Iron Man’s Original Ending Left The Door Open For A Jeff Bridges Marvel Return

You might think shooting a superhero movie would be one of the least challenging experiences for a man of Jeff Bridges’ stature. His role as Obadiah Stane required him to essentially play an evil version of Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark/Iron Man, and while that no doubt came with its own challenges, it doesn’t necessarily seem like the most complicated role in Bridges’ illustrious career.

However, shooting “Iron Man” was, as it turns out, quite a difficult experience not just for the “Big Lebowski” star but for pretty much everyone involved. As Bridges told Vanity Fair following the movie’s 2008 release, the script he, director Jon Favreau, and star RDJ had crafted was actually thrown out by Marvel during filming, leaving the team to, as Bridges put it, “spend hours in one of our trailers, going over lines and saying, ‘Oh, you play my part, I’ll play your part,’ exploring how we were gonna do it.”

What’s more, early versions of the script positioned the character as a secondary villain to the Mandarin, before now head of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige upgraded Stane to the central protagonist, putting more of a burden on Bridges. As such Bridges had to make a mental adjustment to keep himself sane on the “Iron Man” set, essentially telling himself to relax and enjoy the process of making what he termed a “$200 million student film.” The technique worked, with Bridges putting in a fine performance in a superhero movie that changed Hollywood forever and established the box office goliath we now know as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Stane might not be the most well-known villain in MCU history, but he was the first, and his final battle as Iron Monger against Iron Man therefore remains a classic Marvel moment.

Unfortunately, or fortunately considering the challenges Bridges faced on-set, Stane was killed off at the end of this battle, perishing in the Stark building’s arc reactor. But it seems an earlier version of the script actually saw Stane’s death called into question, before yet more changes erased that story beat from MCU history

Like with everything else in “Iron Man,” the climax sounds like it was a wild rush that came down to the wire. In order to defeat his former mentor turned supervillain, Tony Stark lures Obediah Stane/Iron Monger up into the stratosphere knowing that the altitude will cause his suit to frost over, allowing the Iron Man to deal the coup de grâce. But that finale was only figured out with three weeks to go before the movie debuted. What’s more, that wasn’t the only major thing to change late in the game.

In an interview with the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Jeff Bridges recalled reading the original “Iron Man” script and revealed that the ending was much different:

“When I read the script, Obadiah Stane falls in that big vat at the end. And in the script I read and agreed to do, they pull my suit out and open it and I’m not there. But who knows? It’s all science fiction and I could pop up again.”

This isn’t the first time Bridges has spoken about his character’s fate being kept ambiguous in the original script. The actor previously told Uproxx that in the original screenplay, his character unequivocally “lives!” But it seems Bridges himself found out about the last-minute change in the moment. The veteran star added:

“When we got to shoot that scene, they didn’t open my suit up! I said, ‘Aren’t you going to open my suit up?’ They said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘You’re going to kill my guy?’ And they say, Well, it’s a comic book. You could come back. Who knows? You know?'”

Is the loss of Obediah Stane all that big a deal in the grand scheme of things? I would say no, only because the MCU has since introduced so many memorable villains and expanded so far beyond the comparatively grounded character of a businessman turned vengeful mech warrior. Had the character seemingly survived the events of “Iron Man” it would have felt like less of a self-contained story, which remains one of the film’s biggest attributes — especially in light of how Marvel Studios has indulged in setting up future movies far too much with its recent releases.

What’s more, “Iron Man” didn’t need to tease the audience with Stane’s eventual return as director Jon Favreau established what would become an MCU trademark by adding in a post-credits teaser clip of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury visiting Tony Stark. This, alongside teasing Iron Monger’s return, would have felt like too much in the way of setting up future installments in the franchise.

So, while Jeff Bridges may have been surprised to learn of his character’s unambiguous demise at the time, it was probably for the best. Now that Marvel has established the concept of the multiverse, however, anything could happen with regards to Obediah Stane — though the multiverse saga is reportedly set to end with the upcoming “Avengers: Secret Wars,” in which Robert Downey Jr. will make his MCU return as a version of legendary villain Doctor Doom. With that movie set to debut in 2027, Marvel only has a short time to use the multiverse to revive Stane, though that seems like it would be pretty low on the studio’s list of priorities at this point. For now, then, Bridges can enjoy his well-earned MCU retirement.