Variants
In General
- Butt-Monkey: He tends to prematurely die in the Multiverse (at least in the realities seen in What If...?). And the one Variant of him who doesn't get prematurely killed some way or another is not chosen by Uatu to fight Infinity Ultron.
- Cosmic Plaything: Almost nothing ever goes right for him here.
- Death by Adaptation: They tends to die much sooner than the Sacred Timeline Tony Stark in these timelines.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Most of it has him being killed by Hank Pym, Strange Supreme, the Zombie virus, Killmonger, and Infinity Ultron.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Becomes this in the What If…? (2021) series where he is slaughtered in all of his appearances... until its first season finale when a variant of him is shown in a universe in which Gamora killed Thanos and he's still alive there.
King Loki's Tony Stark
Tony Stark / Iron Man
Species: Human
Citizenship: American
Affiliation(s): Stark Industries
Voiced By: Mick Wingert
Appearances: What If...?
On Earth-51825, Tony Stark never had the chance to join the Avengers, instead dying inside Randy's Donuts.
- Aborted Arc: He's killed during the events of Iron Man 2, meaning he doesn't invent the new element like in the film which cures him of his sickness.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Yellowjacket enters Tony's body through a syringe and rearranges his organs, causing him to convulse and die immediately afterward.
- Death by Adaptation: He dies 13 years earlier than his Earth-199999 counterpart.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Iron Man dies here by a heart attack caused by Yellowjacket. In the Sacred Timeline, he died from the wounds caused by snapping with all six Infinity Stones in his gauntlet.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Downplayed as the real divergence point of the third episode was Hope van Dyne's death that occurred a year before the episode begun, but it's his death and the foul play that comes with it that triggers the murder mystery plot of the episode which eventually uncovers the aforementioned divergence point.
- Not The Illness That Killed Them: He was dying of palladium poisoning like in Iron Man 2, but gets killed by Yellowjacket entering his body through a syringe and rearranging his organs from the inside.
Zombie Apocalypse Tony Stark
Tony Stark / Iron Man
Species: Human (formerly), Zombified human
Citizenship: American
Affiliation(s): Stark Industries (formerly), Avengers (formerly)
Voiced By: N/A
Appearances: What If...?
On Earth-89521, Tony Stark became infected by a zombie virus.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: He is turned by a zombie horde and has to be killed by Hope van Dyne.
- Death by Adaptation: He dies five years earlier than the Sacred Timeline Tony.
- Decoy Protagonist: It looks as if he's set up to be the main character of the episode until Killmonger murders him and spends the rest of the episode as the Villain Protagonist.
- Devoured by the Horde: Went down while fighting a massive horde of zombies, with the rest of the Avengers.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation:
- Instead of dying after dusting Thanos' army in Endgame, Tony is infected by the zombie virus, and his zombie is destroyed by getting beheaded during what would have been the first act of Infinity War.
- This is also different from his death in the comics, where he dies because a starving, zombified Hulk stepped on his chest so hard that he crushed it.
- Face–Monster Turn: All traces of Tony's humanity are gone once he's zombified, with his first act being to devour and turn Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian alongside Zombie Doctor Strange and Wong before mindlessly going after Bruce shortly after.
- Fallen Hero: He was one of Earth's greatest heroes until he got infected by the Quantum Virus and turned into a mindless zombie.
- Forgot About His Powers: While fighting off zombies in the Golden Gate Bridge, Tony didn't think to just fly up and kill the zombies from up there like what Rhodey did with the Outriders in Avengers: Infinity War.
- Face-Revealing Turn: He's first introduced in silhouette alongside Doctor Strange and Wong, beating the crap out of Cull Obsidian and Ebony Maw. The heroic Avengers theme is playing... until the sounds of the fight turn gruesome, the dust settles, and Tony slowly turns around to reveal his decayed, lipless face.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Justified, as the helmet would get in the way of eating people, and his conspicuous lack of a helmet is used to set up a Face-Revealing Turn early on. Unfortunately for Tony, it enables Wasp to easily dispatch him via decapitation. During the last stand of the Avengers, Tony is seen fully helmeted, suggesting that he removed it posthumously.
