Avengers: Endgame is back in theaters now, which has sparked an online debate about whether or not just four minutes of added material is worth the price of admission. Honestly though, I think people have got it all wrong. While I think it’s cool that there’s some bonus reason to revisit Avengers: Endgame, the movie itself — and the ability to immerse yourself in it on a big screen, free from distractions — is reason enough to attend. Back in 2019, Avengers: Endgame pulled off the epic task of bringing the 23-film Infinity Saga to a deeply satisfying conclusion. Plus, with the time-travel element to the story, it offered a chance to revisit some of the greatest previous entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
On top of all that, the movie contains the greatest Tony Stark quote in the history of the MCU.
Robert Downey Jr. delivers a fast-talking, quippy, quotable version of Iron Man. But he’s also got directors like Jon Favreau and Shane Black on his side, along with screenwriters like Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. So he’s bound to have a lot of great lines. “I shouldn’t be alive,” he says in the first movie, “unless it was for a reason.” And in 2010’s Iron Man 2, one of his best (and most arrogant) lines comes during a senate hearing when he says “I’ve successfully privatized world peace.”
There are also a number of solid lines in the pre-Endgame Avengers movies. In the first Avengers, when Captain America asks Tony Stark what he is without his suit, Tony snaps back “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” Though an even better line comes from Avengers: Age of Ultron, when Tony says, “I see a suit of armor around the world.” That line spoke to some of Tony’s darker tendencies, namely his willingness to sacrifice liberty for safety. And, if Robert Downey Jr.’s take on Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday turns out to be a Tony Stark Variant — and how could it not be? — we might get a glimpse at a Tony Stark that was able to actually put that suit of armor around the world and the darkness that came of it.
Similarly, his line from Avengers: Endgame, where he tells Captain America, “You mess with time, it tends to mess back.” may also end up being a prescient one for Doctor Doom.
Tonty Stark’s best line
That said, Robert Downey Jr.’s best line as Tony Stark/Iron Man has nothing to do with Doom. Instead, it’s this epic line, delivered just as Tony Stark snaps his fingers with the Infinity Stones on his hand:
“And I… am… Iron Man”
Granted, the line “I am Iron Man” may be an obvious best line for the character, but that’s because hardly any other line even comes close.
He first said “I am Iron Man” at the end of the first Iron Man movie under extremely different circumstances. When Tony Stark is holding a press conference after the major events of the film, it seems as though he’s going to go forward with the alibi provided to him by SHIELD agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), but then he goes off script and says, “Truth is, I am Iron Man,” before the movie jumps to the end credits.
Apparently, that line was improvised by Robert Downey Jr. himself, as the original script had him go along with the prepared alibi. That’s been the story, anyway, even though at least one version of the script which exists online has the “I am Iron Man” line in it. That said, Iron Man was notorious for not having a finished script at all, so it is entirely possible that the line was improvised, as so many other scenes were, and then it was added to the script after.
Regardless, the fact that Tony Stark publicly stated he was Iron Man was a major turning point for the MCU and for superhero cinema altogether. While Iron Man is a solid film, it didn’t really break the mold of superhero films on its own. Instead, it was the eventual interconnectedness it had with the other MCU films that was the most novel thing about it. Tony sharing with the world that he is Iron Man has major repercussions in-universe, with other heroes and villains coming to prominence because of it. Up until that point, most superhero movies dealt with private struggles between superheroes and their secret identities, but by having Tony Stark’s superhero alter-ego be public, it changed the game entirely.
That’s also why, when the line was repeated for Avengers: Endgame, it came off as such a monumental moment. At the end of Endgame, when Thanos (Josh Brolin) thinks he has all the Infinity Stones and is about to snap his fingers, Thanos says “I am inevitable.” Then, once it’s revealed that Iron Man has the Stones, Tony gives a typically snarky, boastful reply — despite gasping for breath — by simply saying, “And I am Iron Man.” Then he snaps his fingers, saving the universe from Thanos and sacrificing his life.
Similar to how “I am Iron Man” was improvised by Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, “I am Iron Man” was not in the Endgame script either. Originally, Iron Man just snapped his fingers without saying a word, but then in post-production, editor Jeff Ford thought that the callback would be a fitting finale for the character. The Russo brothers, who were directing, agreed and decided to reshoot the moment to include it.
It was a lot of trouble to go through for one single line, but it provided a full-circle moment for the franchise. It also harkens back to a pivotal moment from the beginning of the MCU and created a brand new one to close the chapter on Iron Man.
That’s why “I am Iron Man” is Tony Stark’s best-ever MCU quote and why nothing else even comes close.