Fan Theories About MCU Weapons And Tech That Make A Ton Of Sense

 

 If there's one thing that the MCU isn't shy of, it's weapons and technology. When Tony Stark sneezes, he shoots out something amazing that will do your taxes or kill a malevolent sentient robot. It's how the world works in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and because the movies and TV shows have so many cool gadgets, fans have come up with some pretty fascinating theories over the years.

Many of them have taken to the FanTheories subreddit to share their thoughts on the weapons and technology found in the movies, and a lot of them make sense. The more believable fan theories that have come out about the MCU are listed below. Take a look, and when you find something you think might actually be true, be sure to give it an upvote to see if it makes its way to the top of the list!

Odin Conquered The Nine Realms With The Infinity Stones (Minus The Soul Stone) 

Photo: Thor: Ragnarok / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Years and years ago, Odin learned about the Infinity Stones through his father, Bor, who was responsible for taking the Reality Stone from the Dark Elves. After his death and Odin's subsequent rise to power, he (with Hela at his side) began conquering all the realms in order to locate and claim the Stones. Odin found the Space Stone first and this allowed Odin and his armies to travel between realms and conquer them very quickly. the Bifrost is essentially an Asgardian reproduction of the power of the Space Stone (EDIT: Never mind that bit.) During this, he commissioned Nidavellir to create a device that would allow him to control all the Stones at will: the Infinity Gauntlet. They created the mold for it and made one casting as a test fit for Odin, complete with fake Stones to give Odin an idea of the grandeur of the finished Gauntlet.

However, at about this time he discovered the whereabouts of the Soul Stone and what was required of him to get it: He'd have to sacrifice that which he loved the most, which was Hela. He found he couldn't do it and at that moment Odin stopped being a conqueror and started being a king. Hela didn't understand this change of heart; she knew what the Infinity Stones were because Odin specifically told her that's why they were conquering all the realms, and Hela believed in that power more than anything else. So she and Odin fought; Odin won and that's when he imprisoned her in Hell. Odin put the fake Gauntlet in his treasure room as a reminder of both what he'd done and what he'd lost, and swore that he would protect all that he had conquered. Thus he became Odin Allfather, Protector of the Nine Realms. Nidavellir decommissioned the Gauntlet mold and Odin hid the Space Stone on Midgard. Odin almost definitely knew where the Reality Stone was because Odin's father had it at one time. If this theory is true then he definitely knew where the Soul Stone was, he might have known where the Power Stone was, he probably didn't know the Time Stone was also already on Midgard (otherwise he likely wouldn't have risked two Infinity Stones in the same place), and he almost definitely didn't know where the Mind Stone was.

When Thanos arrived on the scene and went to Nidavellir to have them forge a control for the Stones, they used their previous knowledge from Odin's Gauntlet to make one for Thanos.

If this theory were true then it explains how and why Odin was previously a conqueror and why he changed; why there's a fake Infinity Gauntlet in Odin's treasure room; how Hela knows it's fake; how Hela knows what the Tesseract is ("That's not bad," she says while giving a small pause in front of it); why Odin changed from conqueror to king; why Odin and Hela fought; and why Thanos' Gauntlet is basically the same as the fake Gauntlet at Asgard.

EDIT/BONUS 1: I thought of something else. Odin may have used the Space Stone to banish Hela to Hell, which may be considered unnatural since Hell isn't supposed to be for living beings. That being the case, Odin "tampered with natural law" and the bill came due by way of the Ragnarok prophecy. The destruction of Asgard may have been the universe's way of balancing itself out.

EDIT/BONUS 2: And another thing... Odin himself said that Thor was stronger than him. You could argue that "young Thor" is stronger than "old man Odin" and you'd probably be right, but what if Odin meant that Thor is always stronger than Odin? That Odin in his prime couldn't have beaten Thor? If that's true then the question becomes: If Thor is always stronger than Odin, and Thor couldn't defeat Hela, then how did weaker Odin defeat Hela? A possible answer is that Odin held the Space Stone. Odin's power, amplified by the abilities and power of the Space Stone, may have been enough to tip the fight Odin's way.

 

Odin Designed The Mold For Stormbreaker In Case Thor Went Rogue-Like His Sister 

Photo: Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Stormbreaker was a weapon forged for Thor, but not for Thor to wield per se. It was made to handle Thor. Odin knew what had happened with Hela, and the similarities to the pre-Thor movie Thor and Hela were quite similar.

