Although the end of 2012’s The Avengers saw Tony Stark beginning to convert Stark Tower into the headquarters for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes following the battle with Loki and the Chitauri, by the time 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron concluded, the superhero team had moved to a new facility in upstate New York that had previously been a Stark Industries warehouse. Then in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, Happy Hogan told Peter Parker that Avengers Tower was being sold, but nearly seven full years later, we still have no idea who made that hefty purchase.
Well, the good news is that this mysterious individual’s identity will be revealed… someday. When Comicbook‘s Phase Zero asked Brad Winderbaum, the Head of Streaming, Television and Animation at Marvel Studios, if audiences will ever have this mystery solved, he answered:
Honestly, yes, you will.
Winderbaum didn’t provide a timetable on when we’ll learn who this person is, so maybe we’re still years a way from the curtain being pulled back on this corner of the MCU. Still, it is nice to know this is a matter of when rather than if, and as seen in the article or if you look around social media, there are already some fun guesses on who now owns what we once knew as Avengers Tower.
Wilson Fisk
As part of his Marvel Studios duties, Winderbaum was an executive producer on the upcoming Marvel TV show Echo, which will prominently feature Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin, who was once a father figure to Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez. Although it initially seemed as though Maya killed Kingpin as Hawkeye was wrapping up, he’s still around and kicking during Echo’s present-day events, albeit now lacking one of his eyes. And just like in Netflix’s Daredevil, D’Onofrio’s Kingpin is a man with vast resources at his disposal, a significant amount of which could have been used to buy Avengers Tower.
In addition to his forthcoming Echo appearance, D’Onofrio is also a key member of Daredevil: Born Again’s cast. While we don’t have any official details yet on what’s in store for Kingpin, leaked set photos have indicated the character will be running for mayor. It’s not hard to imagine Fisk setting up his political headquarters at the formerly-Avengers Tower, and if he is elected, I frankly could see him carrying out his political duties there too rather than at the mayor’s official office.
It also helps that Brad Winderbaum, the head honcho for the MCU’s TV offerings, was the one who informed us that the Avengers Tower buyer will be revealed one day. Granted, the man surely knows what’s going on within the film side of the franchise too, but if he was willing to directly answer this particular question, perhaps that means he already knows this person’s identity and has a hand in revealing them. It would make sense that someone like Winderbaum would tease this if the character in question, whether it’s Kingpin or someone else, if the plan is for them to be revealed on a TV show, and for now at least, Kingpin doesn’t have any appearances in upcoming Marvel movies lined up.
Norman Osborn
Although Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin chiefly tied to Echo and Charlie Cox’s Daredevil in the MCU, the character from the comics is also well known for being one of Spider-Man’s adversary. Another heavy-hitting member of the Web-Slinger’s rogues gallery is Norman Osborn, a.k.a. The Green Goblin. Willem Dafoe appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home as the Raimiverse version of Norman, and the upcoming Marvel animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will depict a mentor for an alternate timeline version of the MCU’s Peter Parker. But as far as the main MCU continuity goes, there’s been no talk about Norman appearing.
If that day comes though, a good way to make the MCU’s Norman stand out from Dafoe’s is by focusing on him as a businessman rather than a costumed supervillain, at least at first. Before becoming Green Goblin, Norman was running OsCorp, one of the world’s biggest corporations and, in the Amazing Spider-Man universe, the source behind how the villains that clashed with Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker became empowered. A building like Avengers Tower would be a suitable place to put OsCorp’s headquarters and for Norman Osborn to begin hatching whatever schemes he has cooking. After all, even when he’s not been the Green Goblin, Norman as a just a “normal” guy has caused all sorts of trouble in the Marvel comics.
Reed Richards
Although the New York City of the Marvel Comics universe looks almost exactly like the real Big Apple, obviously there are some noticeable differences. Among the biggest is the inclusion of the Baxter Building, which was built by the Leland Baxter Paper Company and has become most famous for being where the Fantastic Four resides. While the quartet only occupy the top five floors of the building, it’s become a frequent target for supervillains, whether they’re simply looking to exact revenge on the superheroes or acquire technology developed by the team’s leader, Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic.
The MCU’s Fantastic Four reboot is slated for May 2, 2025, and it would be delightful to see Reed, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm hang out in an Avengers Tower-converted Baxter Building. However, one thing I’m curious about if Reed is the one who purchased the building where exactly he was in life when he did so. Fantastic Four won’t depict the title team’s origin story, so did Reed buy the building when he was civilian, and then he and his cohorts became superheroes offscreen sometime after? Or was Reed already Mister Fantastic by the time the events of Spider-Man: Homecoming were unfolding, and he and the rest of the Fantastic Four have simply been keeping a low profile in the years since?
These are just three potential candidates on the table; perhaps there’s another wealthy Marvel Comics character who shelled out to take control of Tony Stark’s property, or maybe it’ll be someone created specifically for the MCU. Whoever it is, count on CinemaBlend to pass along their identity as soon as it’s shared in one of these projects.