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NAVIGATEMar. 8th, 2023 at 12:15 AM
Tony Stark
PRIMARY MOTIVATION: He was given a second chance at life and told not to waste it. He is motivated by the desire to live up to the sacrifice he felt that Yinsen made for him. Beyond that, he wants to prove that he's not his father, and that he's not the person he felt like his father expected him to be. He's motivated to make up for the deaths and pain caused by his negligence and his company's history. He wants to do the right thing. And, you know, Tony can also see the future. Either because of his own paranoia and PTSD, or because of his genius-level intellect and his ability to see connections and patterns, Tony knows what's around every corner before he looks, and that drives him to protect the people he loves before all else.
DEEPEST FEAR / INSECURITY: Well it used to be the idea of disappointing Steve Rogers, who he always saw as a kind of morality litmus test. Now, he's kind of fine with that.
LIKES: Adventure. Risk. Helping others. Money. The pursuit of sex? But not necessarily the sex part.
DISLIKES: Space. Feeling vulnerable. Wanda's weird brain thing. Slowing down.
FAVORITE TOPICS OF CONVERSATION: Tony Stark. Mechanics. Whatever Bruce Banner is talking about just to prove that he also knows about that.
ALL THE REST: Both Tony and Bruce Banner struggle with duality; Tony and Iron Man, Bruce and the Hulk. Two identities, one body. The only difference is that Iron Man’s bad side isn't the massively overpowered Avenger -- it's Tony.
Iron Man: Yes.
Tony Stark: Not Recommended.
He's got some serious self-destructive tendencies, and he's long been in the business of making that look cool. Tony constantly pushes himself to extremes until he literally can't anymore, with no real consideration for what he should be doing or what would be good for him. That's what he does. Alcohol problem? No need to bother anyone about it, just keep it on the DL. Dying of blood poisoning? Play it cool, don’t mention it, hop in a race car, throw a wild party. Feeling worthless? Put on a super suit, risk your life several times, stand on death's doorstep and DARE it to open the fucking door. Or fly a nuke into the portal, even though you know it’s almost certain death. Tony Stark, in many ways, really can be summed up by the question, “You got any other bad ideas?”
Even Tony's best qualities have been known to cause serious problems for him. Frankly, many of his attributes, while good on their own, should never have been allowed to coexist with some of his others.
Tony is a great strategist (good), but he's also arrogant (bad). He genuinely wants to help people (also good), but he often believes he's smart enough to provide that help without their input (also bad). Though Tony functions well as part of a team that is actively collaborating and sharing information, when left to his own devices, he can be extremely myopic. Once Tony settles on an idea, he tends to run full steam ahead without waiting for feedback from others, and doesn't always listen to it when he receives it (very bad). This singular tendency is probably responsible for 95% of the Tony Stark generated conflicts in the Marvel universe.
His intelligence and technological aptitude (good) also plays very poorly off of his extreme impulsivity (bad). When a problem doesn't immediately appear to be complicated, Tony will run with half-formed ideas and put himself in needlessly dangerous situations without giving adequate consideration to the consequences. Because he's great at thinking on his feet, his penchant for daring doesn't always catch up to him. But when it does, the results tend to be bad.
He has a hero/savior complex (good?) that is fueled by a death wish (bad). Like most vigilantes, Tony Stark has some unresolved childhood trauma and a host of mental health issues that he's been treating using a controversial therapy technique known as, "if I ignore it, it will go away." He's dealt with addiction, depression, trauma, and mania, all while being the subject of public scrutiny. And if he's honest, he never really expected to make it this far. His will to live is still winning out, but he pulls a lot of stupid stunts that others would describe as damn near suicidal.
He's fairly closed off and emotionally stunted, and he doesn't cope well with strongly negative feelings. He doesn't get sad, he gets angry. And when there's no obvious source on which to direct his anger, he gets mad at himself. He spent a long time dealing with negative emotions by ignoring them, pretending they didn't exist, or distracting himself. (As you can imagine, this is tied into his history of drinking and substance abuse.)
Tony can come across as an arrogant, abrasive asshole. Sometimes a likeable asshole, but an asshole nonetheless. His snark has been referred to as his primary superpower. And sensitivity? That's the sort of thing people need when they have to make themselves feel better about being wrong a lot. He doesn't go out of his way to piss people off - or he doesn't always go out of his way to piss people off - but he does like to push people's buttons. Call it scientific curiosity.
Truthfully, he does think he's smarter than everyone, but the real issue is probably that he’s afraid of being vulnerable. He hides behind his sense of humor because sincerity makes him feel too exposed. There are a lot of people who have seen Tony Stark be a bastard, or an idiot. But he doesn't want to let them see him break down. His personality is essentially a second suit of armor: a complex system of offensive and defensive tools to keep out anything that might hurt him. And if people sometimes read him as flippant and shallow, maybe they won't bother getting close enough to put a dent in the armor.
It's a mistake to think that Tony has grown a lot, over his time as an Avenger. It's more honest to say that Stark experienced one "Come to Jesus" moment when he was kidnapped in the desert, and it's really that moment and the promise that he made to Yinsen that keeps him in a kind of vicious cycle between wanting to look for and find his own happiness, and wanting to make sure that his life is worthy of the sacrifice that Yinsen made for him.
People tend to think that Tony has overcome his selfishness, become more selfless, or changed into the person willing to make the "sacrifice play.” But the truth is that he always has been. Despite his best efforts to maintain distance, Tony cares a lot. All he has done since becoming Iron Man is make sacrifices for the benefit of others. It's just that no one ever seems to really notice it, or give him the credit he may actually deserves. Tony sees it as the job of a hero to help those who are struggling, and he lives that mantra as much as he can (within the bounds of practicality and sanity).
One reason that Tony doesn't usually get much credit is that, unlike Captain America, his approach to problem solving is more utilitarian. As a self-described futurist, Tony tries to see where his decisions are going to lead when he makes them. He's almost always a few steps ahead of everyone. His approach tends to be more pragmatic. Not because he doesn't want to save everyone, but because he knows that it's impossible to save everyone all the time. He would love to live in the world that Cap sees, where there is always a perfect solution. But sometimes you just have to save who you can save.
As Nick Fury might say, Tony takes the world as it is, and not as he wants it to be. His realism is often misconstrued as cynicism or callousness, but the truth of the matter is that he's right more often than he's wrong. And letting the perfect be the enemy of the good van result in greater losses.
Not that Steve ever listens to him when he tries to explain that. But to be fair, not that Tony listens when Steve tries to explain whatever Steve tries to explain. (He doesn’t know. He wasn’t listening.) Thing is, Tony is stubborn. He doesn't think he's stubborn. He thinks Steve is stubborn. But it doesn't get much more stubborn than being too stubborn to admit you're stubborn.
Paradoxically, Tony is kind of a self-loathing narcissist. Because he sees himself as very capable, he takes personal responsibility for everything, which makes it difficult for him to feel a sense of satisfaction in his work. He underestimates his value and overestimates his skill, which leads people (including Tony) to have unreasonable expectations. And when he fails, even if success was clearly impossible, he blames himself. Even triumphs can leave him feeling listless when they aren't achieved on his terms.
Further, while I wouldn't call him selfish, I would call him self-centered. He tends to get very caught up in his own head, in his own thoughts, in his own problems. It's to the point that he can kind of forget that other people are also out here having their own experiences and internal lives that have nothing to do with him or his problems. For that reason, he has a tendency to monologue without immediately noticing that the Taco Bell cashier is not really paying attention to his existential anxiety spiraling.
