Tony is notorious for making impulsive, “ready, fire, aim” decisions, following his gut and what it tells him is right, first—Loki is not the only one that does what he wants. In the first Iron Man, he throws everyone off-guard by returning from Afghanistan and immediately announcing that he would be shutting down the part of his company that made weapons, and then again when he throws out the alibi everyone told him to stick to and comes out as Iron Man to the entire world. Iron Man 2 is a parade of these moments, from announcing Pepper as his successor to his company, to pushing a driver out of his car to enter a Monaco car derby. It’s not surprising that Natasha Romanov and S.H.I.E.L.D. would deem him incapable of playing well with others.
One of the major conflict points of the Avengers movie is how this group of people can learn to pool in their unusual talents and find their rhythm as a team, which wasn’t an easy feat, at first. On Tony’s end, he is predictably arrogant and disinterested in collaborating, exploding into the scene without proper warning, and then rushing to retrieve Loki from Thor without listening to Steve. Like Fury said, they needed a push (the death of Coulson) to put their differences aside and come together to avenge Coulson and save the world, and that includes Tony. He follows direction, has his team members’ backs, and by the end of the movie, Tony is even seen renovating his tower to house the other Avengers, so they could all live together in one place.
Since the advent of the superhero comic, a familiar origin story has popped up for most of these fellows: first, the parents have to die. Then through some kind of freak accident that alters their physical state (radioactive spider, gamma radiation, or a freakishly convenient bolt of lightning), they find their calling in protecting the good and fighting the bad guys. Both of Tony’s parents died in a car crash when he was a teenager, later enabling him to inherit his father’s company and take over the business of making weapons for the military. In the beginning of Iron Man, while speaking to a reporter, he shows zero remorse for the role that Stark Industries plays in warfare, even validating his actions while trying to charm the woman into his bed all in the same breath.
Two things change him: a missile that all but destroyed his heart and killed him, and Doctor Ho Yinsen. Doctor Yinsen, a fellow prisoner in Afghanistan, was the one that performed the surgery that saved Tony’s life, removing as much shrapnel as he could, and putting the electromagnet inside his chest. He is also the one that tells Tony the dark truth that he’s been naïve about all those years of his career: terrorists were using his weapons to murder innocent people. And the only reason they were keeping him alive was to build the Jericho missile for them. This information, and the futility of his physical situation, sends Tony into a brief state of hopelessness. But Yinsen pushes him to fight, and prevent this from becoming his legacy. Then when he gives his life so Tony could escape, he uses his last bit of energy to tell him not to waste his life.
These words are a turning point for Tony. It motivates him to change, devoting his life to protecting those he put in harm’s way. However Yinsen is also a heavy weight on his conscience. There is a scene in the Avengers where Steve Rogers is arguing with him, taking jabs at his character while Tony sasses back. Until Steve tells him, “I know guys with none of that worth ten of you.” There is a subtle, yet noticeable break in Tony’s offense after this line. It’s not hard to believe that he hears the truth in Steve’s criticism—that he even agrees with Steve, feeling deep down that he didn’t deserve to have someone sacrifice their life for his.
As much swag as he sends out into the universe, Tony is damaged, even before the socket was introduced to his chest cavity. He’s conflicted, arguably suffering from depression, with very few meaningful connections to the human world. His claim to fame—the outlet that he had been putting all his ideas into before Afghanistan—was profiting from death and destruction. Not to mention he spent most of his adult life believing that his father didn’t love him. At his lowest point, Tony probably gives his life the same monetary value as a used coffee filter. Iron Man is his redemption; it’s the one good thing that he did.
Not surprisingly, one defining aspect of Tony’s character is alcoholism. It's never outright said in the movies the way it is in the comics (where he identifies himself as a recovering alcoholic in certain issues), but there is a prevalence of scenes where Tony isn't either holding a drink or going to get one. The director of the first Iron Man movie, Jon Favreau, is quoted as saying, "Stark has issues with booze. That's part of who he is." Iron Man 2 was almost based on an issue from the seventies called Demons in a Bottle, where a series of events led Tony to try and pull a Leaving Las Vegas—without the hooker, but the heavy binge-drinking with the intent to kill himself. They changed direction, but getting wasted at his birthday party does cause a lot of things to bottom out for him, including losing one of his suits to Rhodes.
