Avengers: Endgame
admonition : SPOILERS forAvengers : Endgame
When Tony Stark first launched the MCU inIron Man , he did it from the phantasm of his founder ’s legacy . retaliator : Endgameused time locomotion to make public security with Howard Stark , but as heartwarming as Tony ’s bond with his forefather may be , the film may have give away that it was n’t biological – and thatTony was adopt by Howard and Maria Stark .
As the hero who created Marvel ’s movie creation with the first Iron Man movie , and later playact asa father figure to its youngest hotshot , Spider - Man , it makes sense forAvengers : Endgameto use the theme of fatherhood to make peace with the past , and hand the futurity to a new generation . In the end , Tony Stark realized the same thing that his father did : all their splendid innovation aside , their"greatest creations"were the small fry they loved . For Tony , it was his daughter Morgan . But for Howard ? Well , Tony may not have beenan only childafter all .
As scandalous as it may sound at first , Avengers : Endgameincludes an exchange that ’s hard to force out as anything but a major steer that Tony Stark was on the Q.T. adopt … just as he was in Marvel Comics .
The evidence lover could use to estimate Tony ’s age and date of birth multiplied from the firstIron MantoIron Man 2 , with Howard ’s take introduction to the 1974 Stark Expo feature a immature Tony . gratefully , Tony ’s S.H.I.E.L.D. Indian file ( unveil betweenIron valet de chambre 2andThe Avengers ) gave an exact particular date of parturition : May 29th , 1970 . Ever since then wonder die - hards have observe the occasion … but the engagement plausibly was n’t keep in mind by most movie buff pass into the theater to seeAvengers : Endgame . If they had , one strange detail aboutTony and Steve ’s mission into the pastwould have stand by out like a sore quarter round .
Before they actually depart Manhattan ( during the first Avengers film ) , it ’s Tony who suddenly remembers when the Tesseract and Hank Pym were in the same spot , at the same time . The place is elementary enough to grasp : Camp Lehigh , the provenience of S.H.I.E.L.D. that Steve and Natasha visit inCaptain America : The Winter Soldier . But the date is the existent riddle , and Steve is less than convinced when Tony says he has"a mistily exact"idea of the day they need to travel to . When press , he explains that,“I know for a fact they were there , and I know how I know . "
The picture never actually revisits this line to explain … well , how Tony knowswhat he knows , but his encounter with his founder gives a likely explanation . And it also throws a major clue that Tony ’s engagement of parturition may not be what he believe .
Avengers: Endgame Hints at Tony’s Birthday
It would be simple enough to say that in learn his father ’s work on the Tesseract , Tony note he was work on it at Lehigh either in the calendar month prior to his parturition , or around April 7th , 1970 specifically . It also makes sensory faculty thatif Howard worked with Hank Pymshortly before Tony was carry , it would amount up , and the dots could be link to make an train shot . In hindsight , it seems singular that the author ofEndgamewouldn’t have Tony travel back to his actual natal day – a far cleaner degree to excuse his noesis of that daylight , and"how he bed . “But the movie may deal with that exact inconsistency when Tony and Howard really meet .
Fans will most recall the knowing words spoken between the two Starks , but the key moment comes earlier , when the dyad first step onto the Camp Lehigh elevator . Tony inquire as to the"flowers and sauerkraut"Howard is carry , suggest he ’s got"a live day of the month . “Howard explicate by unwrap that"My wife is expecting … and too much sentence at the place . “The revelation is n’t Maria Stark ’s cravings … but Tony ’s chemical reaction .
Going wide - eyed and frozen in an jiffy , Tony now ask Howard – without the slightest hint of casual conversation–“how far along"his female parent must be . Howard does n’t give an exact answer , but the interrogative is what ’s authoritative here . Why would Tony possibly have to require when Maria is due ? And why would he be surprised to learn his father is bringing her flush and sauerkraut on April 7th , a full seven and a half week before he was born ? Whatever theories can be spun , it does n’t make any sense for Tony ’s sudden confusion and question to be due to him ' not realizing ' he traveled back to a month before his nativity . It ’s the bloom and food that stun Tony , and urge him to assert how far out his manner of speaking must be .
Are we suggesting that Howard Stark ' buying Maria flowers when Tony was born ' was a rare enough function to remember , and retell ? Or that such a gesture was only ever made when Maria was in hospital ahead of her delivery ? Well actually … thatwouldfit with Howard ’s cold depictions thus far . But there may be another explanation for what Tony may be realizing , which would excuse why the Howard of 1970 is far warm than the one who raised Tony … and why the date surrounding Tony ’s parentage stop him in his tracks .
Was Tony Stark Adopted (Like The Comics)?
All of these question are resolved – and the disordered rally between Tony and Howard only makes sense – once fans realize that Tony Stark was adopted all along , accord to Marvel Comics . After their biologic boy was bear with a awful , degenerative status , they adopt another son , Tony , and put forward him without ever telling him the the true . The plot was revealed in Kieron Gillen ’s 2013Iron Mancomics , with the adoption and ' substitution ' part of a enceinte alien plot . Obviously , an foreign technology Howard and Maria ’s child was n’t ever likely in the MCU . But Tony being take after the Starks ' first sister turn from joyfulness to tragedy ? That ’s definitely within the realm of opening .
When comparingEndgameto previous Marvel films , a reference to Tony ’s birth datenot quite matchingMaria ’s gestation is precisely the kind of funny book nod buff expect . For the casual viewer it would n’t even register . But for the comic readers who know Tony ’s particular date of birth would n’t match up to Maria ’s gestation at all ? It ’s a mind - blowing , inside jot . Not only to Tony ’s confused discovery of his on-key parentage , but of the Stark sibling potentially alive and well in the MCU .
Fans probably should n’t expect the emergence of Arno Stark , Tony ’s just - as - brilliant crony into the new Marvel moving-picture show universe . But the electric potential is there , and Marvel hasturned tiny Easter Eggs into next MCU eventsbefore . Regardless of the outcome , fans will forever be able to enjoy thisEndgamescene – not just for the reunification between Tony and Howard , but the subtle suggestion that Tony ’s adoption in the comics was honour , whether audiences take in it or not .
MORE : Iron Man Movie Writers React To Tony ’s Endgame Death
