With rumors of Steve Rogers/Captain America returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are many theories about how Tony Stark/Iron Man will return. The character died sacrificing himself to defeat Thanos and his army in Avengers: Endgame.
In addition, the announcement of Avengers: The Kang Theory D Avengers: Secret Wars sparked even more speculation about the possible return of some of the original Avengers, one way or another. Marvel may decide to bring back Tony Stark, at least temporarily, in one final fight.
With time travel, multiverses, and artificial intelligence, there are plenty of ways for Tony Stark to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With and without Robert Downey Jr. playing the character again. These are all possibilities.
Multiverse variant of Tony Stark
This seems like the most plausible alternative. A parallel universe variant of Tony Stark who travels or ends up on Earth-616 to help the Avengers. After the events of Loki, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Spider-Man: No Way Home, he fits perfectly into any storyline.
There were rumors at the time that Tom Cruise might appear as a variant of Stark, but that turned out to be a lie in the end. But it doesn’t have to be such a loud actor. It doesn’t even have to be a man.
Time travel
Avengers: Endgame opened the door to time travel. This possibility was later explored in Loki with TVA and even in Ms. Marvelwhen the main character seems to have been transported back decades and ensured his existence.
It is possible to go back in time and bring Tony Stark to the future. This must be an extremely important reason to justify going into the past before he died and bringing him into the future. A bigger threat than Thanos might be excuse enough.
Tony Stark as artificial intelligence
This possibility would be a story arc taken directly from the comics iron heart. Stark created an artificial intelligence version of himself in case his body stopped working. After the events of Civil War 2he was left in a coma and his AI was sent to Riri Williams guide the character.
Riri Williams will be introduced as a new Marvel Cinematic Universe character in Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverwhich will open in November 2022.
Iron Hammer, Kang Soldier
There is a version of Tony Stark who plays the soldier Kang, who will play a pivotal role in phases 5 and 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the main villain. The theory is based on a comic book story arc in which a villain creates an army of Thors called Thor Corps. Among them was Tony Stark, who was able to lift Mjolnir.
This variant is known as iron hammer. Seeing an evil version of Tony Stark, even as played by Robert Downey Jr., can be a very interesting story, but let’s be honest, it probably never will.