Tony Stark | MCU: The Avengers | Reserved
One of the major conflict points of the Avengers movie is how this group of people can learn to pool in their unusual talents and find their rhythm as a team, which wasn’t an easy feat, at first. On Tony’s end, he is predictably arrogant and disinterested in collaborating, exploding into the scene without proper warning, and then rushing to retrieve Loki from Thor without listening to Steve. Like Fury said, they needed a push (the death of Coulson) to put their differences aside and come together to avenge Coulson and save the world, and that includes Tony. He follows direction, has his team members’ backs, and by the end of the movie, Tony is even seen renovating his tower to house the other Avengers, so they could all live together in one place.
Since the advent of the superhero comic, a familiar origin story has popped up for most of these fellows: first, the parents have to die. Then through some kind of freak accident that alters their physical state (radioactive spider, gamma radiation, or a freakishly convenient bolt of lightning), they find their calling in protecting the good and fighting the bad guys. Both of Tony’s parents died in a car crash when he was a teenager, later enabling him to inherit his father’s company and take over the business of making weapons for the military. In the beginning of Iron Man, while speaking to a reporter, he shows zero remorse for the role that Stark Industries plays in warfare, even validating his actions while trying to charm the woman into his bed all in the same breath.
Two things change him: a missile that all but destroyed his heart and killed him, and Doctor Ho Yinsen. Doctor Yinsen, a fellow prisoner in Afghanistan, was the one that performed the surgery that saved Tony’s life, removing as much shrapnel as he could, and putting the electromagnet inside his chest. He is also the one that tells Tony the dark truth that he’s been naïve about all those years of his career: terrorists were using his weapons to murder innocent people. And the only reason they were keeping him alive was to build the Jericho missile for them. This information, and the futility of his physical situation, sends Tony into a brief state of hopelessness. But Yinsen pushes him to fight, and prevent this from becoming his legacy. Then when he gives his life so Tony could escape, he uses his last bit of energy to tell him not to waste his life.
These words are a turning point for Tony. It motivates him to change, devoting his life to protecting those he put in harm’s way. However Yinsen is also a heavy weight on his conscience. There is a scene in the Avengers where Steve Rogers is arguing with him, taking jabs at his character while Tony sasses back. Until Steve tells him, “I know guys with none of that worth ten of you.” There is a subtle, yet noticeable break in Tony’s offense after this line. It’s not hard to believe that he hears the truth in Steve’s criticism—that he even agrees with Steve, feeling deep down that he didn’t deserve to have someone sacrifice their life for his.
As much swag as he sends out into the universe, Tony is damaged, even before the socket was introduced to his chest cavity. He’s conflicted, arguably suffering from depression, with very few meaningful connections to the human world. His claim to fame—the outlet that he had been putting all his ideas into before Afghanistan—was profiting from death and destruction. Not to mention he spent most of his adult life believing that his father didn’t love him. At his lowest point, Tony probably gives his life the same monetary value as a used coffee filter. Iron Man is his redemption; it’s the one good thing that he did.
Not surprisingly, one defining aspect of Tony’s character is alcoholism. It's never outright said in the movies the way it is in the comics (where he identifies himself as a recovering alcoholic in certain issues), but there is a prevalence of scenes where Tony isn't either holding a drink or going to get one. The director of the first Iron Man movie, Jon Favreau, is quoted as saying, "Stark has issues with booze. That's part of who he is." Iron Man 2 was almost based on an issue from the seventies called Demons in a Bottle, where a series of events led Tony to try and pull a Leaving Las Vegas—without the hooker, but the heavy binge-drinking with the intent to kill himself. They changed direction, but getting wasted at his birthday party does cause a lot of things to bottom out for him, including losing one of his suits to Rhodes.