1. Afghanistan & the Death of Ho Yinsen - During a trip to Afghanistan, Tony's convoy was attacked (by someone using Stark Industry weapons). The explosion of one of his own bombs causes him to lose consciousness and embeds sever pieces of shrapnel into his chest, some of which is dangerous close to his heart and slowly sinking deeper. He wakes up later to find that his chest has been somewhat jerry-rigged with an electromagnet attached to his chest, which is keeping the shrapnel from entering his heart and killing him. Tony learns that he’s been captured by a terrorist group called the “Ten Rings” -- the terrorist group order Stark to built weapons for him, but instead he and fellow captive Ho Yinsen build powerful armor fueled by a minute version of what Howard Stark and Anton Vanko invented years ago, an arc reactor. The reactor not only powers the suit, but also supplies the energy that Tony needs to keep the shrapnel from killing him. In the end, Tony uses the suit to escape, but Ho Yinsen dies aiding him in his getaway.
This death hit Tony pretty hard. After the death of his... well, butler, mostly, Yinsen was probably the only man who ever really demonstrated a sincere belief in Tony's ability to do something real with his life. It was also the first time Tony lost someone in "combat," and it's not a loss he's ever fully dealt with. He didn't just die, he died for Tony. He died following Tony. He died so that Tony might live. Yinsen's home was destroyed by weapons Tony made, and he was still one of the only people who saw Tony as anything more than the goose that laid the golden eggs. Yinsen believed in him. Yinsen was the first person who really believed Tony could do something positive with his life, and it could be said that his subsequent reinvention was as much about proving Yinsen right as it was about proving his father wrong.
2. Avengers, Assemble. In which Tony finds himself at the center of a slapdash team of crazy people with superpowers (or like, archery skills). He meets his childhood hero. He makes friends all over the place (incorrect). And he has a near death experience that will continue to fuck him up for years to come.
First, teamwork: Tony is not great at it. It's not his favorite thing. So when SHIELD decided to slap together a superhero breakfast club, Tony was reluctant to participate. To his credit, he did quickly (mostly) put aside his personal feelings to help, but learning to work together wasn't an instantaneous process. Were it not for the very real threat of total annihilation, the Avengers might have been like every other boyband that fell to infighting and ego, and went solo too early to really establish a name outside of their prior career. But instead, they banded together and fought robots in midtown.
Egged on by Steve's stubborn insistence that Tony doesn't make sacrifices, Tony decides to stop the robot army by flying a nuclear weapon into outerspace. Tony's plan is successful: the nuke is launched into space, the ship is destroyed, the Chitauri mysteriously drop dead. But his suit was not designed with outer space in mind, and he soon loses power. Slipping through the portal just as it closes, Tony free falls to earth, unconscious and depowered, only to be snatched from the air by the fucking Hulk, who has taken a shine to the man of iron. Though he is out cold when he hits the ground, being screamed at by the Hulk is apparently suitable to establish sinus rhythm, and Tony wakes up just in time for lunch.
In short, they fight. The good guys win. The Avengers learn to work together as a team. They all get Shawarma. Which lays the groundwork for years of caped crusading (good). But Tony's near-death experience lays the groundwork for the PTSD that gave us Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron (mostly bad).
3. Not Entirely Civil War. Essentially, this. In which Tony tries to fix serious sociopolitical problems that the Avengers are actively contributing to and Steve decides to be a dick about it. Like, not just a dick, but the biggest possible dick about it. A wild Bucky appears. Tony, again, tries to help. Steve decides to be a dick about it. Bucky and Steve make a run for it. Tony tries to bring them in safely to avoid undue pain or collateral damage. Steve, again, decides to be a dick about it. Tony realizes that Bucky was framed for bombing the UN building, and despite the fact that Steve has been a dick about things at least 8 times today and gotten Tony's best friend almost killed, goes after him and tries to help. Steve does not immediately decide to be a dick about it. But then Zemo reveals that - surprise! - Steve has secretly been a massive dick about something else for at least two years. Also Bucky killed his parents. Tony ask if Steve knew about this. Steve decides to be a dick about it. Tony tries to smash Bucky's face in. Steve decides to be kind of a dick about that, too. (Tony will grant the "kind of" modifier since he did possibly stop a revenge murder, but he did it in a really dickish way.) Tony tells Steve to go fuck himself. Steve does, but while deciding to be kind of a dick about it. Tony cleans up the entire mess his damn self.
The moral of the story is, essentially, this. If you're Tony Stark, no good deed goes unpunished. If you're Steve Rogers, do whatever the fuck you want and a king will probably adopt you. Also, as a corollary, Steve is a dick who misspells Fed Ex labels on purpose. Also, fuck you, Steve.
These days, the Avengers are largely disbanded, but Tony is working on that. Tony's best friend is in rehab for a spinal injury. Steve is off being a dick about everything somewhere in Africa, maybe. And Tony is putting the weight of his insane expectations on a teenager he met a few months ago.
There are also some fairly shaping experience like "years of emotional abuse by various male authority figures," "building a robot that almost destroyed the world," "slow death by blood poisoning," "being unfavorably compared to Captain America literally all the time," and "getting food poisoning in Tunisia and throwing up on an ancient Phoenician human sacrifice site which he's pretty sure resulted in a curse that would explain everything about his life since" (based on a true story).
Link to Canon History: Link
Quick Summary:
Θ Tony Stark was born to Howard and Maria Stark. Growing up wasn’t always easy. It seemed Howard Stark basically never shut up about his old friend Captain America. (Proof Peggy Carter is actually Tony Stark’s birth mother is still pending). Tony was pretty much a super genius from an early age. By four he was building circuit boards, by seven he’d built his first engine -- all the while his father stood by, proudly not giving a shit -- and Tony instead looked to the family’s butler Edwin Jarvis as a father figure, whilst constantly trying to win Howard’s affection and attention.
Θ Not long after graduating from MIT, (top of his class) -- when Tony was twenty-one years old, his parents died in a car accident and he inherited Stark Industries. He also befriended Jim Rhodes during this time, had his parent’s house demolished and rebuilt and created J.A.R.V.I.S. an AI computer system that he named in honour of the butler that meant so much to him. Eat it, Batman.
Θ Taking over the company young and having all the wealth of the world at his fingertips lead Tony to be a little bit reckless and irresponsible. He spent a lot of time in night clubs, often drinking too much and always expecting his friends to clean up after his and set his messes straight before he has to do it himself. An example of this would be the events that lead up to his imprisonment in Afghanistan. Instead of accepting the Apogee Award at a ceremony in Ceasar’s Palace, he spent the time he should have been there gambling elsewhere in the hotel, leaving Obadiah Stane to accept the award. Shortly thereafter, Rhodes brings Tony the award while he is gambling in the casino inside of Caesars Palace, and lets it be known that he’s none too happy that Tony missed the ceremony. In the morning, it’s Pepper, his assistant who reminds him about his trip to Afghanistan. He gets to the plane 3 hours late. He and Rhodes soon get drunk and have a small party on the plane. Tony presents his newest weapon, the Jericho Missile to the military spectators and demonstrated its capability.
