Thousands sign petition urging Marvel to change the fate of Tony Stark

Hey kids, remember that Game of Thrones petition?

That one went well. In case you missed it, a petition materialised as the final season of Game of Thrones was airing, demanding that said season was remade from scratch by "competent" writers. That petition was slammed by fans, critics, naysayers and even members of the show's cast, who rightly pointed out how disrespectful it was to the many, many, many people who worked tirelessly to make the show as epic as it was throughout. Granted, season eight was a trash fire when all was said and done, but you can't fault cast and crew. JOE has had its say on that whole deal - do revisit the highly entertaining The North Awaits podcast for the episode-by-episode rundown - so we'll move onto another awkward pop culture problem. Look, even the above headline is dangerous territory in this spoiler-fuelled climate we live in, but Avengers: Endgame is the second highest-grossing film of all time and has been out now for over six weeks, so let's just accept that everyone in the world has seen it. If you didn't, I mean, you've had plenty of chances and so SPOILERS FOLLOW THIS SENTENCE, OKAY? Ahem. Tony Stark dies at the conclusion of Endgame in act of noble self-sacrifice that affords the character a pretty perfect arc from the events of the original Iron Man up until that point. It's all very emotional - this writer heard at least one person shudder with sobbing during a press screening, of all things - and diehard MCU fans the world over still aren't over it. Most thought the narrative choice was fair enough, knowing that Robert Downey Jr. is likely done with the role and it's time to move on. In that respect, he got a beautiful send-off, as did Captain America, who didn't perish, but isn't quite battle ready anymore. But some people aren't happy at all, and are operating on a similar level of entitlement as to the 1.6 million (!) souls who signed that Game of Thones screed. Yep, there's a #SaveTonyStark petition knocking about the Internet, begging Marvel to change Stark's fate, because we just don't seem to understand how entertainment works anymore. At time of writing, the petition has almost 55,000 signatures. "MCU's Tony deserves to come back fully alive," says petition starter Méline Loiseau. "Tony Stark was always ready to risk his life, suffer, and sacrifice himself for anyone, without ever receiving anything in return. Since the beginning, since he was a kid. "He can never be happy, and when he finally got what he always wanted, and deserved, his wife, his daughter, his family.. he died. "He didn't deserve this and it's not fair, after everything he's been through, and done for everyone, he deserves to live and see his daughter grow up." A nice sentiment, certainly, but one that ignores the fact Stark did get to enjoy a good chunk of family time before being ultimately unable to ignore the call of heroism, thus his story ended precisely as it should have. Anyway, can we stop making these things, please? Cheers.