- "Hey, You!" Haymaker: Delivers a sling-ring assisted repulsor blast to the back of Ebony Maw's head, interrupting his speech.
- It Can Think: Despite being a zombie, Tony can still use his Mark 50 armor (established to be partially controlled through neural uplink) to fly and shoot with repulsors.
- The Noseless: He doesn't have a nose like most other zombies because it either rotted away or was bitten off by another zombie.
- Off with His Head!: Zombie Tony is beheaded by Wasp and drops dead.
- Red Is Violent: He's a ravenous zombie wearing an armor that's primarily red.
- The Undead: He's a flesh-eating zombie.
- Undeathly Pallor: Like the majority of the other zombies, he has an incredibly pale complexion.
- The Voiceless: He doesn't say any lines before becoming a zombie takes away his ability to do so.
King Killmonger's Tony Stark
Tony Stark
"To killers."
Species: Human
Citizenship: American
Affiliation(s): Stark Industries
Voiced By: Mick Wingert
Appearances: What If...?
The Tony Stark of Earth-32938, who never became Iron Man due to Killmonger saving him from being injured by his own IED in Afghanistan.
- Adaptational Jerkass: As a result of being saved by Killmonger, Tony never learned any lessons he would have had as a prisoner of the Ten Rings. He remains arrogant, alcoholic, and all too eager to build bigger and badder weapons for war as payback. The only redeeming quality he has is still caring for his friends which is why he turns against Killmonger after discovering his new "friend" murdered Rhodes as part of a False Flag Operation. Even then, his idea of justice is to coldly murder Killmonger with his own drone.
- Adaptational Villainy: Without his life-changing experience in Afghanistan, Tony sees no problem to make a deal with Ulysses Klaue for Vibranium. His only concern is that it would be bad publicity for his company if the press gets word of it, but gets around it by using Rhodes as his military representative.
- Adaptational Wimp: As a consequence of never becoming Iron Man in this timeline, Tony is significantly weaker in combat due to having fewer toys to rely on in sticky situations. After his attempt to use one of his drones to kill Erik fails, Tony is easily executed by the man with no other backup to help him.
- Affably Evil: As a result of never becoming Iron Man, he never becomes humbled and instead becomes more amoral than ever. Despite this, he possesses a personable and carefree demeanor.
- The Alcoholic: He drinks a lot throughout the episode, having never had the humbling experiences Sacred Timeline Tony went through to kick some of his vices. Most scenes with Tony show him with a drink or mentioning his drinking. Even when Killmonger mortally wounds him, he drops a glass of whiskey.
- Bonding over Missing Parents: He and Erik bond over losing their fathers at a young age.
- Death by Adaptation: He dies 14 years sooner than his Sacred Timeline counterpart.
- Did Not Think This Through: While his status as The Alcoholic may have been clouding his judgement, one can't deny that Tony trying to kill Erik with a robot that they worked together to make without any backup plan or calling the authorities wasn't a very smart move. Naturally, it gets him killed and all the evidence of Killmonger's crimes was erased by the man himself.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Rather than heroically sacrificing himself to stop Thanos, Tony Stark is instead killed by Killmonger after he discovers Killmonger's role behind the murder of Rhodes.
- Et Tu, Brute?: He is not glad that Killmonger killed Rhodey.
- Fatal Flaw: His arrogance and carelessness in how he chose to confront Killmonger backfired quickly.
- Ignored Epiphany: During the press conference, Tony admits seeing his own weapons being used to kill young American soldiers in Afghanistan. Yet, thanks to Killmonger's timely rescue, Stark ignores any implications that it's his war profiteering ways that led to these deaths, instead doubling down on weapon manufacturing.
- Pinned to the Wall: How Killmonger murders him.
- I Owe You My Life: After Erik saves his life and exposes Stane, Tony makes Erik the COO of Stark Industries and agrees to build his design for an automated combat drone.