Θ It was during his trip to Afghanistan that shit. got. real. His convoy was attacked (by someone using Stark Industry weapons). The explosion of one of his own bombs causes him to lose consciousness and embeds several pieces of shrapnel into his chest, some of which is dangerously close to his heart and slowly sinking deeper. Hewakes up later to find that his chest has been somewhat jerry-rigged with an electromagnet attached to his chest, which is hooked to a car battery. This device is keeping the shrapnel from entering his heart and killing him. Tony learns that he ’s been captured by a terrorist group called the “Ten Rings” -- the terrorist group order Stark to built weapons for him, but instead he and fellow captive Ho Yinsen build powerful armour fueled by a minute version of what Howard Stark and Anton Vanko invented years ago, an arc reactor. The reactor not only powers the suit, but also supplies the energy that Tony needs to keep the shrapnel from killing him.
Θ So Tony successfully uses the suit to escape, and tragically Ho Yinsen dies aiding him in his getaway. He crashes in the desert and is later picked up by the United States army and brought home. Stark’s first order of business when he returns home is to try and stop Stark Industries from building weapons, but Obadiah Stane soon informs him that he can’t do that because the board blocks the motion.
Tony responds to the news that he can’t make his company stop building weapons is to... build a motherfucking power suit. He redesigns his arc reactor, getting Pepper to help him change up his old one for his new one. Once back in the public eye -- he’s immediately challenged by the press who show him pictures of his weapons in the hands of terrorists. Which, you know, he’s not super pleased about. He quickly uncovers that Stane has been indiscriminately supplying Stark weapons to both the US Army and to the terrorists, as well as being the one responsible for shutting down Tony’s request that the company stop being weapons manufacturers
Θ Fighting violence with violence, Tony tests out his new power suit by freeing Yinsen’s village from the rule of the Ten Rings; destroying their weapon stockpiles . This for some strange reason seems to draw the attention of the United States Air Force and, specifically, his friend Rhodes (did I mention he was a Lieutenant Colonel? I should have. That’s sort of important. Not that narratives need ever go in a straight line, but I digress...) anyway, two pilots are deployed to take out Iron Man, one of which is almost killed when his plane collides with Stark and after ejecting, his parachute jams. Tony saves him before booking it.
Θ Trying to redeem himself for the mistakes he made and the mistakes his company made, Stark sends Pepper to find all the shipping records for Stark Industries so he can track down all of the weapons he’s made (that have fallen into the wrong hands) and destroy them. While hacked into the computer system, Pepper learns that the Ten Rings have been hired to kill Tony -- which was why he was kidnapped in Afghanistan -- so they decided to try and use him his instead. He also learns that Obadiah has found the plans for the power suit and has tried to reverse-engineer his own.
Just after the discovery is made, Obadiah appears, steals the arc reactor from Tony’s chest (which he needs to power the suit) and leaves Stark at the mercy of the shrapnel still in his body. With no choices left, Tony uses his first reactor, which isn’t designed to power his newer armor, to fight Obadiah, killing him with the full-sized arc reactor that powers his lab which Pepper overloaded.
Θ After fighting Obadiah, Rhodes tries to get Tony into an ambulance to see if he got any internal injuries. Turns out the ambulance was actually a fake one sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. to get Tony. Phil Coulson takes a minute to talk to Tony after they drop his off at the hospital. Coulon uses this talk to review Tony's fighting strategy and tries unsuccessfully to entice Stark into joining up with S.H.I.E.L.D. After some time in recovery, Tony Stark attends a press conference about what happened and about Iron Man -- where he reveals that he is Iron Man.
On a night not long after, Tony arrives home and is greeted by Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who warns him that he is not the only 'super hero' in the world and wants to discuss the Avengers Initiative with Stark however Stark continues to have no interest.
Θ Tony Stark continues on his quest to “privatise world peace” by performing such tasks as removing Ten Rings terrorists and saving a U.N. mission that was under attack -- you know, as you do. Stark also went on to help General Ross save the pilot of the Aerodynamic Marvel that crashed in the Congo. All the while, Senator Stern started expressing his concern that the existence of the Iron Man armour was a threat to national security.
At Stark Expo in Flushings Meadows, New York, Stark appeared in the Iron Man armour, continuing the tradition of showmanship started by his father, decades before. Unfortunately, Stark’s life isn’t all flashy lights and saving the world. The Arc Reactor’s palladium core is slowly poisoning him, a process which will eventually kill him painfully if he continues to wear the Iron Man armour.
Tony is also being threatened by a senate committee hearing which is trying to demand that Stark release the tech used to build the Iron Man suit for military reproduction. Tony continues to refuse deciding that it’s not in the best interest of America or the world to allow the military to possess his weapon. Stern goes so far as to try to turn James Rhodes against him, but it doesn’t particularly work.
Θ Worried about his own survival, Tony appoints Pepper Potts as CEO of Stark Industries and hires Natalie Rushman as his new assistant. During this time, and possibly because he fears he’s going to die, he grows increasingly reckless and thrill-seek-y. He races in the Monaco Grand Prix, where he’s nearly killed by Ivan Vanko who has constructed an arc reactor of his own and whip-like lightsabers that he uses as weapons. Tony manages to get his armour on (handed to him in a briefcase by Pepper) and defeat Vanko.
Afterwards, Tony pays Ivan a visit and learns that he is the son of Anton Vanko, the man who collaborated with Howard Stark to build the first arc reactor. Turns out, Anton Vanko was deported back to the USSR and died in poverty while the Stark family went on to become successful on the back of their joint invention and Ivan is really super pissed off about it.
Θ Tony makes an attempt to tell Pepper what’s going on concerning the condition of his heart while he’s en route back to America. Tony gets super duper drunk during what he believes to be his last birthday party even as the senate and the media start closing in on him with demands to turn over his armour to the authorities following the “Whiplash” incident.
Tony, drunk, starts to use the weapons on his suit to show off and Rhodey, in Tony’s older armour, steps in to stop him. The two fight and Rhodes delivers Tony’s armour to the military.
Θ The following day, Fury approaches Stark, explains that Natalie is actually Natasha Romanoff, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and that Howard Stark, his father, was the founder of the organisation. Fury hands over some of Howard’s old material which he hopes will help him find a cure of the palladium poisoning. Stark uses the information that Fury provides to synthesize a new element, which cures him of the poisoning. Soon after, Ivan contacts him and pretty much tells him the game is still on, so Tony puts on his armour to find and face Whiplash.
Justin reveals the military drones that they had been using Ivan’s help to build. These robots, captained by Rhodes (in the War Machine armour) demonstrate their capabilities. Tony arrives, and attempts to warn Rhodes, but it’s too late -- Ivan seizes control of the robots that he designed and attacks Iron Man, and the Expo, and basically like everything ever.
Together, Stark and Rhodes manage to eliminate the drones. The two then face off against Ivan side-by-side until Ivan, defeated, destroys his own armour and all of the drones. Stark races back to the Expo centre to save Pepper and the other people there from the exploding robots. Stark kisses Pepper and he quits his position as CEO.
Θ Tony is busy getting shit together to use that whole "arc reactor technology" business to actually, you know, benefit the world (fuck you, cracked.com,) when everyone's favorite LMD shows up in the new Stark Tower with exciting news. Given that the world may be on the brink of disaster, and this will probably affect stock prices, Tony puts aside (most of) his cache of sassy remarks about about his previous rejection from this particular project and decides to help save the world again. Left with a holographic screen full of information about the rest of the A-team (and the promise of sex if he finishes his research early,) Tony gets down to business.
