I’ve always loved Captain America. No surprise there. I really love just about every single character to come out of the Marvel Universe. My favorite book, though, has always been Avengers.
The team dynamic, with Captain America heading up the troops more times than not. And one of the best parts? The tension you could always feel between Captain America and Iron Man. Sure they’re buds, but they’ve had quite a few knock-out fights.
So of course, I’m in love with every single Marvel movie that’s come out from Marvel Films. After seeing The Avengers: Age of Ultron this past weekend, however, I have come to one simple conclusion: Iron Man is a total jerk!
Before I go on, let me add a SPOILER WARNING: If you haven’t seen The Avengers: Age of Ultron yet, stop reading. Unless you don’t care if I ruin some of the story for ya.
If you’ve seen the Iron Man movies, you know Tony’s not the best of friends. Between the way he causes trouble for James Rhodes, and how he treats his girlfriend Pepper, he’s far from the perfect gentleman. Yes, he’s got a good heart and means well, but he kind of beats to his own drum in a selfish sort of way.
Now take his latest actions in Age of Ultron. I’d go so far as to call them completely inexcusable. Not only was Tony Stark responsible for completely terrifying a young Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver thanks to his company’s weapons manufacturing, but much more horrible… Iron Man is 100% responsible for Quicksilver’s death.
If Tony hadn’t created Ultron in the first place, the human-extinction machine never would’ve tried to take over the world and in the process, gun down Quicksilver. Oh yeah, and that’s not to mention the tons of other lives clearly lost at Ultron’s hand, as well as an entire city lifted off the ground!
Bruce Banner tried to stop Tony from initially creating Ultron, although he might as well have been sleeping as Tony talked about it. “No, Tony. Don’t. You can’t. You shouldn’t. ZZZZZ. Okay, here let me help.” So Banner’s no saint either, but I still blame Iron Man completely for creating Ultron in the first place.
Tony just has to play God. It’s not good enough for him to build a high-tech machine. Uh uh. Instead, he’s got to create an all-new life form. And how did he do it? Oh, he only used some items he took from a small little group called Hydra. Yeah, the bad guys. As if things couldn’t possibly go wrong…
And then even after the rest of the Avengers has it out with him (Thor was “this” close to crushing his windpipe!), Tony does it again. This time with The Vision. Luckily for him, it worked out. But imagine if Vision was even more screwed up in the head than Ultron? All of humanity would either be eradicated, or worse, enslaved and tortured.
Tony never learns from his mistakes. He’s just too arrogant. Too cocky. Too smart for his own good. Or to put it simply: Tony Stark is a big, fat jerk.
Now, we all know Thanos is coming and for the Avengers’ sake (and ours), I can only hope Captain America can get Iron Man in line. Otherwise, we’ll all be wishing Ultron had actually succeeded.
Do you think Iron Man was wrong?
This article does bring up some interesting points. I have enjoyed the Iron Man movies, but I prefer the Captain America movies instead.
I definitely think Captain America is my favorite and Iron Man is my least favorite. Different ends of the spectrum there.
Not a big fan of these types of movies
Hmmm… I should send this to a friend of mine and get her opinion. She’s actually in love with Tony Stark.
Actually I have to disagree with you on this one. He is an ass. But I think that’s the charm of Tony Stark – he’s just so damn human. As compared to picture-perfect Captain America, Tony is flawed and relatable. What’s important is that at his core, despite his demons, he’s a really good guy who genuinely, selflessly, puts his life on the line to help others.
Anyone who says Tony Stark is a jerk hasn’t been watching these movies closely enough. Tony is the saddest, most tragic, and to my mind, most heroic figure in Marvel comics AND in the MCU. His entire storyline is that he’s a man striving to be a better man — the former warmonger who becomes a man who only wants to save the world and avoid fighting, the former womanizer who is now in love and committed to the woman he adores, the man who shields both his body and his heart with armor (literal and figurative). Tony’s story is that he is NOT a “superhero” — he’s no supersoldier, god or monster. He’s a human being surviving by his wits and intellect. He builds things because he has an almost-obsessional need to protect the world and the things he loves. When he fails, it’s not because he’s a jerk or a bad guy – it’s because he’s a metaphor for all humankind and the things we try and try to invent and make work, so that we can make the world a better place. Tony is really the only figure among the Marvel heroes who does grow and change, who tries and fails and falls and gets up and tries again and again. Thor is always going to be Thor. The Hulk is a kind of storybook shapeshifter — his own sort of tragedy. Cap is his own mythic self, a stand-in for a past age of golden heroes and the “Best Generation.” But Tony – he is US. He’s our own age of marvels (literally) and science and technology, and our struggle to stay human in the midst of all that, and in the midst of all the threats from “outside” (what do you think the Chitauri are stand-ins for? Or the evil robot army?). He’s HUMAN and yes, he’s a jerk sometimes, seemingly, but his trajectory is forever onward and upward. He’s every inventor who ever failed 99 times for every one success; he’s every one of us who tries to stay real while surrounded by all the tech taking over our lives; he’s everyone who thinks they’re inferior to all the “real heroes” around us but still tries to be good and do the best we can. He’s everyone who falls in battle – no matter what sort of battle it is — and picks themself up and hurls themself back into the fray again. He’s everyone who ever built a suit of armor around their heart and their feelings because they’ve been through so much pain. That’s why I love Tony Stark and I always will. He’s no big fat jerk — in many ways, he’s the biggest hero of them all.
I completely agree. I know he’s tried to turn things around for himself, but if you think about it, he’s hurting others and himself with his ego.
I agree that Tony Stark has always seemed like a conceited jerk but that’s part of the charm. At least, that’s what I think. My son is going to this movie with friends tomorrow – I won’t spoil it!