Iron Man’s 10 Best Team-Ups In The MCU

When Nick Fury first attempted to recruit Tony Stark to join Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff in the Avengers Initiative, he was initially hesitant to sign up. Tony considered himself to be more of a lone wolf: “Apparently, I’m volatile, self-obsessed, and don’t play well with others.”

Of course, not only did he end up joining the Avengers; he became one of the team’s de facto leaders, providing them with a headquarters and eventually making the ultimate sacrifice so that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes could live to fight another day.

10 Bruce Banner

Tony’s endearing partnership with Bruce Banner – his closest rival for the title of “smartest Avenger” until Shuri came along – had the pair dubbed “Science Bros.” by the MCU fan base.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony and Bruce teamed up to create “a suit of armor around the world” that ended up turning into the malicious eponymous A.I. bent on wiping out humanity. After the monumental failure of their first A.I. experiment, Tony and Bruce teamed up once more to create an artificial intelligence capable of destroying their other artificial intelligence.

9 Nebula

Tony’s team-up with Nebula was brief but memorable. Following the shocking, dusty cliffhanger ending of Infinity War, Tony and Nebula were the only two survivors left on Titan. Endgame opens with the pair desperately trying to get back to Earth with limited fuel supplies.

Stranded in space together, Tony and Nebula could’ve succumbed to madness, but they held onto their sanity by working tirelessly to repair the engine and taking regular breaks to play “paper football.”

8 Doctor Strange

Tony is the first person that Doctor Strange recruits when Banner warns him that Thanos is on his way. Naturally, Tony and Strange’s personalities clashed because they’re both arrogant, self-obsessed, and bossy, and there isn’t room for two people like that in a room.

But they ended up joining forces to fight the Guardians of the Galaxy (when they thought they were working for Thanos) and later Thanos himself. In the end, Strange gave up the Time Stone to save Tony’s life, because he could see how crucial he’d be in Endgame. They might bicker, but there’s clearly a mutual respect.

7 Happy Hogan

Iron Man director Jon Favreau gave himself the supporting role of Happy Hogan, who became such a fan-favorite that he’s continued to stick around in the MCU after Tony’s tragic death.

In the original Iron Man movie, Happy was introduced as Tony’s bodyguard. As the franchise has gone on, Happy has pointed out the increasing absurdity of his job title as “Iron Man’s head of security.”

6 Harley Keener

When Tony’s house is attacked by terrorists, the safety initiative in his suit takes him miles away from his exploding house in Malibu until it runs out of juice and crash-lands in a snowy suburb. There, he teams up with a plucky kid named Harley Keener to repair his suit and get home.

This premise created an interesting conflict in Iron Man 3 as Tony couldn’t rely on his technology. He had to use his wits to infiltrate the Mandarin’s lair and get some answers.

5 Guardians Of The Galaxy

When Iron Man arrives on Titan with Doctor Strange and Spider-Man to eagerly await Thanos’ arrival, they meet the Guardians of the Galaxy. Assuming the Guardians are working with the Mad Titan, they initially fight them – until they realize they know Thor and decide to team up.

Tony wasn’t used to people challenging his authority until he met Peter Quill, who bluntly told him, “I like your plan, except it sucks, so let me do the plan and that way, it might be really good.”

4 Black Widow

Natasha Romanoff traditionally teams up with Steve Rogers, like she did in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but she took Tony’s side in Civil War’s Sokovia Accords debate.

Tony and Nat united to fight Bucky when his Hydra brainwashing was reactivated and led the charge in the airport battle (although Nat allowed Steve and Bucky to escape as a personal favor).

3 War Machine

James Rhodes has been Tony’s best friend in the MCU since the very beginning. After the War Machine armor was teased in the first Iron Man movie, he got to wear it and fight alongside Tony in the 2010 sequel.

Although Rhodey initially steals the War Machine armor from a drunken, obnoxious Tony, the two armored heroes end up teaming up to fight the legion of robotic henchmen sent by Justin Hammer together. They defeat the big bad, Whiplash, by combining forces (literally) and firing their repulsors at each other.

2 Spider-Man

Traditionally, Peter Parker’s father figure is Uncle Ben, whose wisdom about power and responsibility has guided Spidey’s moral compass in the comics for decades. But the MCU took a different approach and instead made Tony and Peter a sort of Batman and Robin pairing: a rich superhero taking an orphaned underdog under his wing.

Since joining Tony’s side in Civil War, Spidey has fought alongside him in Central Park, on the post-apocalyptic remains of Titan, and even in the universe-saving “Battle of Earth.”

1 Captain America

Tony butted heads with Steve Rogers from the moment they met in the first Avengers movie. Steve felt that Tony lacked integrity and Tony felt that everything special about Steve came from a bottle (and they both ended up proving the other wrong). Their conflict came to a head in truly heartbreaking fashion at the end of Civil War when they nearly fought to the death, breaking up Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for the foreseeable future.

The duo’s heartfelt reunion in Endgame (including a peace offering of Cap’s refurbished shield) paved the way for the Avengers’ ultimate triumph over Thanos. If Tony and Steve had been on speaking terms in Infinity War, the Mad Titan might not have won in the first place.

About The Author

Ben Sherlock
(3458 Articles Published)

Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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