- Revenge Before Reason: Tony seethes with anger when J.A.R.V.I.S. shows him that Killmonger murdered Rhodes. But instead of informing the police about it, Tony instead tries to trap Killmonger in his room and kill him with his drone to achieve "justice". He ends up getting killed and Killmonger is able to wipe out J.A.R.V.I.S.'s memory banks to ensure nobody will know the truth.
- Slave to PR: Tony here has no issue with buying smuggled Vibranium from a well-known black market dealer, except for the possibility of shareholders panicking if they or the press finds out about Stark Industries' illegal activities. Thus, he has Rhodes represent him under the guise of diplomacy.
Infinity Ultron's Tony Stark
Tony Stark / Iron Man
"You don't have to do this. I made you for peace."
Species: Human
Citizenship: American
Affiliation(s): Stark Industries, Avengers
Voiced By: Mick Wingert
Appearances: What If...?
On Earth-29929, Tony Stark is forced to watch as Ultron succeeds in his plan, dooming not only his world but also his entire universe.
- Death by Adaptation: He dies eight years earlier than his Sacred Timeline counterpart.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Rather than heroically sacrificing himself to stop Thanos, Tony Stark is instead killed by Ultron as he activates all the nukes in the world.
- Fatal Flaw: And unlike his Sacred Timeline counterpart, it actually is fatal.
- High-Voltage Death: Ultron unleashes a shockwave that finishes him off and activates the world's nuclear codes.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Like in the Sacred Timeline, he created Ultron to avert a potential future where his friends were killed and Earth was ripe for the taking. In this timeline however, Ultron succeeded in his plans and Tony was the last man standing as he watches Ultron enact exactly what he feared would come to pass before getting killed by the android.
- Tragic Hero: Unlike his main universe counterpart, his Fatal Flaw of carelessness winds up killing him and the rest of his universe.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Even more so than his Sacred Timeline counterpart. His version of Ultron not only grows greedy enough to exterminate his world, he went on to destroy his entire universe along with several other universes before being stopped.
- The Worf Effect: He gets killed alongside Thor, Hulk, and Captain America to show how powerful Ultron would have become had he successfully acquired Vision's body.
Gamora's Tony Stark
Tony Stark / Iron Man
"And one who's about to kick your moon-shaped ugly mug."
Species: Human
Citizenship: American
Voiced By: Mick Wingert
Appearances: What If...?
A Variant of Tony Stark who is friends with Gamora and helped her defeat Thanos.
- Dead Alternate Counterpart: Inverted. He's the only version of Tony in What If…? to be alive and well in the Multiverse.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing the episode he was supposed to debut in to be delayed into Season 2, he makes a brief appearance in the Season 1 finale in the scene where Uatu recruits his universe's Gamora (who was also supposed to debut in the delayed episode).
- Ignored Aesop: Despite seeing how easily the Infinity Stones can be misused, he nonetheless entertains the idea of using them to protect the universe.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite clearly living a completely different life to his Sacred Timeline counterpart, he still has the same drive and idea that would lead to the creation of Ultron.
Tony Stark (Earth-838)
Tony Stark / Iron Man
Species: Human
Citizenship: American
Affiliation(s): Avengers (formerly)
Portrayed By: N/A
On Earth-838, Tony Stark was able to build a suit of armor around the world with the creation of the Ultron Sentries, allowing the Avengers to disband and live their own lives.
- Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: He succeeded where his other counterparts failed by creating a version of Ultron which did what he intended and helped protect the world.
- The Ghost: He doesn't appear and isn't even mentioned in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but was confirmed
to exist by Word of God. - Retired Badass: Implied by the producer of Multiverse of Madness, referencing how Tony had intended for Ultron to make it possible for the Avengers to retire. So it's possible that like Wanda, he retired from the Avengers instead of continuing as Iron Man.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Because he succeeded in creating a benevolent Ultron and Thanos was killed during Infinity War, this Tony never had to sacrifice himself to stop the Mad Titan.
- Team Member in the Adaptation: Inverted. He's not a member of the Illuminati in this universe (though he's definitely an ally as he has Ultron and his sentries defend their headquarters) and the Avenger representing the team in this universe instead of him is Peggy Carter, who is a straighter example of this trope as she was never associated with the Illuminati in the comics.
