Eternals Makes Endgame’s Ending Another Iron Man Mistake
By saving the world from Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, Tony Stark and the rest of the Avengers doom the world to the Emergence, as Eternals shows, proving another one of Iron Man’s mistakes. One of the main themes recurring in the current stream of MCU films is the omnipresence of Iron Man. Even with Tony and the Iron Man moniker long-dead post Avengers: Endgame’s ending, his presence and mistakes are still heavily felt across the recent events of the films, from way back in Spider-Man: Far from Home, the final installment of Phase 3, to even until now with Eternals.
A lot of the events and conflicts surrounding the MCU stem from the mistakes that Tony makes in his attempts to do good. A key example is his creation of Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron, a system he intends to protect the Earth. But rather than protect humanity, Ultron leads to the destruction of Sokovia and the death of many. These events further unravel in Captain America: Civil War, where Tony’s attempt to take accountability leads to the fallout of the Sokovia Accords and the break-up of the Avengers.
Eternals is no different in that regard, with the conflict of the film another direct result of Tony’s attempts to do good. The Emergence, as seen in Eternals, is the cosmic event where the large population of a planet catalyzes the birth of a celestial while simultaneously destroying the said planet. By reversing “the blip” in Avengers: Endgame, the Avengers doom the Earth to the Emergence with the sudden spike of population. This means that Avengers: Endgame’s ending is another part of Iron Man’s pattern of attempting to do good deeds and the Avengers saving the world leading to even more destruction. Tony, who is responsible for creating the formula of time travel that allows the reversal of the snap, is the indirect cause of this event.
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, due to some manipulation by Wanda Maximoff who blames Tony for the death of her parents, he sees the destruction of the world and seeks to fix it by creating Ultron who is supposed to protect Earth from any potential domestic or even alien threats. Unfortunately, Ultron believes that Earth’s greatest threat is humanity itself and goes rogue, leading to the events of Sokovia. While trying to do good, Tony inevitably makes choices that sometimes have immeasurable consequences. The deaths incurred in Avengers: Age of Ultron are just a mark of his character as a flawed do-gooder representing the price of doing the right thing, a similar theme to that of Eternals.
Furthermore, the events that take place in Sokovia just add fuel to the conflicts of Captain America: Civil War. While Tony’s explanation of why it’s important to consider accountability as a high priority in a group like the Avengers, Steve’s point still stands on the corruption that can occur. The confinement of Wanda, despite Tony’s intentions to protect her and those around her, later breaks Steve’s trust in him. This and the fallout with the Winter Soldier would damage the Avengers’ relationship beyond repair, leaving them easy pickings for Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. Tony’s desire to forego the team’s sense of agency in Captain America: Civil War in favor of prioritizing the lives of those affected by the Avengers’ actions is a cycle repeated in Eternals in several different manners.
Eternals is truly a prime example of how even Tony Stark's most heroic efforts have further complications that make these events look like Iron Man's mistakes. While Tony’s time travel efforts saved many of those who vanished, this doesn’t change the fact that the reappearance of half of the earth’s population in Avengers: Endgame’s ending causes the Emergence. This event would have spelled the end of the Earth if the Eternals did not interfere - repeating a common MCU question of to what degree the greater good can justify actions that also have a negative outcome. This is a moral conundrum that the Eternals themselves face when deciding whether to let the Emergence take place. While the Emergence is a necessary event that could have had a positive impact on the greater universe, the Eternals’ attachment to Earth and the people of Earth forces them to question whether the will of Arishem is truly right - showing that it's not only Tony Stark who will have to make these difficult decisions within the MCU.