At the end of Avengers: Endgame,
Tony Stark dies, and his Arc Reactor shuts off.
I understand that it is emotional from a narrative viewpoint, but what is the in-universe reason the Reactor did that?
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8It is most likely connected to his vitals (like heartbeat). When Tony rips off his arc reactor thingy & gives it to Cap in the beginning of the movie, it turns off as well.– ShreedharSep 5, 2019 at 11:08
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3That would have been a neat explanation except it doesn't; I checked. There is that little signature charge-up whine sound effect, but the light stays on in Steve's hand.– KrisSep 5, 2019 at 11:41
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1 Answer
In universe
The arc reactor and the suit has just undergone a massive energy surge from the power of the Infinity Stones, even shielding Tony from them somewhat. It is highly likely that it was damaged beyond repair because of this and so also "died" at a similar time to Tony.
Alternatively it could be possible that as the suit is monitoring Tony's health, we see F.R.I.D.A.Y. report to Pepper about it ("Life functions critical."), it is possible that Tony installed a dead man's switch in the suit. I.e. if it ever detected the wearer had died inside of it, it shut down so that bad guys couldn't use it. I don't really buy this theory though and the former is far more likely.
Out of universe
The out of universe reason is obvious of course. It turning off is to symbolise and to show the audience that yes, he is indeed dead. Not just Tony that has died but Iron Man as well.
answered Sep 5, 2019 at 11:25
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29Tony Stark might have programmed it do that specifically just for effect. He seemed to be that kind of guy and might even have thought it funny. Sep 6, 2019 at 14:24
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10In "Far From Home", he leaves another AI called EDITH, which stands for "Even Dead I'm The Hero"... he was definitely that kind of guy. Sep 6, 2019 at 21:46