I’ve done a Tony Stark meta rec before, as well a few as part of my Infinity War / Phase 4 recs, but guess what? Tony is the fuckin best and he deserves another one. Also, I deserve another one, because this is more work than it probably seems and right now I just feel like rolling around in pro-Tony posts.
Tony’s is my favorite phoenix rising from the ashes story, and not because of what he can do with a box of scraps in an active war zone. He falls frequently and with tremendous force, both literally and figuratively, as a hero and as a human being. And yet, despite the heavy weight of canonical depression, self-loathing, PTSD, and alcoholism (depending on your universe), he always gets up again.
Tony, I think more than any other Marvel hero, understands the repercussions of every choice he makes, good and bad. It was a lesson he learned all the way back in Iron Man thanks to Obadiah Stane, and one we see him pass on to Peter in Spider-Man: Homecoming when he tells him to “be better.” Yes, he makes mistakes — though not nearly as many as he’s blamed for — but he always faces them, even when it’s hard. He’s not the guy to run away or claim righteous perfection. He’s the guy to roll up his sleeves and fix the problem, no matter the personal cost. I’m not even joking when I say I’m proud of him. And a little teary-eyed. (Is that weird? It’s at least 12% weird.)
The TL;DR of it all is this: I love Tony Stark, and here are a few excellent meta posts by people who love him, too. Also, because
“I am Iron Man” by @avelera, I know it’s in my tags for the Iron Man post but man, do you guys remember the “I am Iron Man” moment at the end of Iron Man 1? Do you guys remember what that represented? (Mirror Link)
“I think I would just cut the wire” by @ihamtmus, Let’s talk about this line. In Avengers, Steve tells Tony he wouldn’t “lay down on a wire” to let somebody else crawl over him. In other words, he accuses him of not being able to sacrifice himself (btw what kind of insult is that, Steve?? It’s not something to accuse somebody of?? But that’s a different subject). We all know it’s not true, as Tony himself proved many times. (Mirror Link)
Thanos has one fear… and it’s Tony Stark by @starkravinghazelnuts, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: “Because the Soul Stone” is not a good enough reason why Thanos knew Stark. I think we, the audience, are supposed to be asking ourselves, “Why does Thanos know him? How?” Because it was a dramatized moment. The narrative deliberately pulled our attention to this scene. Thanos says, “Stark,” like it’s significant somehow–and clearly Tony feels the same way because he stops to ask Thanos, “You know me?” It’s very much a “did I hear that right?” beat. Thanos then says, “I do. You’re not the only one cursed with knowledge.” (Mirror Link)
Tony without his suit by @kayytx,Tony: *designs and creates a suit of armor under duress, in captivity, while recovering from unmedicated chest surgery, and escapes from his kidnappers* (Mirror Link)
that guy’s phone in the first panel became more high tech in tony stark’s presence
I am laughing so fucking hard
oh my god how did I miss that
omfg
tony stark literally upgraded a flip phone to a smartphone by being within three feet of it
People pass their old technology close to him for his blessing and lo! It is upgraded. The miracle of the flip into the smart shall be told unto the ages.
I love how instead of just calling this a continuity error, the whole fandom decided “No, he literally upgraded the phone with his mere presence.”
Avengers AU – If Tony was Peter’s biological father
Tony is super protective of his son. And Peter, inspired by his dad, becomes Spiderman anyway (his dad and his Uncle Rhodey figure him out in a second though).
All that said, I still feel robbed that we never got a moment where Tony Stark is confronted with the existence of Thor and has to reevaluate his entire worldview including the laws of goddamn physics which he bases his life’s work around.
I know it’s in my tags for the Iron Man post but man, do you guys remember the “I am Iron Man” moment at the end of Iron Man 1? Do you guys remember what that represented?
Superhero movies obviously existed before Iron Man. X-Men come to mind, as well as a slew of DC movies like Batman and Superman. But you know what they all had as a subplot? Keeping identities secret. It was such a staple of the superhero movie genre that you went in knowing that there was going to need to be some kind of reset button at the end, or some stupid excuse for why the heroes couldn’t reap any of the benefits (and blame) of having just saved the world. They must always retreat into the shadows at the end, constantly helping but never known, because of “reasons”. Some reasons made sense, like protecting loved ones, but it had the underlying problem of meaning there was always this stale element to so many of these films. The world never fully got to react to superheroes existing, because they always retreated back into hiding afterwards.
When Tony said, “I am Iron Man” the theater erupted. I was barely a superhero fan at that point, and my jaw dropped. Something new had just happened. Everyone sensed it.
The film had already grounded Tony Stark in the war in Afghanistan, it had already shown him as a fairly realistic tech wunderkind working within the military industrial complex of the day. When you watch the film today, it’s very much a product of the Bush era. For example, everything is about propping up the military, and journalists are automatically annoyances at best and unpatriotic at worst (as a fandom, have we yet acknowledged that Christine Everhart is actually a hero? Her needling helped prompt Tony to change his ways, and far from showing her up by declaring he was Iron Man, he actually handed her the scoop of the century while thinking he was sticking it to her. Hilarious. Everhart is a top-notch journalist and deserves so much more credit.)
“I am Iron Man” heralded a new era of superhero movies. It meant we were going to have more than just Stark grounded in the real world (which was already a refreshing take on the genre). Rather, all the heroes were going to be grounded in the real world and the real world was going to know who they were and adjust as a result. No reset button. No status quo. No slinking back into the shadows.
To this day you can feel how DC superhero films are struggling with this old subplot. There’s an underlying element of staleness in those films because they were unable to make any similar bold and dramatic shift to revitalize the genre and bring it into the modern era. When your heroes have secret identities, the world can’t really respond to the superheroes in it because there can be no dialogue between the world and the superheroes, the world can only react to the disasters and try to recover from them. The superheroes go about their lives.
So kudos to this bold move by the Iron Man filmmakers ten years ago. I don’t think it can be understated that this is why we have the Marvel Cinematic Universe today.
So uh, guys, what if the reason we didn’t see Peter Parker cradle his father figure, Uncle Ben, as he dies is because we’re going to see him cradle his other father figure, Tony Stark, as *he* dies?
Honestly, at this point you could tell me that Peter Parker’s mom was one of the Maxim models Tony Stark slept with and I would totally accept it
I’m rewatching Iron Man 1 and Christine Everhart is a *fucking* hero
Avelera 