That’s right, Team Iron Man, we may very well get a fourth installment after all, which means it’s time to start speculating about Iron Man 4 plot details.
Tony Stark helped kick off the wonderful world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and with the conclusion of Iron Man 3, we had to give up hope that we’d see another solo film. Robert Downey Jr. keeps reprising his role in the Avengers movies, most recently in Captain America: Civil War, and soon in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but there wasn’t any talk about a fourth Iron Man movie.
Until now.
In a behind-the-scenes video for Civil War, RDJ tells Nightline, “I feel like I could do one more.” The actor clearly still enjoys playing this character, considering his upcoming slate also includes both parts of Infinity War, in which he’ll likely have a large role. Plus, one more Iron Man solo film may allow the character time to deal with some of his personal issues, like his relationship with Pepper, since the team-up movies don’t have a lot of room to tackle these smaller plot points.
That being said, let’s discuss some Iron Man 4 plot summary ideas they could tackle in this film and how this could impact the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Mandarin
Iron Man 3 dealt with the Mandarin, but in a huge plot twist (that some fans didn’t enjoy), it turned out Ben Kingley’s Trevor Slattery wasn’t the real deal. Instead, he was just an ac-tor who had been hired to portray the terrifying villain in order to distract from the true adversary of the movie, Aldrich Killian.
However, as we saw in the Marvel one-shot All Hail the King, the Mandarin is, in fact, very real, as is the organization the Ten Rings. In the comics, the Mandarin and Tony Stark butt heads on quite a few occasions, so there’s a lot of material to pull from for the movie.
In fact, if you jump down to the last section, we’ve got a pretty good idea how they can incorporate him.
Pepper Potts as Rescue
Pepper has had difficulty in accepting Tony’s various “hobbies” regarding the Iron Man suit, and by the end of Iron Man 3, we saw her thrilled that he would destroy his suits and hang up the mask. Of course, that didn’t last long, as he clearly had new suits in Age of Ultron, where Pepper did not appear, but was mentioned in passing as still running Stark Industries.
How interesting would it be, then, if Pepper found a suit of her own. In one version of the story, Norman Osborn is involved, having attacked Stark Industries, causing Pepper to ultimately find the Rescue armor specifically designed for her and flee to safety in it. This would tie in nicely with Tony’s obsessive need to keep her safe, and if Pepper became part of the action, perhaps she would be more understanding of Tony’s desire to continue on as Iron Man.
Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
That sort of has an ominous ring to it, doesn’t it? Tony had always been a one-man-army before he joined the Avengers, but even then, he remained cautious of Nick Fury’s secretive nature. Even working with the rest of the team and giving up authority to Cap was a bit difficult, though in the end he realized it was the best course of action.
But now that Tony is leading Team Iron Man under the Sokovia Accords, it’s not a stretch to believe that an Iron Man 4 plot could closely resemble this, especially since the current S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t exactly revealing itself to the public, and Coulson has been doing his best to keep a low profile. Besides, that Tony Stark/Phil Coulson face-to-face has to happen sooner or later.
Stark Resilient
The main premise behind this arc is that Tony needs to rebuild his image and his empire. In the comics, this came after Tony’s many conflicts with Norman Osborn, but it could easily be set in a post Civil War era. Essentially, Tony is working on becoming a better person, putting his tech and his suit to better use, and dealing with his past mistakes.
After Age of Ultron and Civil War, Tony has a lot to reflect upon. He is often his own worst enemy, and he’ll need to find a way to build himself back up without committing the same crimes. This plot also deals heavily with the Mandarin, so they could even incorporate him into the mix.