Vain, warmonger-ish, and conquerors. Odin saw the parallels and knew what he had to do. If Thor ever got out of hand, Odin would have the perfect tool to combat Thor. Not kill him, but break him with a weapon more powerful than Mjolnir.

An Axe made to break the storm.

 

Thor Broke Mjolnir By Overloading It While Hela Was Simply Stopping It In Its Tracks

Photo: Thor: Ragnarok / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

As Odin says, Mjolnir is just to help Thor control his powers. Since his power is electricity/lightning, Mjolnir is a big hunk of metal that helps Thor direct lightning. Sound familiar? Yep, Mjolnir is basically a fancy lightning rod.

When Thor throws Mjolnir at Hela, she is able to stop it, not because she has power over Mjolnir, but because she is hella (sorry) strong, and she's able to match brute force with brute force. All Thor knows how to do at this point is pump more juice into Mjolnir to give it more power with the hope of pushing through Hela's resistance. That's exactly what he does, and as we all know, if you pass enough electricity through any hunk of metal, that hunk of metal is eventually going to explode like an overripe tomato.

More evidence might be that Mjolnir explodes in a flash of electricity, but Hela never displays electricity powers at any point. She's not surprised when it explodes, because she can feel Mjolnir getting overloaded and its structural integrity failing right underneath her fingers.

That's why I claim that it is Thor's power, not Hela's, that shatters Mjolnir.

 

Vision Could Lift Mjolnir Because He's Not Technically Alive

Photo: Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

In The Age of Ultron, Vision could lift Thor’s hammer. This may not be because he is worthy, but because he is technically not alive.

Inanimate objects, like an elevator, can lift/move the hammer. So, it would make sense that robots can too.

Using the same logic, Ultron should also be able to lift the hammer.

 

The Dwarves Made The Weaponry Of The Black Order

Photo: Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Nothing is really known about the weapons used by the Children Of Thanos but their weapons share some properties with other Dwarven weapons.

They can be called to return to the users' hands like Mjolnir. Corvus Glaive's Glaive and Proxima Midnight's Trident are both shown flying back towards their owners, out of the hands of the heroes. Cull Obsidian has some level of control over his hammer thing though it is connected by some kind of chain.

They can resist the power of the Infinity Stones. Just like the Infinity Gauntlet was created to harness the power of the stones, we see the Glaive deflecting and returning an energy blast from Vision with the Mind Stone.

The Glaive also seriously messes up Vision where nothing had previously been seen to harm him, the only other time we see Vision take damage is from Thanos though he may not have needed the Gauntlet's power.

So yeah, a few powers inline with other Dwarven gear, I think the Dwarves also made the weaponry of the Black Order when they were forced to make the Infinity Gauntlet.

Also, no doubt they made Loki's Sceptre too which harnessed the power of the Mind Stone, and possibly even they made the Tesseract containing the Space Stone.

 

Peter's Universal Translator Doesn't Understand Groot Because He Speaks A Dead Language

Photo: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

So we see that Thor knows Groot due to an elective on Asgard. However Quill's universal translator can't understand Groot, Rocket has to translate it. Why?

I've seen an idea on how Groot is hard to translate for a machine because all the language is on inflection and accent but I have another idea. So think about characters from the Guardians of The Galaxy. Gamora is the last of her race (Infinity War retconned this so never mind). So is Thanos. No one is like Rocket. The nebula is unique. Ego is a celestial and Quill is the only half-celestial of Ego. I don't know about Drax, Mantis, or Yondu (isn't Yondu genetically engineered? Edit: no he isn't). Is it odd to think Groot is the last of his race? No, in fact, he is the last of his race in the animated series. Ronan wipes out all the Groots and Groot is the only survivor.

Also, Groot is quite big, like 7 feet and 550 pounds or so using on-screen data from the first GG movie. Bigger creatures tend to have longer lifespans. Also, some trees have lived for thousands of years. Groot could very well be quite old. Now we know Thor to be 1500 years old which means his Asgardian elective was about 1500 years ago. What I wager is that during Thor's schooling years Groot was an abundant and popular language. Then at some point, the Groots got wiped out in some event, and Groot became the lone survivor or one of a few survivors. Groot suddenly became a dead language. When the universal translators were designed, they added tons of languages but not Groot because they thought it was no longer spoken or too rarely spoken to add to the software. Also, damn Thor has some good memory, I can barely remember anything from my 3 years of Spanish.