Suiting up in the Mark VI armor, Tony makes his way to Germany, where he runs into his old friend Natasha Romanoff and the newly defrosted Captain America, who are currently engaged in a battle with that showboating asshole, Loki. With a strategically placed repulser blast and a cutting pop culture reference, the team apprehends Loki and loads him onto the Quinjet, starting their long night's journey back to the helicarrier. Tony makes friends all over the place, getting off on the wrong foot with Steve Rogers and then starting a fight over personal jurisdiction with the god of thunder, who seems to think that New York City is not the proper venue in which to kick Loki's ass. Tony disagrees, pursuing the pair to a mountain and starting a fight on the forest floor. Steve Rogers parachutes in, and the three soon-to-be Avengers foreshadow the awesome fight moves they'll later use in the Battle for New York during an ill-timed sparring session in the woods. The armor takes a beating, but each of the three shows himself more than capable against the others, which is surprising given that Thor is basically immortal.
Notably, during this time, Loki makes no attempt to escape. No one questions this. Similarly, nobody wonders where the fuck War Machine is, but I guess Don Cheadle is an expensive cameo.
They take Loki back to the Helicarrier, where Tony meets Bruce Banner, a scientist whose work Tony has always admired almost as much as his ability to turn into an enormous green rage monster and destroy things. Unconvinced by SHIELD's innocent whistling, Tony plants a hacking device to start searching SHIELD's database for military secrets, which is probably easier when you consider the fact that he consulted on their cyber security. Over awkward chitchat and a bag of blueberries, Tony and Bruce discover that SHIELD was trying to harness the tesseract's power to create weapons of mass destruction for interplanetary security, and using HYDRA tech to do it. While Tony is expressing his profound disapproval of SHIELD, Steve Rogers voices his profound disapproval of Tony Stark. However, their verbal tête-à-tête is interrupted by an explosion that forces the team to work together. Loki's brainwashed buddies, including Hawkeye, stage an attack on the Helicarrier, and Tony suits up to fix the damage with the help of the technologically delayed Captain America.
The ship is repaired, and there is some rejoicing. However, in the midst of the battle, both Thor and the Hulk get launched out of the ship and cannot be located, and Agent Coulson is killed by Loki's scepter, leaving the team disorganized and disheartened. Fury, who is clearly a Slytherin, uses Coulson's death to motivate the team with a rousing speech about the Avengers Initiative. Tony takes the death harder than most, having come to know the guy pretty well over the last several years, and would not have any of it when Steve tried to comfort him with some shit about soldiers. Fortunately, however, his grief does not cloud his perpetually quick thinking. Although he does realize at this point that it would have been good if he’d thought to check up on Stark Tower, since Loki has been installing a fucking tesseract device on top of the building. Security breach.
Armed with his cool new slap bracelets, Tony confronts Loki back at Stark Tower, making some Avengers-related threats to the god of mischief. Predictably, Loki is not a big fan of people threatening him with bodily harm, and he reacts by throwing Tony out of the window of his own tower. Fortunately, Tony manages to summon the armor before he becomes a pavement pancake, flying up to blast Loki back through the hole he just created. Satisfying though this undoubtedly was, it does nothing to solve the tesseract problem. The device opens a portal into space and reveals a waiting army of Chitauri soldiers, who begin to wage war against the earth in Loki's name.
Joined by most of his teammates, Iron Man starts fighting off the alien invasion. (Though this is only mentioned later in the IM3 Prelude comics, Rhodey's noted absence is not as ridiculous as it initially seemed, since he’s off fighting the Ten Rings. But really, it seems like he could get away for a fucking alien invasion.) Since he can fly and has a death wish, he specifically engages the large, crazy flying turtle thing, destroying most of the financial district in the process. Learning that Bruce has finally arrived on the scene, Tony brings the party to him, and the Hulk successfully beats the living shit out of that flying turtle. Unfortunately, hydra may be a more apt mythical beast comparison, as the destruction of one just brings out more. Basically, it's a shit storm, and the Avengers are doing their best, but they are woefully outgunned.
As it turns out, weapons are basically SHIELD's response to everything, to the surprise of pretty much no one. In the face of the ongoing alien invasion, Fury's shadowy superiors decide that nuking Manhattan is their best option, and despite Fury's protests, a device is launched. Tony, being the only one with a big metal suit, the power of flight and experience with weapons, immediately takes it upon himself to launch the nuke through the portal, suspecting that this will destroy the alien space ship and solve all of their problems. Including his heart condition, since this will almost invariably result in his death. While Tony flies the missile through the portal, unsuccessfully attempting to call Pepper and say goodbye in his final moments on earth, Natasha figures out how to close the portal.
Tony's plan is successful: the nuke is launched into space, the ship is destroyed, the Chitauri mysteriously drop dead. But his suit was not designed with outer space in mind, and he soon loses power. Slipping through the portal just as it closes, Tony free falls to earth, unconscious and depowered, only to be snatched from the air by the fucking Hulk, who has taken a shine to the "man" of iron. Though he is out cold when he hits the ground (and Cap clearly looks devastated for goading him into dying with his "you don't make the sacrifice play" speech,) being screamed at by the Hulk is apparently suitable to establish sinus rhythm, and Tony wakes up just in time for lunch.
In short, they fight. The good guys win. The Avengers learn to work together as a team. They all get Shawarma. But Tony's near-death experience lays the groundwork for future PTSD, and that's not great.
Θ After the battle with the other Avengers, Tony invites Rhodes to his workshop in Malibu. he’s a little bit shaken by his experience (understatement) and decides that -- because the two of them wouldn’t have been enough to stop what the Avengers had to stop in New York, they need to expand -- Tony then designs and builds several different Iron Man armours which he shows Rhodes, all of these can be remotely controlled and he refers to them as the Iron Legion. While Tony explained to Rhodes the he could charge his armour with solar energy from Stark Tower, the Tower is attacked by The Melter, who is quickly defeated by Iron Man.
A few days later, the Melter attacks again and manages to defeat War Machine before Stark intervenes and overpowers him, handing him over into the custody of the United States Military.
Θ Extremis - An ex-girlfriend of Tony’s named Maya Hansen tracked Tony down when her boss purportedly sold her Extremis technology to a local militant terrorist named Mallen, who injected it into himself. (For more information on Mallen, just google Ruby Ridge, because that’s pretty much where they got his backstory.) Tony provokes terrorists, terrorists destroy Tony's house, lots of crazy bullshit happens, etc etc. In the end, Tony defeats terrorists and blows up his suit, Tony allegedly leaves the super hero game, Pepper briefly becomes a super human, Tony has the arc reactor removed.
Θ Ultron - Essentially, this. Tony goes back to superheroism, because he can't not. He makes a killer robot that destroys like... everything. Or tries to, anyway. The team eventually defeats it, but it's kind of a whole thing, temporarily tears them apart, he retires again.
Θ JK Tony never retires, because he's full of shit. Tony and Pepper break up, because he's a lying liar who lies. Tony backs the Sokovia accords, which would require the Avengers to register and work with the UN. Steve throws a fit about it, it ruins everything. Tony meets a spider-child and basically adopts him. Tony and Steve break up.
Θ Tony pals around with a spider child, gets back together with Pepper five or six times probably.
