Throughout his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tony Stark touched many lives, as evidenced by the many friends, family and allies gathered at his funeral in Avengers: Endgame. Amongst the Avengers, Guardians and other MCU mainstays in attendance was one guest some fans may not have recognised at first.
It’s an older Harley Keener, whose only previous MCU appearance was as a young boy in Iron Man 3. Harley and Tony helped each other out when Tony found himself on the back foot in his fight against AIM and the Mandarin, but there was originally more to their friendship than what made it into the final film.
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Fans may remember Tony giving Harley some slightly unorthodox assistance with the bully who had been bothering him, but in a series of deleted scenes available on Disney+, Tony actually met Harley’s bully during one of the film’s climactic moments. This deleted subplot could have brought more meaning to the friendship between Tony and Harley, ending their time together with a clearer indication of the impact they had on one another.
Tony and Harley meet after Tony faced off against the forces of the Mandarin and crash-landed in Tennessee, with JARVIS following a flight plan he had requested earlier in the movie. With his new Mark 42 armor breaking down on him, Tony finds himself stranded, cut off from Pepper and presumed dead as a result of the Mandarin’s attack on his house.
Down on his luck, Tony breaks into a garage to take shelter and fix his suit. It is here that he meets Harley, a boy with a potato gun, a love of engineering and a bully problem. In order to incentivize Harley to help him out, Tony gives him a non-lethal “very powerful weapon” from the Iron Man suit so Harley can “discourage” his bully.
Handing a child a weapon is a characteristically irresponsible move for Tony, but the moment’s only story purpose seems to be setting up the weapon for Harley to use later when he and Tony find themselves at the mercy of the Extremis-enhanced AIM agent Eric Savin. However, in the deleted scenes, the story of Harley’s bully is continued and brought to a more heroic conclusion.
The first of these scenes introduces Harley’s bully, E.J., who is seen riding a quad bike through town, kicking up snow into Harley. Later, when Tony is confronted by Savin, he sees E.J. approaching as Savin uses his abilities to bring down a water tower. Tony tries to warn E.J., but they are both caught in the ensuing flood. After Tony and Harley overpower Savin, it is Harley who finds E.J. amongst the water tower’s wreckage and pulls him free. Tony then improvises a defibrillator to resuscitate E.J., using his arc reactor. It works, but Tony keels over, his heart failing with the reactor removed from his chest, so Harley rushes to his aid, putting the arc reactor back in place and reviving Tony.
While he initially encouraged Harley to repel his bully with the flash grenade, these scenes see Tony working with Harley to save E.J.’s life. After his rescue, when a bewildered E.J. realizes he owes his life to the kid he’s been bullying — and that kid’s new friend, Iron Man — it seems unlikely he would bother Harley again.
This deleted subplot gave Harley a more developed arc, ultimately culminating in a moment of heroism thanks to Tony. It not only furthered the bond between the two characters, but it also showed Tony’s positive influence on Harley. In a film about Tony confronting demons of his own making, this lost subplot showed through Harley that Tony’s actions could also put someone on a brighter path.
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