 

The Super Soldier Serum Can't Be Recreated Without Wakanda's Heart-Shaped Herb

Photo: Captain America: The First Avenger / Paramount Pictures

 

In the MCU it’s been established that Dr. Abraham Erskine, the scientist who turned Steve Rogers into Captain America in The First Avenger (2011), was the only person to ever successfully produce an effective Super Soldier Serum. It’s also established that Cap’s shield is made of Vibranium, a super metal that is only found in Wakanda.

Skip forward from WWII to the present day, and the closest we’ve seen in the MCU to powers resembling those of Steve Rogers are those of the Black Panther. T’Challa and Erik “Killmonger” Stevens both have enhanced speed, strength, and endurance when they possess the powers of the Black Panther. They aren’t necessarily superhuman, but they are at peak human ability, just like Captain America.

Going back to WWII, Erskine’s original attempt at making a super soldier failed, deforming Johann Schmidt into the Red Skull. A few years later, Erskine was ready to try again. With the help of the brilliant Howard Stark, he perfected it and turned the weakling Steve Rogers into the Super Soldier Captain America.

The difference between the two attempts is that Erskine was now working with Howard Stark. Stark, as we know, had acquired enough Vibranium to make a shield sometime before Cap formed the Howling Commandos.

Seeing as Vibranium only comes from Wakanda, Stark must have gone to Wakanda (or at least he had a contact there) in order to get his hands on the Vibranium needed to make the shield. At some point during his dealings with the Wakandans, Stark must have heard about the Black Panther and his superhuman abilities.

Stark, if not already working with Erskine by this point, would have realized that if America could harness the powers of the Black Panther, they could be used to create a Super Soldier. Seeing as how Stark was working with and doing science for the US military, he could have figured out that Erskine was the man to talk to about creating an American Super Soldier.

If Stark was already working with Erskine by the time he found out about the Black Panther, he would have told Erskine about the Black Panther and gotten the go-ahead to figure out how to incorporate it into the Super Soldier program.

So Stark manages to get some Heart-Shaped Herb via some kind of deal, or maybe he just steals some of it (à la Rocket and the Sovereign’s batteries) when he finds out that the Wakandans aren’t willing to exchange it for anything.

Now that the Americans have the Heart-Shaped Herb, the Super Soldier program can continue unhindered. The Herb seems to contain a stabilizing agent that prevents unwanted mutations (e.g. turning into the Red Skull) during the enhancement process. The research is completed and they are ready to find a candidate. That candidate ends up being Steve Rogers.

In short, because both are derived from the same source, Cap’s powers and T’Challa’s powers are very similar.

The influence of the Heart-Shaped Herb on the MCU doesn’t stop there. The reason that Bruce Banner got turned into the Hulk instead of successfully relaunching the Super Soldier Program (like Ross wanted) in The Incredible Hulk (2008) is that the key ingredient — the Heart-Shaped Herb’s stabilizing agent — was missing, and the same goes for Blonsky when he turns into the Abomination.

TL;DR: The Super Soldier Serum that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America was derived from the Heart-Shaped Herb that gives people the powers of the Black Panther. The Heart-Shaped Herb was incorporated into the Serum by Howard Stark, who somehow got a sample of the Herb from Wakanda, where he also obtained the Vibranium used to make Cap’s famous shield. The Herb contains a key ingredient that prevents the enhanced individual from getting f**ked up like the Red Skull, the Hulk, and the Abomination did.

Hydra's Advanced Weapons Didn't Obliterate Targets — They Transported Them Elsewhere In Space Via The Tesseract's Energy

Photo: Captain America: The First Avenger / Paramount Pictures

In the first Captain America movie, we are faced with the antagonist Red Skull who is using the Tesseract (Space Stone) to power his weapons. We see him use these weapons on German military personnel at the beginning of the movie. What happens when they get hit? They simply vanish. Nothing is left of them. You'd be left to believe that they got disintegrated or something similar, but I believe they were actually teleported to random spots around the galaxy.

Think of it, the space stone allows those who control it the ability to teleport across space like we see Thanos do multiple times in Infinity War. Also during that time during the MCU (WWII), Red Skull just knew it was a powerful artifact that could be harnessed for power, he didn't know it was the Space Stone. Because of this he simply thought his weapons just obliterated his enemies, but in reality, they are just getting sent to random places. Some on to different planets, some in the void of space.