CODE BYBASIC INFO
CHARACTER NAME: Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark
AGE/DOB: 50 / May 29, 1970
FANDOM NAME: Marvel Cinematic Universe
CANON POINT: Avengers: Endgame
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good
AGE/DOB: 50 / May 29, 1970
FANDOM NAME: Marvel Cinematic Universe
CANON POINT: Avengers: Endgame
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good
CHARACTER TRAITS / PERSONALITY
PRIMARY MOTIVATION: He was given a second chance at life and told not to waste it. He is motivated by the desire to live up to the sacrifice he felt that Yinsen made for him. Beyond that, he wants to prove that he's not his father, and that he's not the person he felt like his father expected him to be. He's motivated to make up for the deaths and pain caused by his negligence and his company's history. He wants to do the right thing. And, you know, Tony can also see the future. Either because of his own paranoia and PTSD, or because of his genius-level intellect and his ability to see connections and patterns, Tony knows what's around every corner before he looks, and that drives him to protect the people he loves before all else.
DEEPEST FEAR / INSECURITY: Well it used to be the idea of disappointing Steve Rogers, who he always saw as a kind of morality litmus test. Now, he's kind of fine with that.
LIKES: Adventure. Risk. Helping others. Money. The pursuit of sex? But not necessarily the sex part.
DISLIKES: Space. Feeling vulnerable. Wanda's weird brain thing. Slowing down.
FAVORITE TOPICS OF CONVERSATION: Tony Stark. Mechanics. Whatever Bruce Banner is talking about just to prove that he also knows about that.
ALL THE REST: Both Tony and Bruce Banner struggle with duality; Tony and Iron Man, Bruce and the Hulk. Two identities, one body. The only difference is that Iron Man’s bad side isn't the massively overpowered Avenger -- it's Tony.
Iron Man: Yes.
Tony Stark: Not Recommended.
He's got some serious self-destructive tendencies, and he's long been in the business of making that look cool. Tony constantly pushes himself to extremes until he literally can't anymore, with no real consideration for what he should be doing or what would be good for him. That's what he does. Alcohol problem? No need to bother anyone about it, just keep it on the DL. Dying of blood poisoning? Play it cool, don’t mention it, hop in a race car, throw a wild party. Feeling worthless? Put on a super suit, risk your life several times, stand on death's doorstep and DARE it to open the fucking door. Or fly a nuke into the portal, even though you know it’s almost certain death. Tony Stark, in many ways, really can be summed up by the question, “You got any other bad ideas?”
Even Tony's best qualities have been known to cause serious problems for him. Frankly, many of his attributes, while good on their own, should never have been allowed to coexist with some of his others.
Tony is a great strategist (good), but he's also arrogant (bad). He genuinely wants to help people (also good), but he often believes he's smart enough to provide that help without their input (also bad). Though Tony functions well as part of a team that is actively collaborating and sharing information, when left to his own devices, he can be extremely myopic. Once Tony settles on an idea, he tends to run full steam ahead without waiting for feedback from others, and doesn't always listen to it when he receives it (very bad). This singular tendency is probably responsible for 95% of the Tony Stark generated conflicts in the Marvel universe.
His intelligence and technological aptitude (good) also plays very poorly off of his extreme impulsivity (bad). When a problem doesn't immediately appear to be complicated, Tony will run with half-formed ideas and put himself in needlessly dangerous situations without giving adequate consideration to the consequences. Because he's great at thinking on his feet, his penchant for daring doesn't always catch up to him. But when it does, the results tend to be bad.
He has a hero/savior complex (good?) that is fueled by a death wish (bad). Like most vigilantes, Tony Stark has some unresolved childhood trauma and a host of mental health issues that he's been treating using a controversial therapy technique known as, "if I ignore it, it will go away." He's dealt with addiction, depression, trauma, and mania, all while being the subject of public scrutiny. And if he's honest, he never really expected to make it this far. His will to live is still winning out, but he pulls a lot of stupid stunts that others would describe as damn near suicidal.
He's fairly closed off and emotionally stunted, and he doesn't cope well with strongly negative feelings. He doesn't get sad, he gets angry. And when there's no obvious source on which to direct his anger, he gets mad at himself. He spent a long time dealing with negative emotions by ignoring them, pretending they didn't exist, or distracting himself. (As you can imagine, this is tied into his history of drinking and substance abuse.)
Tony can come across as an arrogant, abrasive asshole. Sometimes a likeable asshole, but an asshole nonetheless. His snark has been referred to as his primary superpower. And sensitivity? That's the sort of thing people need when they have to make themselves feel better about being wrong a lot. He doesn't go out of his way to piss people off - or he doesn't always go out of his way to piss people off - but he does like to push people's buttons. Call it scientific curiosity.
Truthfully, he does think he's smarter than everyone, but the real issue is probably that he’s afraid of being vulnerable. He hides behind his sense of humor because sincerity makes him feel too exposed. There are a lot of people who have seen Tony Stark be a bastard, or an idiot. But he doesn't want to let them see him break down. His personality is essentially a second suit of armor: a complex system of offensive and defensive tools to keep out anything that might hurt him. And if people sometimes read him as flippant and shallow, maybe they won't bother getting close enough to put a dent in the armor.
It's a mistake to think that Tony has grown a lot, over his time as an Avenger. It's more honest to say that Stark experienced one "Come to Jesus" moment when he was kidnapped in the desert, and it's really that moment and the promise that he made to Yinsen that keeps him in a kind of vicious cycle between wanting to look for and find his own happiness, and wanting to make sure that his life is worthy of the sacrifice that Yinsen made for him.
People tend to think that Tony has overcome his selfishness, become more selfless, or changed into the person willing to make the "sacrifice play.” But the truth is that he always has been. Despite his best efforts to maintain distance, Tony cares a lot. All he has done since becoming Iron Man is make sacrifices for the benefit of others. It's just that no one ever seems to really notice it, or give him the credit he may actually deserves. Tony sees it as the job of a hero to help those who are struggling, and he lives that mantra as much as he can (within the bounds of practicality and sanity).
One reason that Tony doesn't usually get much credit is that, unlike Captain America, his approach to problem solving is more utilitarian. As a self-described futurist, Tony tries to see where his decisions are going to lead when he makes them. He's almost always a few steps ahead of everyone. His approach tends to be more pragmatic. Not because he doesn't want to save everyone, but because he knows that it's impossible to save everyone all the time. He would love to live in the world that Cap sees, where there is always a perfect solution. But sometimes you just have to save who you can save.
As Nick Fury might say, Tony takes the world as it is, and not as he wants it to be. His realism is often misconstrued as cynicism or callousness, but the truth of the matter is that he's right more often than he's wrong. And letting the perfect be the enemy of the good van result in greater losses.
Not that Steve ever listens to him when he tries to explain that. But to be fair, not that Tony listens when Steve tries to explain whatever Steve tries to explain. (He doesn’t know. He wasn’t listening.) Thing is, Tony is stubborn. He doesn't think he's stubborn. He thinks Steve is stubborn. But it doesn't get much more stubborn than being too stubborn to admit you're stubborn.
Paradoxically, Tony is kind of a self-loathing narcissist. Because he sees himself as very capable, he takes personal responsibility for everything, which makes it difficult for him to feel a sense of satisfaction in his work. He underestimates his value and overestimates his skill, which leads people (including Tony) to have unreasonable expectations. And when he fails, even if success was clearly impossible, he blames himself. Even triumphs can leave him feeling listless when they aren't achieved on his terms.
Further, while I wouldn't call him selfish, I would call him self-centered. He tends to get very caught up in his own head, in his own thoughts, in his own problems. It's to the point that he can kind of forget that other people are also out here having their own experiences and internal lives that have nothing to do with him or his problems. For that reason, he has a tendency to monologue without immediately noticing that the Taco Bell cashier is not really paying attention to his existential anxiety spiraling.
