Amac Productions

Tony Stark is the worst.

There are many reasons to dislike or hate on Tony Stark. So many. If I truly felt like it and wanted to, I could go back to the movies rewatch them and make a list.

But that’s a lot of movies.

Mostly, I’m going to talk about the main grips I’ve had with Tony Stark for years now. Ones I come back to over and over again.

People have a lot of reasons to dislike Tony or Steve or any number of the other characters in the MCU, but I specifically want to talk about the ones that bother me most of all. Have bothered me, and ones I never truly got past to ever like Tony Stark again.

Because I did like him. Once.

During his first two movies, and probably Avengers. I didn’t find him the most wonderful character, not the one I’d be buying toys and merch about. Nothing about him as an arrogant rich billionaire drew me in as a character, but I didn’t get pissed every time I saw him.

He was just there.

Part of the plot.

Had some good movies.

Not really my cup of tea, but it was solid nonetheless.

Until, Captain America Civil War.

I was talking about superheroes recently and Tony Stark was mentioned, and I went off on a rant about all the things he’s done that made me dislike him. Like where he went from an annoying character who didn’t really interest me to one where he filled me with rage whenever he spoke.

Now this is the point where if you love Tony Stark, you’re free to leave. I’m not holding you hostage. I’m not making you read this. It’s up to you to curate your own experiences on the internet and I’m telling you, that if you love Tony Stark, and don’t wish to read anything negative – leave now.

If you read this and decide to comment nasty things or scream at me about how wrong I am, that is your own fault. I told you to go.

If you’d like to discuss any points made in a rousing and stimulating conversation, that is very different and would be welcomed. However, all rude and hateful comments will not be tolerated.

After all, I didn’t barge into your home and demand you read this. If it makes you angry to the point where you cannot control yourself, I warned you.

Now, with that out of the way, let’s discuss what bothers me, about Tony Stark.

Falcon vs. War Machine

In Civil War, War Machine is critically injured to the point he may be paralyzed from the waist down. Something we do see the after math of in subsequent movies.

This occurred because War Machine is hit with a thing meant for Falcon, but he manages to get out of the way of it.

I’m sure there’s an argument to be made for Tony here, but I don’t really care.

This is entire movie hinges on Tony realizing that actions have consequences for the first time in his life. That what the Avengers do, puts innocent people at risk. Something that has seemingly never occurred to him before and he makes it everyone else’s problem.

He wants to sign the accords not so they can be put ‘in check’ as he puts it. It’s so when people die during their battles no one can blame him for it ever again.

Unlike Steve who knew the entire time that people were in danger. That this is something that weighs on him, but ultimately to do what is right they cannot handicap themselves to one government.

Especially a government in some ways because Steve knows that they’ll let people die because the USA won’t want to interfere. Like there’s so much more at play in Steve’s decision than Tony will ever know.

Tony starts this fight.

He knows Steve. He’ll never stop. And everyone on his side of the fight has accepted what will happen. They even discuss mid fight that some may need to lose in order to win the larger day. They understand that pulling a trigger has consequences. Every time.

Something Tony cannot grasp. So when War Machine is hit instead of Falcon, he blames everyone for what happened except himself. Vision. Steve. Falcon. Anyone he can. Not himself.

He’s upset. He even shoots an unarmed Falcon over it. A man who apologized even when he shouldn’t have. He did nothing but protect himself.

Imagine if that hit Falcon instead. They wanted to allow him to glide, but Vision made an error. What if that error cost Falcon his life? He’s admittedly less protected than War Machine is.

Every time a weapon is drawn, you must be ready for the consequences of what follows. Whether it’s turned on you or not. And if you cannot handle that, don’t draw the weapon.

But then again, when has Tony ever dealt with real consequences?

I find it horrible that he was willing to cripple Falcon and throws a temper tantrum when it bites them in the ass.

Peter Parker

Everything about Peter Parker’s involvement in Civil War is upsetting.

He brings 14-year-old into battle after lying to his guardian and without telling him what’s really going on. In fact, Steve tries to give Peter more information than Tony does. Something that Peter was warned about but never given context for.

He doesn’t know why he’s fighting.

He doesn’t know what’s at stake.

He doesn’t know anything. And even if he did, he’s 14!