 

The OG Avengers In The MCU Represent The Infinity Stones

Photo: The Avengers / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Not so much a theory, just an observation. I haven’t seen anyone discuss this before.

Tony/Iron-Man: Mind - arguably the smartest Avenger, also figured out how to use the mind stone.

Thor: Space - he comes from a different/faraway place, travels through the Bifrost which acts similarly to the space stone.

Hulk: Power - “Hulk like raging fire”

Cap: Time - he has lived in and experienced different eras, essentially traveling through time. He rules the time he has lost, and he experienced Peggy’s life as being fast-forwarded.

Natasha/Black Widow: Reality - this one is the toughest argument to make, but I think her experience with the Red Room has made her consider what could have been (other realities). Also, her tendency to see both sides/switch sides (like in Civil War) demonstrates her ability to consider the complexity of reality.

Clint/Hawkeye: Soul - heart, and soul of the team, often has to sacrifice loved ones (figuratively, by leaving his family) to do what he believes in.

Of course, this isn’t a perfect 1 to 1, and you could switch a lot of them around depending on different aspects of the characters. This was just for fun, and I’ve enjoyed reading other people’s interpretations. Keep in mind that these were shower thoughts, not a thesis lol.

 

Odin Tried To Collect The Infinity Stones To Conquer All Realms

Photo: Thor / Paramount Pictures

We know that Odin used to be a ruthless conqueror. He and his daughter Hela rampaged across the universe, subjugating realm after realm. Except for one day, for reasons unknown he stopped, imprisoned his daughter, and became a benevolent ruler who only warred as a last result. My theory is that during his conquest Odin sought out the Infinity Stones himself; he sacrificed his wife for the Soul Stone, and the remorse over the act and the connection to the souls of the universe granted to him by the stone caused him to change to a protector rather than a conqueror.

Odin was collecting Infinity Stones for his conquest of the universe

1. There is a clear motivation for Warlord Odin to want stones. In the past, he wanted to conquer the realms. Becoming the most powerful being in the universe by possessing the Infinity Stones and the Odinforce would make that task trivial for him.

2. There is a fake/replica of the infinity gauntlet in the vault of Asgard, and the dwarves of Nidavellir have the plans to make such a gauntlet. Odin clearly knows what the gauntlet is, and what it does, and had the capability to make one for himself.

3. Hela identifies the gauntlet in the Vault of Asgard as a fake, implying she knows what a real gauntlet looks like. This is likely because she remembers Odin wielding one

4. The Space Stone (as the Tesseract) was hidden in a nordic village on earth long ago. The Norse worship Odin because the Asgardian pantheon visited earth in the past, so it is strongly implied that the Asgardians themselves hid the stone on earth. Therefore we have direct evidence that Odin possessed the Space Stone at one point.

5. Bor, Odin's father, captured and hid the Reality Stone. The Reality Stone is effectively in possession of Odin already because of this.

The Soul Stone not only grants control of souls and the soul realm but also bridges an empathetic connection to those souls. This is evidenced by Thanos' change in behavior in Infinity War

1. There is a distinct change in Thanos' emotional state after he gains the Soul Stone, and I don't think it is entirely due to grief over killing Gamora. After he acquires the Soul Stone he travels to Titan and fights with the GotG, Iron Man and Iron Lad (Spider-Man), and Dr. Strange. Given that he has the Power Stone, Space Stone, Reality Stone, and Soul Stone at this point there is no reason why he couldn't have completely shut down that fight immediately and brutally (like he did in Knowhere) and forced Dr. Strange to give up the stone by threatening the rest with death and/or torture. It's the threat of killing Tony that forces Dr. Strange to give up the Time Stone, after all.

2. Additionally, when he arrives on earth, he almost goes out of his way to just disable the Avengers there instead of killing or majorly wounding them. Thanos can punch the Hulk into submission, there is no way he wouldn't have turned Captain America into a pasty spot unless he was pulling his punches. He basically just gently hand waves, everyone, away.

3. I believe that the kinder, gentler Thanos we see at the end of Infinity War is due to him feeling a connection to the souls of the people around him, which is granted to him by the Soul Stone. He doesn't significantly hurt or kill anyone after he gains the stone because he feels the pain of their deaths. Granted, he still is a fanatic devoted to killing half the universe, but he defers all the deaths for the snap so he can let the randomness decide rather than being directly responsible.

