When a franchise like the Marvel Cinematic Universe spans over a decade long with plenty of movies and TV shows to keep it going, there are bound to be some characters who get lost in the shuffle. However, one of the most egregious points on such a timeline has to be 2013’s Iron Man 3, a movie that introduced a young character who could have had a huge impact in the MCU. Friends, it’s time we talk about actor Ty Simpkins, the young man who could have been, and still could be, a huge part in Tony Stark’s story.
Who Is The Kid From Iron Man 3?
Young Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins) helped out Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in his hour of need. During the events of writer/director Shane Black’s Iron Man threequel, Tony’s investigation into Extremis saw him stranded in Rose Hill, Tennessee. Offering a car battery, his sister’s watch and kindness, Harley assisted Tony with getting back in the air and even helped him deal with recurring panic attacks that came as a result of The Avengers’ “Battle of New York.”
In reality, actor Ty Simpkins had already built a pretty impressive resume of roles before his Iron Man 3 role. Debuting in Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, Simpkins also found parts in the movies Revolutionary Road and Insidious, as well as guest spots in shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. While Simpkins didn't return to the MCU for more than half a decade, he did snag even more prime roles.
What Ty Simpkins Has Been Up To Since His MCU Role
We know that Ty Simpkins eventually landed his Avengers: Endgame role in 2017, back when it was being filmed back to back with Avengers: Infinity War. However, in the gap between Marvel Studios gigs, Simpkins continued to act, with a couple of huge franchises landing on his resume. Not only did the Insidious star reprise his role as Dalton Lambert in Insidious 2, but he would also land a young lead role in the Jurassic World franchise as Grey Mitchell.
Oh, and he managed to reunite with his Iron Man 3 director Shane Black, thanks to a brief, but pivotal role in 2016’s The Nice Guys. Ty Simpkins’ post-Endgame career has been pretty eventful, as he was seen as a featured lead in Darren Aronofsky’s 2023 Academy Award nominee The Whale. Plus, earlier in 2023, Insidious: The Red Door would close out its titular franchise thanks to one final performance of Ty as Dalton Lambert.
Clearly, Mr. Simpkins has done well for himself on both sides of his Marvel Studios timeline. At the same time, I still firmly believe the studio missed out big time by not using Harley Keener more often in The Infinity Saga and its successors.
Why Marvel Missed A Big Opportunity With Harley Keener
If you haven’t learned of the massive deaths contained in Avengers: Endgame, use your Disney+ subscription to milk some tears. That having been said, we only ever saw Harley Keener one more time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it was at Tony Stark’s funeral. That's a huge disappointment considering how integral his character was in Iron Man 3.
After having a life-changing adventure that undoubtedly stuck with him throughout his adult years, we never got to see Harley growing up in the aftermath of those events. You could have very easily had this young inventor become a classmate to Tom Holland's Peter Parker, or even worked as an intern at Stark Industries who may have popped up in either Spider-Man: Homecoming or Avengers: Infinity War.
I know there are other successors to the Stark legacy who have been introduced both in Endgame and its following adventures. Tony’s daughter, Morgan, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s Riri “Ironheart” Williams (Dominique Thorne) are the two more immediate candidates people will easily point out, and they deserve a piece of this mantle as well. But with Harley’s story, the whole plot point of Tony Stark even settling down to have a family would have been better developed, rather than a two-part story device that merely started in Avengers: Infinity War.
That being said, even Ty Simpkins’ approach to his Avengers: Endgame scene showed off how much we missed when it came to his Harley’s life between movies. In his opinion, Harley Keener had kept in touch with Tony Stark, seeing him as a mentor and father figure in the years that followed.
Getting just one or two more scenes that really followed that thread would have made his appearance at the big funeral scene all the more poignant. Ty's interpretation could have helped in the past, but it could still make a difference in the future if there are any open ears over at Marvel Studios.
Could Ty Simpkins Still Return To The MCU?
Keeping what we know about Ironheart in mind, there’s still a chance that Ty Simpkins could bring Harley Keener back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now that Riri Williams’ antics with her own suit of armor are now public knowledge, her Disney+ sequel series will probably send some unsavory characters her way.
It tends to happen whenever someone with an Iron-mantle enters the field, and Harley has some experience working under such conditions. Giving him a chance to properly grieve on-screen, and maybe even become a part of the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, a Harley Keener return is still a solid tip of the hat to the past.
There’s certainly interest from Simpkin’s end of the conversation, as a 2020 Inverse interview breached that very subject. In that conversation, Ty Simpkins shared the following feelings about returning for a new project:
I’d love to be in future films. Obviously I’d love to be inserted anywhere I could, but I haven’t been told anything.
“Anywhere” could be in a position of friendship where Harley and Riri team up to refine her designs, fend off some bad guys and continue the legacy that Tony Stark left behind. His return doesn’t need to supercede Riri’s adventures, as the MCU loves to connect previous characters we thought would never return into future excursions. Just look at the Captain America: Brave New World cast, and you’ll see that’s still very much the truth.
For all we know, there’s a plan to bring Harley Keener back into Marvel’s interconnected world of wonder afoot, and it’s just not public knowledge yet. Though there was clearly a fumbled opportunity in the past, there’s plenty of time to fix things in the latest phase; and before one of two new Avengers movies potentially drafts Ty Simpkins into its roster of heroes. It's the least the universe could do after failing to return him to the Jurassic World sequels he was amped to take part in, but never did.
