Marvel Studios The Avengers Tower in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
A major plot point of Spider-Man: Homecoming, the newest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is that the Avengers tower is sold as Tony Stark and the gang permanently move upstate. So why was the Avengers tower sold, and who bought it?
We aren’t given a whole lot of information about this in the movie itself; it is simply stated that the tower was being sold. However, there are already a number of theories out there, the most popular being that it was purchased by Oscorp.
Oscorp, of course, is the multinational corporation that was created by Norman Osborn, a.k.a. The Green Goblin. It’s a pretty major part of the Spider-Man mythos, and in Spider-Man stories both on the page and on screen, the Oscorp Tower looms large over the city. Having Oscorp be the ones who purchase the Avengers tower could be the perfect way of bringing them into the story in the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel.
Indeed, Marvel has wanted to bring Oscorp into the MCU’s New York City skyline for years. According to IGN, producers Avi Arad and Matthew Tolmach said in 2012 that the Oscorp Tower was “this close” to being featured in the skyline of The Avengers. The only thing that got in the way was that by the time the tower’s design was complete, it was too late to add it into the movie.
The only possible piece of evidence against the theory of Oscorp taking over the Avengers tower is the fact that Marvel President Kevin Feige has said that the villain of the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel will be someone we haven’t seen in the previous Spider-Man movies, taking Norman Osborn out of contention.
“We are excited to use characters that you haven’t seen before on screen,” Feige recently told the Toronto Sun. “So that narrows it down a little bit in terms of who will pop up next. Spider-Man has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to villains and there are a lot that haven’t been touched upon. It’s those that we will be looking at first.”
However, it’s still possible that Oscorp as a company could soon be introduced, even if Norman Osborn himself isn’t the villain right away.
In addition, one pretty out there idea is that the tower was purchased by none other than Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic from the Fantastic Four comics. In the comics, Reed buys the Baxter Building, and this becomes the headquarters for the Fantastic Four. Marvel does not currently have the rights to the Fantastic Four; that’s owned by 20th Century Fox. However, just as Sony was willing to make a deal with Marvel Studios after two lackluster Amazing Spider-Man films, it would not be surprising if Fox makes a deal with Marvel Studios over the rights to the Fantastic Four after their failed 2015 Fantastic Four reboot, which only made $56 million at the U.S. box office.
It’s also possible that it’s not really significant who bought the Avengers tower. A big reason for the move was probably for storytelling reasons, with Marvel not wanting Iron Man and the rest of the Avengers so close by during future Spider-Man movies. This will make New York City more of Spider-Man’s territory, and it will mean Iron Man or Captain America can’t necessarily swoop in and save the day every time Peter Parker gets in over his head.
The compound we see at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming is not new, and it was also seen being used in previous Marvel Studios movies like Captain America: Civil War. In Homecoming, though, Tony Stark officially moves everything out of the Avengers Tower and into this new facility.
We may find out more about who purchased the Avengers tower in Avengers: Infinity War, which opens on May 4th, 2018.