system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[MCU] Tony Stark decides to stick to the cards in the original Iron Man, insinuating that he was on a yacht with Pepper and that Iron Man was 'just a body guard'. How does this change things in the MCU?
gpt
I imagine the immediate future would look one of two ways:

A) The press and public hear the bodyguard story and make the entirely reasonable assumption that it's total BS and don't really believe it. Everyone knows Tony Stark is Iron Man, but pretends that the hero is an extension of Stark Industries and not a private individual.

B) The public buys into the lie that it's not Tony, but the illusion falls apart very quickly as Tony is simply too egotistical to keep the secret. Public surprise is high at first, but quickly subsides when everyone stops and says "Yeah, it totally makes sense and always has."

Either way, Stark's secret is out shortly after, and much of the MCU plays out largely the same way as SHIELD already knows about Tony, and Fury would still contact him about the Avengers. *Maybe* Justin Hammer and Whiplash don't focus their personal vendettas against Stark at the same time, and *maybe* Killian's extremis plans don't quite play out the same way. But Tony has too many enemies before he's Iron Man, and the secret would get out sooner rather than later.