He should be nowhere near there. And I don’t care about Peter being Spider-Man already. A 14-year-old choosing to do something stupid in his home city that he knows and grew up is pretty normal. Even if it’s on a much bigger scale.

Currently, he’s dealing with petty crime.

But War Machine was literally paralyzed in this fight. Is this where a 14-year-old belongs?

No.

And even if he was told the stakes, he is not old to decide to leave his country, and fight on Ironman’s side regardless. His aunt knew nothing of the danger he’d be in, or she’d never let him go.

Tony lies to her.

It’s one thing for the teenager to do it. It’s another for an adult to do it. Knowingly lie, coerce, and put a teenager, a freaking child in danger.

It sets off a chain of events as well. Peter goes bigger and bolder believing he can because he worked with the Avengers. He’s given the suit, and an ego boost he never should have had. He should still be a dopey kid in Queens trying to stop bad things from happening.

Instead, he goes after criminals like the Vulture.

He goes after Tony and is snapped away.

Tony says he lost the kid. The kid should never have been involved Tony. You brought him. You blame Steve for losing him because you didn’t do it together like Steve promised. Well, guess what?

You pushed him away. You made a choice he didn’t agree with. You are the problem, Tony.

The Un-Snap

Oh, and my least favorite, unsnapping the Snap.

I understand that Tony had a child. I do. And I feel for him. But here’s the thing, he could make the same choices that brought him to his daughter regardless of the snap. He and Pepper could still get married and have a baby together.

Could things be different? Sure.

Could they be the same for him? Also, sure.

Do you know what’s not right? To mess up the lives of innocent people so you can be selfish.

The point of heroes, superheroes, is that they show us the best versions of ourselves. They make the hard choices even when it hurts them.

Supergirl giving up Mon-El to save the world. Superman saving Lex Luthor. Captain America putting the plane into the ice.

But not Tony.

He won’t make that choice.

He wants to have his happy ending. Other people’s be damned.

Because please, let’s think unsnapping five years later and how that would look. People could have moved on by now. People who lost spouses, they could be remarried. They could have children of their own with someone else now.

The world didn’t stop spinning for five years.

You could snap people back and their lives are gone.

Spouses moved on. They have no job. Their businesses could be closed. The world moved on without them, so how do the fit into it now?

Imagine all the therapy people would need.

Whereas, if you undo the original snap so it’s like it never happened, people would never know anything they lost during those fives. Anything they had or changed. Because the snap was unnatural.

It broke the universe.

Undoing it, would right the universe.

Except Tony wants his daughter.

For one singular person, we cause everyone more grief, and problems. It’s horrible to think about. I’d rather undo the original snap and allow life to move forward the way it was meant to.

Also, it means everyone who comes back is the same age they disappeared.

Meaning people have aged or died without them.

Like one of the marvels lost her mother.

Or how about in the same movie the horrible thing we get to witness firsthand?

Scott and his daughter.

Scott Lang AKA Antman did everything he could to be there for his daughter. We even see that he opted for house arrest instead of escape with Captain America to remain in his daughter’s life.

He loves her so much.

She’s with him every step of the way.

Not only does this selfish act that Tony has decided to go forward with, the only way he’ll help is if he keeps his daughter, he denies Scott five years with his daughter.

Scott is trapped because of the snap.

He misses seeing his daughter growing up and she spends five years without her father. How is it fair to give that time to Tony and rip it from Scott?

Scott who upon discovering what happened, his first reaction is to find his daughter, and give her a hug.

How is it fair to steal five years from one father to give it to another?

As I said before, the snap was unnatural. It wasn’t part of the natural order of the universe, which to me means anything that happened in those five years is wrong. They should be erased. They should be allowed to carry on with their lives as though one man hadn’t decided for everyone what the universe should look like.

Except in the process of the unsnap, one single man makes the choice for everyone again.

It’s not put to the public or the universe. One man says he’ll help if they snap everyone to this moment. Not undo the snap from five years ago. Because it happened and we have to live with it.

Why?

Because you want to selfishly keep your daughter?

I understand. But you’re no hero. And it shouldn’t be up to you and the Avengers shouldn’t have agreed to it to get your help. Which is another matter. But the fact that he demanded that without considering anyone else shows you exactly where Tony places himself in the world.

His wants and needs are more important than anyone else’s.

Thus, I don’t like Tony Stark.

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