Kang Secretly Explains Why Doctor Strange Knew Iron Man Had To Die

Kang the Conqueror’s MCU appearances have given Doctor Strange’s tragic plans for Iron Man in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame a deeper meaning. Avengers: Endgame opened the gates for the MCU’s multiverse with the Avengers’ discovery of time travel, which is closely intertwined with concepts such as alternate realities, infinite possibilities, and fate – all of which provide a new perspective on new and old MCU events. Just a few years and a few Multiverse Saga installments later, multiversal travel is commonplace across the whole franchise, confirming that the MCU’s main timeline is but one of infinite ways the events from every MCU movie and show could have unfolded.

Some MCU events seem more avoidable than others. For instance, Iron Man’s death in Avengers: Endgame seems to be an “absolute point” – a moment in time that can’t be avoided by any means – as Doctor Strange looked into the future and saw 14,000,604 scenarios where Tony Stark’s death and the Avengers’ victory against Thanos were mutually exclusive. While not confirmed yet, other absolute points could include the rise of superheroes on Earth and the creation of the Infinity Stones. Beyond the already low likelihood of the Avengers’ Time Heist succeeding, the nature of the MCU multiverse itself and Kang’s tinkering with destiny also influenced Iron Man’s inevitable death.

Why Kang Explained Tony Stark’s Endgame Death

Kang’s Variants Allowed Iron Man To Die Exactly The Way He Did

Loki seasons 1 and 2 revealed that the MCU multiverse isn’t fully guided by free will, as He Who Remains and many of his Kang variants joined forces to create a Sacred Timeline, where all events lead to the outcome that allowed their peaceful existence. Therefore, even the most unlikely events in the MCU’s chronology have taken place because He Who Remains allowed them to happen and because the Time Variance Authority kept all variables from changing. Iron Man’s sacrifice may have been brave, and Doctor Strange’s decision to sacrifice Iron Man may have been wise, but He Who Remains also ensured no other scenario could have happened instead.

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Just like the Avengers relied on previous landmarks in the MCU timeline to retrieve the Infinity Stones, He Who Remains and the TVA likely relied on unavoidable events like Iron Man’s death to protect the Sacret Timeline‘s equilibrium. Looking back, all the victories, defeats, and close calls that originally seemed unlikely in the MCU – like the Time Heist, Iron Man’s death, and the Avengers’ victory in the Battle of New York – were not only allowed to take place but probably even designed to happen specifically the way they did. This order of events likely remained the same after Loki turned the Sacred Timeline into a multiversal Yggdrasil.

Tony Stark Always Had To Die In The Sacred Timeline

Iron Man Was Always Set To Fulfill His Destiny In The MCU

The Sacred Timeline’s i,mutable nature cements Iron Man’s tragic fate, at least in the MCU’s Earth-616. Everything Tony Stark did in the MCU up until his death was bound to happen, even if it seemed like he had alternatives, from the near-death experience that motivated him to become Iron Man to Ultron’s creation in Avengers: Age of Ultron and the Avengers’ split in Captain America: Civil War. For instance, if Tony Stark had died in Afghanistan, stopped experimenting with AI, and agreed with Captain America’s stance on the Sokovia Accords, then the TVA would likely have intervened and put Iron Man back on his path to sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame.

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In fact, Tony Stark felt like his fate was set in stone after the Battle of New York. Stark’s near-death experience in 2012 instilled in his mind the idea that a bigger threat was approaching. Once he got word of Thanos’ quest to gather the Infinity Stones, he knew that the Mad Titan signified the end of his own journey and the pending debt he had to pay for surviving the explosion that almost killed him. In this sense, everything that happened after Iron Man’s origin story was Tony Stark’s second chance, which he finished redeeming when he wielded the six Infinity Stones and snapped Thanos out of existence.

This also explains Tony Stark’s inability to abandon his Iron Man persona. Stark promised Pepper Potts that he would stop making Iron Man armors in Iron Man 3‘s rather puzzling ending, yet he returned to action with the Iron Man Mark 43 armor in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Years after Ultron’s uprising, Stark continued to create dangerous technology like EDITH, which he eventually entrusted to Peter Parker. Tony Stark also gave up his superhero career to focus on his family after Thanos’ Snap, but ended up inventing time travel and sacrificing his life to save the universe. Iron Man couldn’t have retired peacefully, as much as Tony Stark tried.

None Of Doctor Strange’s 14 Million Futures Were Ever Possible

He Who Remains And The TVA Couldn’t Let The Sacred Timeline Change Its Course

In Avengers: Infinity War, Doctor Strange saw 14,000,605 possible futures, only one of which had the Avengers successfully beating Thanos with the least collateral damage. However, these were only the possible scenarios that Doctor Strange was able to see while he and his team rushed to find a way to stop the Mad Titan. If he had had more time, Doctor Strange would likely have seen countless other possibilities that may or may not have included outcomes where Thanos failed and Iron Man lived. Nevertheless, all those possibilities would only have been symbolic options due to the Sacred Timeline’s strict order of events and, ultimately, Iron Man’s destiny.

What exactly would have happened if Doctor Strange had proceeded with a different plan to defeat Thanos is unknown, but it’s possible that the TVA would have sent a group of minutemen to arrest him and prune the timeline from the moment the alternate decision is made. In fact, it’s possible that the Avengers attempted all the other 14,000,604 scenarios Doctor Strange saw, only for the TVA to reset the timeline until Doctor Strange finally decided to go ahead with the one that required Iron Man to die in Avengers: Endgame. Of course, only He Who Remains and the TVA agents are the ones who would know about it.