Iron Man’s First Villain is Still Alive- Robert Downey Jr’s Co-star May Return to MCU Soon

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is now dealing with multiverse events and threats. However, during its humble beginnings, it was about a single hero and villain in a film. Before taking on universal threats like Thanos, Iron Man gained battle experience by defeating more grounded villains.

The first among them was Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane. Stane was the person who became the reason Tony Stark decided to protect his legacy and what he loved. Although it has been more than 26 years since the Duel of Los Angeles happened, fans won’t complain if they get another chance to experience it again.

Jeff Bridges Teases the Return of Obadiah Stane

Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane was Howard Stark’s business partner who helped the Stark industries earn a fortune worth billions. After the death of Howard, it was mostly Stane who looked after the business, which gave him the chance to fulfill his ill intentions by joining hands with terrorist organizations and the black market.

However, for an unaware Tony Stark, he was like a father figure who helped him understand his family business. The world completely turned upside down when Tony realized the person whom he trusted the most, to whom he first revealed the first working arc reactor, was the one who wanted to kill him.

This break of trust became a major reason why Tony barely trusted anyone else with his technology. Now, after 26 years, Bridges ignited hopes among fans to witness this grounded villain with that complex backstory once again. In an interview with Josh Horowitz during Happy Sad Confused podcast, he said,

Well when I read the script, Obadiah Stane falls into that vat at the end. In the script that I read and agreed to do, they pulled it [the armor] out and they opened it and I’m not there..We’re not shooting that scene!..Who knows? It’s all science fiction, and I could maybe pop up again.

Bridges’ comments come at a time when Robert Downey Jr. has returned again to MCU and other projects related to Tony Stark’s legacy like Ironheart and Armor Wars are on the line. Although Downey won’t return as Stark, seeing both on the screen after almost two decades will definitely be nostalgic for the fans.

Moreover, since Bridges revealed that there was no mention of Stane’s death in his script, it allows MCU to show what he did all these years, and probably he might again be back as a key figure that will trigger the events of Armor Wars.

Kevin Feige Wanted Iron Monger Dead 

In Iron Man, Stane gets electrocuted and falls over after Stark orders Pepper Potts to overload the prototype arc reactor. But after that, it was never shown what actually happened to him, and everybody assumed he was dead.

In an earlier interview with Uproxx, Bridges said the same thing about the end of his character. However, according to Kevin Feige, it was necessary for Stane to die, as he was never meant to be the main villain. Feige told Uproxx,

As you may recall, when he was hired, he was a secondary villain to the Mandarin. And as we were prepping the movie we realized we didn’t want to do the Mandarin in that movie. And when we took him out and made Obadiah the lead villain, Iron Man became what Iron Man became. But what was required is that Iron Monger had to go down into that arc reactor.

Although the Mandarin was supposed to be the main villain, director Jon Favreau insisted that due to its magical features, it wouldn’t fit the narrative of Iron Man that they were going with. However, when asked about Stane’s return, Feige replied, “That would be awesome to have him come back.”

It will be interesting to see if Bridges reprises his role once again. However, the actor is currently 74 years old, and it is unlikely that he will be able to perform full-fledged armor action once again. But then again, Harrison Ford is playing Red Hulk at 82.

Iron Man is available to stream on Disney+.