The MCU has expertly crafted an established universe of superheroes that exist not as cartoon characters in a comic book, but as real life people, which means more realistic elements of an otherwise fantastical world had to be accounted for – and the first Iron Man movie is a perfect example. Before aliens, gods, or magic, the MCU began with Iron Man, which is easily the most grounded MCU film to date. That’s why it’s so surprising that the MCU didn’t adapt Tony Stark’s more realistic version of Iron Man’s origin, especially considering the MCU’s long-standing trend of preferred source material.

In Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #5 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Allred, Iron Man is fighting alongside Spider-Man to fend off a team of armored assailants attempting to kidnap Iron Man and steal his armor. The villains successfully shut down Iron Man’s suit during the fight, leaving him trapped in a prison of his design. That makes Tony Stark think back to his origin, when he was imprisoned by a rebel group in Guatemala who kidnapped Stark to force him to build weapons for their resistance against their country’s dictatorship.

While Stark initially refuses to build the rebels their weapons, he is forced to accept their terms after one of the other prisoners (his own cousin) is shot dead right in front of him, and the lives of everyone else were put at risk. So, Tony builds them a new kind of weapon: repulsor gauntlets. He puts the gauntlets on one of the rebels for a demonstration, which is when he activates a hidden control that makes the repulsors target the other rebels, allowing him and the other prisoners the chance to escape.

Tony Stark’s Ultimate Universe Origin is More Realistic than Earth-616

Tony Building Repulsor Gloves Rather than a Full Iron Man Suit is More Believable

Tony Stark’s Ultimate Universe origin is more or less the same as his Earth-616 backstory, but with a few key differences that make it more realistic. Firstly, the fact that Tony didn’t build the entire Iron Man suit (though he still came up with the design while imprisoned) is far more believable given that he was under constant observation. Second, Tony didn’t deviate from his assignment – he built what the rebels wanted him to. It’s not like he was supposed to build a missile, and then built full Iron Man armor instead.

The rebels wanted a new kind of weapon, and Tony delivered; he just added a hidden setting that gave him control. This is also more on-brand with Tony Stark as a hero, as his quick-thinking brilliance is always what gets him out of a jam whenever he doesn’t have his Iron Man suits, and this origin perfectly illustrates that.

The Ultimate Universe version is also just a better heroic origin story, as it shows Tony Stark only helping the rebels to save the lives of his fellow prisoners, as opposed to just saving himself. In fact, in the MCU, Tony’s only other fellow prisoner, Yinsen, dies to get him out of there, rather than Tony putting his life on the line for the sake of others.

The MCU Has Regularly Pulled from the Ultimate Universe, Making It More Strange It Didn’t for Iron Man

It’s been well-noted that the MCU is greatly inspired by the Ultimate Universe, from character depictions like Nick Fury to the origin of the Avengers being more akin to that of the Ultimates. It makes sense that a modern-day comic book adaptation would pull from the most up-to-date version of Marvel Comics characters (indeed, that was the entire purpose of the Ultimate Universe to begin with). But, with a history of adapting Ultimate Universe versions of Marvel Comics’ history, why didn’t the MCU do the same for Iron Man?

While fans will never know why the MCU decided to use the more comic book-y version of Iron Man’s origin from the original continuity of Earth-616 as opposed to the more realistic version of the Ultimate Universe, the one thing that seems clear is that it’s shocking the MCU didn’t.