KEY HISTORY
1. Afghanistan & the Death of Ho Yinsen - During a trip to Afghanistan, Tony's convoy was attacked (by someone using Stark Industry weapons). The explosion of one of his own bombs causes him to lose consciousness and embeds sever pieces of shrapnel into his chest, some of which is dangerous close to his heart and slowly sinking deeper. He wakes up later to find that his chest has been somewhat jerry-rigged with an electromagnet attached to his chest, which is keeping the shrapnel from entering his heart and killing him. Tony learns that he’s been captured by a terrorist group called the “Ten Rings” -- the terrorist group order Stark to built weapons for him, but instead he and fellow captive Ho Yinsen build powerful armor fueled by a minute version of what Howard Stark and Anton Vanko invented years ago, an arc reactor. The reactor not only powers the suit, but also supplies the energy that Tony needs to keep the shrapnel from killing him. In the end, Tony uses the suit to escape, but Ho Yinsen dies aiding him in his getaway.
This death hit Tony pretty hard. After the death of his... well, butler, mostly, Yinsen was probably the only man who ever really demonstrated a sincere belief in Tony's ability to do something real with his life. It was also the first time Tony lost someone in "combat," and it's not a loss he's ever fully dealt with. He didn't just die, he died for Tony. He died following Tony. He died so that Tony might live. Yinsen's home was destroyed by weapons Tony made, and he was still one of the only people who saw Tony as anything more than the goose that laid the golden eggs. Yinsen believed in him. Yinsen was the first person who really believed Tony could do something positive with his life, and it could be said that his subsequent reinvention was as much about proving Yinsen right as it was about proving his father wrong.
2. Avengers, Assemble. In which Tony finds himself at the center of a slapdash team of crazy people with superpowers (or like, archery skills). He meets his childhood hero. He makes friends all over the place (incorrect). And he has a near death experience that will continue to fuck him up for years to come.
First, teamwork: Tony is not great at it. It's not his favorite thing. So when SHIELD decided to slap together a superhero breakfast club, Tony was reluctant to participate. To his credit, he did quickly (mostly) put aside his personal feelings to help, but learning to work together wasn't an instantaneous process. Were it not for the very real threat of total annihilation, the Avengers might have been like every other boyband that fell to infighting and ego, and went solo too early to really establish a name outside of their prior career. But instead, they banded together and fought robots in midtown.
Egged on by Steve's stubborn insistence that Tony doesn't make sacrifices, Tony decides to stop the robot army by flying a nuclear weapon into outerspace. Tony's plan is successful: the nuke is launched into space, the ship is destroyed, the Chitauri mysteriously drop dead. But his suit was not designed with outer space in mind, and he soon loses power. Slipping through the portal just as it closes, Tony free falls to earth, unconscious and depowered, only to be snatched from the air by the fucking Hulk, who has taken a shine to the man of iron. Though he is out cold when he hits the ground, being screamed at by the Hulk is apparently suitable to establish sinus rhythm, and Tony wakes up just in time for lunch.
In short, they fight. The good guys win. The Avengers learn to work together as a team. They all get Shawarma. Which lays the groundwork for years of caped crusading (good). But Tony's near-death experience lays the groundwork for the PTSD that gave us Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron (mostly bad).
3. Not Entirely Civil War. Essentially, this. In which Tony tries to fix serious sociopolitical problems that the Avengers are actively contributing to and Steve decides to be a dick about it. Like, not just a dick, but the biggest possible dick about it. A wild Bucky appears. Tony, again, tries to help. Steve decides to be a dick about it. Bucky and Steve make a run for it. Tony tries to bring them in safely to avoid undue pain or collateral damage. Steve, again, decides to be a dick about it. Tony realizes that Bucky was framed for bombing the UN building, and despite the fact that Steve has been a dick about things at least 8 times today and gotten Tony's best friend almost killed, goes after him and tries to help. Steve does not immediately decide to be a dick about it. But then Zemo reveals that - surprise! - Steve has secretly been a massive dick about something else for at least two years. Also Bucky killed his parents. Tony ask if Steve knew about this. Steve decides to be a dick about it. Tony tries to smash Bucky's face in. Steve decides to be kind of a dick about that, too. (Tony will grant the "kind of" modifier since he did possibly stop a revenge murder, but he did it in a really dickish way.) Tony tells Steve to go fuck himself. Steve does, but while deciding to be kind of a dick about it. Tony cleans up the entire mess his damn self.
The moral of the story is, essentially, this. If you're Tony Stark, no good deed goes unpunished. If you're Steve Rogers, do whatever the fuck you want and a king will probably adopt you. Also, as a corollary, Steve is a dick who misspells Fed Ex labels on purpose. Also, fuck you, Steve.
These days, the Avengers are largely disbanded, but Tony is working on that. Tony's best friend is in rehab for a spinal injury. Steve is off being a dick about everything somewhere in Africa, maybe. And Tony is putting the weight of his insane expectations on a teenager he met a few months ago.
There are also some fairly shaping experience like "years of emotional abuse by various male authority figures," "building a robot that almost destroyed the world," "slow death by blood poisoning," "being unfavorably compared to Captain America literally all the time," and "getting food poisoning in Tunisia and throwing up on an ancient Phoenician human sacrifice site which he's pretty sure resulted in a curse that would explain everything about his life since" (based on a true story).
OTHER HISTORY
Link to Canon History: Link
Quick Summary:
Θ Tony Stark was born to Howard and Maria Stark. Growing up wasn’t always easy. It seemed Howard Stark basically never shut up about his old friend Captain America. (Proof Peggy Carter is actually Tony Stark’s birth mother is still pending). Tony was pretty much a super genius from an early age. By four he was building circuit boards, by seven he’d built his first engine -- all the while his father stood by, proudly not giving a shit -- and Tony instead looked to the family’s butler Edwin Jarvis as a father figure, whilst constantly trying to win Howard’s affection and attention.
Θ Not long after graduating from MIT, (top of his class) -- when Tony was twenty-one years old, his parents died in a car accident and he inherited Stark Industries. He also befriended Jim Rhodes during this time, had his parent’s house demolished and rebuilt and created J.A.R.V.I.S. an AI computer system that he named in honour of the butler that meant so much to him. Eat it, Batman.
Θ Taking over the company young and having all the wealth of the world at his fingertips lead Tony to be a little bit reckless and irresponsible. He spent a lot of time in night clubs, often drinking too much and always expecting his friends to clean up after his and set his messes straight before he has to do it himself. An example of this would be the events that lead up to his imprisonment in Afghanistan. Instead of accepting the Apogee Award at a ceremony in Ceasar’s Palace, he spent the time he should have been there gambling elsewhere in the hotel, leaving Obadiah Stane to accept the award. Shortly thereafter, Rhodes brings Tony the award while he is gambling in the casino inside of Caesars Palace, and lets it be known that he’s none too happy that Tony missed the ceremony. In the morning, it’s Pepper, his assistant who reminds him about his trip to Afghanistan. He gets to the plane 3 hours late. He and Rhodes soon get drunk and have a small party on the plane. Tony presents his newest weapon, the Jericho Missile to the military spectators and demonstrated its capability.