Odin sacrifices Hela's mother to gain the Soul Stone

1. Thor states Hela is his half-sister in Infinity War. Odin is their shared parent, therefore Hela has a different mother than Frigga.

2. Odin would need to sacrifice someone he loves to gain the Soul Stone. It's not a stretch to assume he loved the woman with whom he birthed his first child with.

3. It is never stated who Hela's mother is in the MCU, indicating that she is no longer relevant or alive.

Put all of the above together, and there is significant evidence to assume that remorse over killing Hela's mother combined with the empathy granted by the Soul Stone causes Warlord Odin to fully realize the pain and suffering his universal conquest is causing. He renounces his war and becomes the Protector of the Realms in response. He hides the Infinity Stones that were in his possession and destroys his Infinity Gauntlet leaving a fake in his vault (either as a reminder to himself or as a red herring to others wanting to steal their own gauntlet).

TL;DR: Short version: Odin sacrificed Hela's mother to gain the Soul Stone, and the act caused him to change from "Warlord Odin" to "Protector of the Nine Realms Odin."

 

Pym Particles Are Unpredictable Because They Obey The User's Thoughts

Photo: Marvel Studios' Avengers: Endgame / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

So, it's no secret that Pym Particles are inconsistent. Sometimes the mass is the same, sometimes it's not. Ant-Man has enough mass to deliver full power punches, and when he first gets his power, he damages the environment when he falls. Yet, he is light enough to do stuff like ride an ant. Plus, shrunk cars can be carried around like Hot Wheels toys.

As lampshaded by Ant-Man, they like to explain a lot of their mumbo jumbo science by calling it "quantum". It is believed that quantum particles respond to our thoughts, to a certain extent. For example, the double-slit experiment where observing the outcome changed it.

Yes, I am aware that there are flaws with this conclusion in real science. But that doesn't matter for my purposes, because I'm talking about movie science, specifically superhero movie science, which is more based on the perception of real science, rather than hard actual science.

So, whether Pym Particles keep or displace the mass is dependent on the user's thoughts. If they want to, say, punch someone, then the Pym Particles will allow them to have the mass to throw a punch (ignoring for now that punches should be more like stabs at that size). If a user wants to ride an ant, then they will be light enough to do so.

 

Iron Man's Suits Lose Durability As He Trades It For Mobility And Advanced Weaponry

Photo: Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

I see a lot of comments on content having to do with Iron-Man's suits, pointing out how borderline invulnerable they were at first, and eventually got weak. Point to Iron-Man one where he walks off a tank blast to Civil War where Cap does ample amounts of damage with his bare hands and shield.

My logic behind how this is possible is simple.

Stark trades in durability for speed and focuses on making his suits more capable throughout the MCU.

Take Iron-Man one. The Iron-Man suit was a suit of armor initially and had very limited capabilities combat-wise.

Iron-Man 2, we see Tony take damage easier but has lasers, missiles, machine guns, etc.

Iron-Man 3 and almost most noticeably, his suits take the most damage (breaks by a van slamming into it) but now his suits can come to him, fight on their own I.E autopilot, and are made, sometimes, with specific purposes.

This method begins to pay off, as Stark begins playing with nano-tech in Civil War. Ultimately, his suits reach maximum durability through this experimentation, as the Iron-Man suit is capable of withstanding concentrated energy blasts from the Power Stone in Infinity War.

I also feel Stark purposefully ditches so much armor on his suit because he knows he's better with his suits. Tony knows that with more and more use with his suits, he's becoming better at flying and dodging and fighting. This is illustrated perfectly in Civil War and Infinity War as he dodges, blocks, and is now doing complex flips and spins mid-flight.

 

Tony Stark becomes Spider-Man’s New AI In The Future Of The MCU

Photo: Marvel Studios' Avengers: Endgame / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Tony Stark will become Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s new AI shortly after Avengers: Endgame. I have been reading a lot of the comics recently and have rewatched the movies in order to try to back up my theory here, and I think I have a few good points. Stick through this with me and let me know what you think. After he dies, he may become an AI.

His character can continue to evolve and he wouldn’t necessarily be a major part of the MCU going forward, but he would still always be there. Most recently in the comics, Tony has “died” and uploaded his consciousness into an AI. This way he can still be a part of his world and can still help his friends, while technically being gone. After Tony died in the MCU, this would be the best way for his character to go, and to make it even better he could become PP/SM’s new AI.

