one of the best parts of any Avengers movie (no matter how questionable his facial hair decisions are), which is why his death during the film's final big battle against Thanos's galactic forces is the most emotionally gutting.
Although the team is able to hold their own (for a while, at least) against Thanos's massive army, things start to turn in favour of the big purple baddie when he gets his meaty hand on the Infinity Gauntlet, as previously stated. We know from an earlier scene in Endgame that putting on the glove (when it has all the stones) is a daunting enough task due to the amount of energy it sends coursing through the body of its wearer. And snapping while wearing it beams out enough gamma radiation to fry half the bodies of both Thanos and the Hulk, leaving them severely (but not fatally) wounded. For a human to try would mean certain death.
Tony knows this when he steals the stones from Thanos's glove and puts them in his own makeshift gauntlet built into his Iron Man suit. He snaps anyway, ending the battle and killing Thanos and his army, as well as saving the world. His sacrificial snap instantly sends a fatal wave of energy through his body, though, and he dies with his wife, Pepper, and protégé, Peter Parker, at his side.
What makes Tony's sacrifice truly special — among many, many things — is that just before Thanos attempts to snap for the second time (before realising Tony lifted the stones), he utters his pompous catchphrase, "I am inevitable." When Tony snaps, he returns the barb with, "I am Iron Man." It's extremely fitting, considering those are the exact same words that kicked off the MCU over 10 years earlier at the end of 2008's Iron Man. Rest in peace, Mr. Stark.