Θ It was during his trip to Afghanistan that shit. got. real. His convoy was attacked (by someone using Stark Industry weapons). The explosion of one of his own bombs causes him to lose consciousness and embeds several pieces of shrapnel into his chest, some of which is dangerously close to his heart and slowly sinking deeper. Hewakes up later to find that his chest has been somewhat jerry-rigged with an electromagnet attached to his chest, which is hooked to a car battery. This device is keeping the shrapnel from entering his heart and killing him. Tony learns that he ’s been captured by a terrorist group called the “Ten Rings” -- the terrorist group order Stark to built weapons for him, but instead he and fellow captive Ho Yinsen build powerful armour fueled by a minute version of what Howard Stark and Anton Vanko invented years ago, an arc reactor. The reactor not only powers the suit, but also supplies the energy that Tony needs to keep the shrapnel from killing him.
Θ So Tony successfully uses the suit to escape, and tragically Ho Yinsen dies aiding him in his getaway. He crashes in the desert and is later picked up by the United States army and brought home. Stark’s first order of business when he returns home is to try and stop Stark Industries from building weapons, but Obadiah Stane soon informs him that he can’t do that because the board blocks the motion.
Tony responds to the news that he can’t make his company stop building weapons is to... build a motherfucking power suit. He redesigns his arc reactor, getting Pepper to help him change up his old one for his new one. Once back in the public eye -- he’s immediately challenged by the press who show him pictures of his weapons in the hands of terrorists. Which, you know, he’s not super pleased about. He quickly uncovers that Stane has been indiscriminately supplying Stark weapons to both the US Army and to the terrorists, as well as being the one responsible for shutting down Tony’s request that the company stop being weapons manufacturers
Θ Fighting violence with violence, Tony tests out his new power suit by freeing Yinsen’s village from the rule of the Ten Rings; destroying their weapon stockpiles . This for some strange reason seems to draw the attention of the United States Air Force and, specifically, his friend Rhodes (did I mention he was a Lieutenant Colonel? I should have. That’s sort of important. Not that narratives need ever go in a straight line, but I digress...) anyway, two pilots are deployed to take out Iron Man, one of which is almost killed when his plane collides with Stark and after ejecting, his parachute jams. Tony saves him before booking it.
Θ Trying to redeem himself for the mistakes he made and the mistakes his company made, Stark sends Pepper to find all the shipping records for Stark Industries so he can track down all of the weapons he’s made (that have fallen into the wrong hands) and destroy them. While hacked into the computer system, Pepper learns that the Ten Rings have been hired to kill Tony -- which was why he was kidnapped in Afghanistan -- so they decided to try and use him his instead. He also learns that Obadiah has found the plans for the power suit and has tried to reverse-engineer his own.
Just after the discovery is made, Obadiah appears, steals the arc reactor from Tony’s chest (which he needs to power the suit) and leaves Stark at the mercy of the shrapnel still in his body. With no choices left, Tony uses his first reactor, which isn’t designed to power his newer armor, to fight Obadiah, killing him with the full-sized arc reactor that powers his lab which Pepper overloaded.
Θ After fighting Obadiah, Rhodes tries to get Tony into an ambulance to see if he got any internal injuries. Turns out the ambulance was actually a fake one sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. to get Tony. Phil Coulson takes a minute to talk to Tony after they drop his off at the hospital. Coulon uses this talk to review Tony's fighting strategy and tries unsuccessfully to entice Stark into joining up with S.H.I.E.L.D. After some time in recovery, Tony Stark attends a press conference about what happened and about Iron Man -- where he reveals that he is Iron Man.
On a night not long after, Tony arrives home and is greeted by Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who warns him that he is not the only 'super hero' in the world and wants to discuss the Avengers Initiative with Stark however Stark continues to have no interest.
Θ Tony Stark continues on his quest to “privatise world peace” by performing such tasks as removing Ten Rings terrorists and saving a U.N. mission that was under attack -- you know, as you do. Stark also went on to help General Ross save the pilot of the Aerodynamic Marvel that crashed in the Congo. All the while, Senator Stern started expressing his concern that the existence of the Iron Man armour was a threat to national security.
At Stark Expo in Flushings Meadows, New York, Stark appeared in the Iron Man armour, continuing the tradition of showmanship started by his father, decades before. Unfortunately, Stark’s life isn’t all flashy lights and saving the world. The Arc Reactor’s palladium core is slowly poisoning him, a process which will eventually kill him painfully if he continues to wear the Iron Man armour.
Tony is also being threatened by a senate committee hearing which is trying to demand that Stark release the tech used to build the Iron Man suit for military reproduction. Tony continues to refuse deciding that it’s not in the best interest of America or the world to allow the military to possess his weapon. Stern goes so far as to try to turn James Rhodes against him, but it doesn’t particularly work.
Θ Worried about his own survival, Tony appoints Pepper Potts as CEO of Stark Industries and hires Natalie Rushman as his new assistant. During this time, and possibly because he fears he’s going to die, he grows increasingly reckless and thrill-seek-y. He races in the Monaco Grand Prix, where he’s nearly killed by Ivan Vanko who has constructed an arc reactor of his own and whip-like lightsabers that he uses as weapons. Tony manages to get his armour on (handed to him in a briefcase by Pepper) and defeat Vanko.
Afterwards, Tony pays Ivan a visit and learns that he is the son of Anton Vanko, the man who collaborated with Howard Stark to build the first arc reactor. Turns out, Anton Vanko was deported back to the USSR and died in poverty while the Stark family went on to become successful on the back of their joint invention and Ivan is really super pissed off about it.
Θ Tony makes an attempt to tell Pepper what’s going on concerning the condition of his heart while he’s en route back to America. Tony gets super duper drunk during what he believes to be his last birthday party even as the senate and the media start closing in on him with demands to turn over his armour to the authorities following the “Whiplash” incident.
Tony, drunk, starts to use the weapons on his suit to show off and Rhodey, in Tony’s older armour, steps in to stop him. The two fight and Rhodes delivers Tony’s armour to the military.
Θ The following day, Fury approaches Stark, explains that Natalie is actually Natasha Romanoff, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and that Howard Stark, his father, was the founder of the organisation. Fury hands over some of Howard’s old material which he hopes will help him find a cure of the palladium poisoning. Stark uses the information that Fury provides to synthesize a new element, which cures him of the poisoning. Soon after, Ivan contacts him and pretty much tells him the game is still on, so Tony puts on his armour to find and face Whiplash.
Justin reveals the military drones that they had been using Ivan’s help to build. These robots, captained by Rhodes (in the War Machine armour) demonstrate their capabilities. Tony arrives, and attempts to warn Rhodes, but it’s too late -- Ivan seizes control of the robots that he designed and attacks Iron Man, and the Expo, and basically like everything ever.
Together, Stark and Rhodes manage to eliminate the drones. The two then face off against Ivan side-by-side until Ivan, defeated, destroys his own armour and all of the drones. Stark races back to the Expo centre to save Pepper and the other people there from the exploding robots. Stark kisses Pepper and he quits his position as CEO.
Θ Tony is busy getting shit together to use that whole "arc reactor technology" business to actually, you know, benefit the world (fuck you, cracked.com,) when everyone's favorite LMD shows up in the new Stark Tower with exciting news. Given that the world may be on the brink of disaster, and this will probably affect stock prices, Tony puts aside (most of) his cache of sassy remarks about about his previous rejection from this particular project and decides to help save the world again. Left with a holographic screen full of information about the rest of the A-team (and the promise of sex if he finishes his research early,) Tony gets down to business.
