In Thor 4, the God-Butcher Gorr desires for his daughter Love's life back, but this exposes that not even Eternity can bring Tony Stark back to life.
Theories about Iron Man's return will be put to rest in Thor: Ragnarok.
This article includes major plot points from the movie Thor: Love and Thunder.
Subtly killing any prospects of reviving Tony Stark as fans know and love him is Gorr's daughter Love, who gets brought back via Eternity in the Thor: Love and Thunder conclusion.
The existence of Love, a godlike perspective of Young Avenger, effectively eliminates the chance of a comeback for any of the original Avengers who perished.
Thor: Love and Thunder demonstrate how complicated it may be to want someone back from the dead.
Death has always been a fickle mistress in the MCU, which is why fans are constantly proposing new ideas regarding the rebirth of deceased heroes.
Immediately following Thanos's infamous Infinity Gauntlet snap, Hulk and Tony used their own Nano Gauntlets to undo the damage and restore the lives of billions of people, including Doctor Strange, Yelena, Spider-Man, and many others.
Christine, Stephen Strange's ex-girlfriend and the love of his life, is doomed to die in some universe but lives in another in Doctor Strange 2.
That's why many people think Jane's death in Thor 4 is just temporary and why they hold out hope for the return of Tony Stark and Natasha Romanov.
After all, the MCU allows trips to various afterlife destinations like Valhalla, Heaven, and Hell, and the cosmic deities that preside over death are amenable to bargaining and even defeat.
Tony, Nat, and even Thanos are guaranteed to be alive and well somewhere in the cosmos.
Associated: Thor: Love & Thunder.
Embedded Marvel and Easter Eggs
Even in the fanciful narrative lines of MCU Phase 4, however, Eternity has its boundaries, as evidenced by Thor 4's resurrection of Love.
When Gorr grants Love a second chance by spending his one wish on her, what he gets is not Love but rather an incarnation of Eternity who looks and acts like Love but has godlike abilities.
Eternity's djinn-like twist — Earth-199999 itself restoring equilibrium after Gorr's murderous crimes — is more in keeping with Gorr's wishes than the idea of Love gaining cosmic powers, given his contempt for the gods.
Nothing, not even Eternity, could bring back the real Natasha and Tony from the dead, not without a similar twist that would effectively make them new personalities entirely, as seen by what happened to Gorr the God Butcher, who was transformed into Thor's daughter.
A return for Iron Man or Black Widow would need alternate realities, but a return for Jane and Heimdall from Valhalla would be more realistic.
There is no way for Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man to come back from the grave.
Avengers: Endgame features Robert Downey Jr. in the role of Iron Man.
For many Marvel Cinematic Universe fans, the idea of Tony Stark returning from the grave as himself is incomprehensible, both from a storytelling perspective and in light of the canonical guidelines of the MCU.
According to Doctor Strange, the only version in which Earth triumphs in the Infinity War is the one in which Tony dies and sacrifices himself.
Tony Stark isn't a deity like many of his Thor: Love and Thunder co-stars, but he nevertheless forged his own destiny and legacy to reach this point in Avengers: Endgame.
There is never any direct confirmation of this, but given the nature of how Tony dies, it is reasonable to assume that his passing marks a discrete epoch, a pivotal junction in the Sacred Timeline.
To bring Tony Stark back from the dead, one could have to face a version of Kang the Conqueror or deal with Death.
No one knows how many other versions of Iron Man exist in the cosmos, but Thor: Love and Thunder proves that Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark can never really come back from the grave.
One or more of these Iron Man versions may make their Marvel Cinematic Universe debut around the time Thor 5 is published.
In addition to his charm and heroic efforts, Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe features one of the most full and flawless plot arcs in the history of the superhero genre.
Because of this, speculations regarding Tony's possible comeback are groundless.
With each new Marvel film, though, the idea that Tom Cruise will one day appear in the MCU as Tony Stark from another timeline seems more plausible.