This way Tony could still be a central father figure and mentor to Peter, all while taking a back seat to the future MCU while still being important. In the past movies, there has definitely been a deep connection between the two characters, and this happening in the future just really makes sense to me.

 

Dr. Erskine And Howard Stark Used The Heart-Shaped Herb To Formulate The Super Soldier Serum

Photo: The Incredible Hulk / Universal Pictures

So throughout the MCU and in comics, the Super Soldier Serum has been a bit of a mystery. Dr. Erskine never left notes about its creation and only one person was able to use it, Captain America. However, I think that Erskine was using something else in the MCU as a baseline. I think the Heart-Shaped Herb of Wakanda was the basis of the serum. I have a few reasons to believe this.

The powers of the herb are very similar to the powers that Steve has. Increased strength, agility, and durability are all shown to be something that the Black Panther has as well.

The Vibranium shield. It seems really odd to me that Howard Stark would be able to get enough Vibranium to make a shield. Seeing as Wakanda is pretty much the only place to get it. He very likely could have gotten a sample of the herb along with the Vibranium.

It would also explain why Erskine wouldn't leave notes about the serum. Leaving notes about that could lead the Germans and Hydra to Wakanda which would be catastrophic.

It also explains why there is a hard time replicating the serum in modern times. It's based on a plant that few would know exist. We've seen in The Incredible Hulk, they haven't stopped trying to replicate Erskine's results. I think that with how brilliant scientists are in Marvel it would be weird that no one would come close in 60 years.

 

Howard Stark Gave Tony Stark The Super Soldier Serum

Photo: Captain America: The First Avenger / Paramount Pictures

Before getting into the theory here is some evidence showing that Tony Stark is not a typical human being, which sparked my thoughts on this theory. I also want to add that I haven't personally seen this theory discussed before but I have read posts and theories about Tony Stark himself and why he hasn't reproduced the Super Soldier Serum (see here).

In Iron Man (2008), Tony survives getting shrapnel across his chest and undergoing impromptu surgery. It might be redundant to state this given that everyone is aware of Iron Man's origins but consider it. Tony, for all intents and purposes, should have died from either 1) getting metal into his heart 2) blood loss 3) infections after the surgery (we don't know much about where his surgery took place but I assume it was the cave he was in and the flashback sequences do not make it seem like he was in the most sanitary of conditions)....and yet he didn't.

But sure, maybe we can ignore that for the plot's sake, but there is still more evidence to show that Tony is not a normal human. In Iron Man 2, Tony manages to not only live through blood poisoning for an extended period of time (a condition that can kill a person in a matter of hours) but also manages to not suffer from the symptoms associated with this disease (confusion, organ failure, etc). In the film, he drinks a concoction to help alleviate his symptoms however his condition only worsens. Given this, it's amazing that he doesn't suffer more than the average person would in a shorter period of time.

There are definitely more instances in other films including but not limited to:

1. Avengers: Surviving going through a wormhole and going directly into space (surviving, even briefly, a whole assortment of cosmic attacks- radiation, extreme temperatures, asphyxiation...)

2. Avengers: Age of Ultron: Getting hit repeatedly by the Hulk.

3. Captain America: Civil War: Taking Captain's shield to the chest and fighting against two super soldiers.

4. Avengers: Infinity War: Having a moon thrown at him.

5. Avengers: Endgame: Having the power of all the infinity stones going through his body (something we saw the Hulk barely takes) without breaking a sweat*see clarification.

So it would seem that Tony Stark may be quite a bit stronger than the average man, but how does Howard Stark play a role in this? After the events of Captain America: The First Avenger, Howard Stark played a pivotal role in replicating the Super Soldier Serum. In Captain America: Civil War we see tapes of the Winter Soldier stealing the Super Soldier Serum that (we will assume) Howard Stark created, from Howard and Maria Stark and killing them in the process.

What if Howard Stark foresaw the fall of SHIELD? What if he believed that he would possibly die and would have to try and save his son from HYDRA?

It is not a stretch to believe that Howard Stark was a man with quite a bit of foresight. He literally created a model of a new element in the hopes that his son would find it and realize what it was (see Iron Man 2). It is possible that he foresaw the fall of SHIELD or at least was suspicious about the organization and took some precautions to ensure that his son would be ready in the event that he found himself in HYDRA's clutches. Perhaps this precaution was giving Tony Super Soldier Serum at a very young age in the hopes that it would have long-term beneficial effects - and by the looks of it, it did.

 

Believable fan theory?