Suiting up in the Mark VI armor, Tony makes his way to Germany, where he runs into his old friend Natasha Romanoff and the newly defrosted Captain America, who are currently engaged in a battle with that showboating asshole, Loki. With a strategically placed repulser blast and a cutting pop culture reference, the team apprehends Loki and loads him onto the Quinjet, starting their long night's journey back to the helicarrier. Tony makes friends all over the place, getting off on the wrong foot with Steve Rogers and then starting a fight over personal jurisdiction with the god of thunder, who seems to think that New York City is not the proper venue in which to kick Loki's ass. Tony disagrees, pursuing the pair to a mountain and starting a fight on the forest floor. Steve Rogers parachutes in, and the three soon-to-be Avengers foreshadow the awesome fight moves they'll later use in the Battle for New York during an ill-timed sparring session in the woods. The armor takes a beating, but each of the three shows himself more than capable against the others, which is surprising given that Thor is basically immortal.
Notably, during this time, Loki makes no attempt to escape. No one questions this. Similarly, nobody wonders where the fuck War Machine is, but I guess Don Cheadle is an expensive cameo.
They take Loki back to the Helicarrier, where Tony meets Bruce Banner, a scientist whose work Tony has always admired almost as much as his ability to turn into an enormous green rage monster and destroy things. Unconvinced by SHIELD's innocent whistling, Tony plants a hacking device to start searching SHIELD's database for military secrets, which is probably easier when you consider the fact that he consulted on their cyber security. Over awkward chitchat and a bag of blueberries, Tony and Bruce discover that SHIELD was trying to harness the tesseract's power to create weapons of mass destruction for interplanetary security, and using HYDRA tech to do it. While Tony is expressing his profound disapproval of SHIELD, Steve Rogers voices his profound disapproval of Tony Stark. However, their verbal tête-à-tête is interrupted by an explosion that forces the team to work together. Loki's brainwashed buddies, including Hawkeye, stage an attack on the Helicarrier, and Tony suits up to fix the damage with the help of the technologically delayed Captain America.
The ship is repaired, and there is some rejoicing. However, in the midst of the battle, both Thor and the Hulk get launched out of the ship and cannot be located, and Agent Coulson is killed by Loki's scepter, leaving the team disorganized and disheartened. Fury, who is clearly a Slytherin, uses Coulson's death to motivate the team with a rousing speech about the Avengers Initiative. Tony takes the death harder than most, having come to know the guy pretty well over the last several years, and would not have any of it when Steve tried to comfort him with some shit about soldiers. Fortunately, however, his grief does not cloud his perpetually quick thinking. Although he does realize at this point that it would have been good if he’d thought to check up on Stark Tower, since Loki has been installing a fucking tesseract device on top of the building. Security breach.
Armed with his cool new slap bracelets, Tony confronts Loki back at Stark Tower, making some Avengers-related threats to the god of mischief. Predictably, Loki is not a big fan of people threatening him with bodily harm, and he reacts by throwing Tony out of the window of his own tower. Fortunately, Tony manages to summon the armor before he becomes a pavement pancake, flying up to blast Loki back through the hole he just created. Satisfying though this undoubtedly was, it does nothing to solve the tesseract problem. The device opens a portal into space and reveals a waiting army of Chitauri soldiers, who begin to wage war against the earth in Loki's name.
Joined by most of his teammates, Iron Man starts fighting off the alien invasion. (Though this is only mentioned later in the IM3 Prelude comics, Rhodey's noted absence is not as ridiculous as it initially seemed, since he’s off fighting the Ten Rings. But really, it seems like he could get away for a fucking alien invasion.) Since he can fly and has a death wish, he specifically engages the large, crazy flying turtle thing, destroying most of the financial district in the process. Learning that Bruce has finally arrived on the scene, Tony brings the party to him, and the Hulk successfully beats the living shit out of that flying turtle. Unfortunately, hydra may be a more apt mythical beast comparison, as the destruction of one just brings out more. Basically, it's a shit storm, and the Avengers are doing their best, but they are woefully outgunned.
As it turns out, weapons are basically SHIELD's response to everything, to the surprise of pretty much no one. In the face of the ongoing alien invasion, Fury's shadowy superiors decide that nuking Manhattan is their best option, and despite Fury's protests, a device is launched. Tony, being the only one with a big metal suit, the power of flight and experience with weapons, immediately takes it upon himself to launch the nuke through the portal, suspecting that this will destroy the alien space ship and solve all of their problems. Including his heart condition, since this will almost invariably result in his death. While Tony flies the missile through the portal, unsuccessfully attempting to call Pepper and say goodbye in his final moments on earth, Natasha figures out how to close the portal.
Tony's plan is successful: the nuke is launched into space, the ship is destroyed, the Chitauri mysteriously drop dead. But his suit was not designed with outer space in mind, and he soon loses power. Slipping through the portal just as it closes, Tony free falls to earth, unconscious and depowered, only to be snatched from the air by the fucking Hulk, who has taken a shine to the "man" of iron. Though he is out cold when he hits the ground (and Cap clearly looks devastated for goading him into dying with his "you don't make the sacrifice play" speech,) being screamed at by the Hulk is apparently suitable to establish sinus rhythm, and Tony wakes up just in time for lunch.
In short, they fight. The good guys win. The Avengers learn to work together as a team. They all get Shawarma. But Tony's near-death experience lays the groundwork for future PTSD, and that's not great.
Θ After the battle with the other Avengers, Tony invites Rhodes to his workshop in Malibu. he’s a little bit shaken by his experience (understatement) and decides that -- because the two of them wouldn’t have been enough to stop what the Avengers had to stop in New York, they need to expand -- Tony then designs and builds several different Iron Man armours which he shows Rhodes, all of these can be remotely controlled and he refers to them as the Iron Legion. While Tony explained to Rhodes the he could charge his armour with solar energy from Stark Tower, the Tower is attacked by The Melter, who is quickly defeated by Iron Man.
A few days later, the Melter attacks again and manages to defeat War Machine before Stark intervenes and overpowers him, handing him over into the custody of the United States Military.
Θ Extremis - An ex-girlfriend of Tony’s named Maya Hansen tracked Tony down when her boss purportedly sold her Extremis technology to a local militant terrorist named Mallen, who injected it into himself. (For more information on Mallen, just google Ruby Ridge, because that’s pretty much where they got his backstory.) Tony provokes terrorists, terrorists destroy Tony's house, lots of crazy bullshit happens, etc etc. In the end, Tony defeats terrorists and blows up his suit, Tony allegedly leaves the super hero game, Pepper briefly becomes a super human, Tony has the arc reactor removed.
Θ Ultron - Essentially, this. Tony goes back to superheroism, because he can't not. He makes a killer robot that destroys like... everything. Or tries to, anyway. The team eventually defeats it, but it's kind of a whole thing, temporarily tears them apart, he retires again.
Θ JK Tony never retires, because he's full of shit. Tony and Pepper break up, because he's a lying liar who lies. Tony backs the Sokovia accords, which would require the Avengers to register and work with the UN. Steve throws a fit about it, it ruins everything. Tony meets a spider-child and basically adopts him. Tony and Steve break up.
Θ Tony pals around with a spider child, gets back together with Pepper five or six times probably.
POWERS/ABILITIES
ABILITIES:
Items: The suit, Laptop, arc reactor, other tools.
- Iron Man Suit
- Genius-Level Intelligence
- Charming (mostly)
- Perseverant
- Extremely Bisexual
- Fluent in French, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and knows some Korean, Spanish and Italian.
- Still alive somehow
Items: The suit, Laptop, arc reactor, other tools.
PERMISSIONS
Permissions:
TBD
TBD