Punstarr Wrote:
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> As a hardcore Iron Man fan, I'm curious about your
> take on all the borderline "evil" things Tony's
> done lately. Your dedication to your favorite
> character is admirable when everyone else seems to
> regard him as a megalomaniacal super villain at
> present. I'm not being facetious... I'm curious
> what you think.
Well, Iron Man and Tony Stark have never really been the most popular of Marvel's heroes.
Let's face it being a multi-millionaire, handsome, and one of the smartest engineers on the planet don't make him easily related to or the underdog.
As for Civil War, here is something I put up on another forum when asked about Tony's "badness";
Now, I didn't buy all the tie-ins so I may be missing some of his moments of evilness, but here's what I've read.
First, Tony goes to the Senate to plead against registration, but in secret pays off Titanium Man to stage an attack in order to influence their vote in favor of registration.
He convinces poor, young, and impressionable Peter Parker into revealing his identity publicly.
He becomes the spokesman/ figurehead for Registration, essentially putting him against all heroes who wish to remain anonymous and against the principles of democracy, freedom and the pursuit of happiness. Where freedom = the right to wear tights in public and happiness = beating up on bad guys.
His beliefs on Registration pit him against Captain America, a man who symbolizes the best qualities of America.
Tony designs a suit for Spider-Man that secretly monitors his powers, spying on Peter without his knowledge, gaining information on how to negate and later even duplicate his Spider-Sense.
Punches out the sentinel of liberty.
Along with Reed and Hank is responsible for the creation of a cyborg-clone of his dead friend and ally, Thor. Said cyborg-clone then goes and kills Goliath, a fan favorite second stringer.
Despite having both a greater number and more powerful heroes on his side, he then recruits super-villains to the Pro-Registration forces. Nothing like working with Venom and Bullseye to firmly establish yourself as being "in the right".
Creates a Super Hero Prison in the Negative Zone and seems very fanatical about keeping the heroes there indefinitely.
Makes 2 Billion dollars from various financial decisions because of Civil War. Nothing like making a rich guy richer because of war.
When Peter decides the Negative Zone prison is going to far and changes sides, this puts Marvel's most popular character in physical and moral conflict with Tony.
Having turned against a part of his fellow community of heroes and in making a profit on the whole thing earns him a "Judas" reference from Daredevil (Iron Fist).
Of course, since Peter has now switched sides and taken May and MJ away from Stark Tower, the assassination attempt that critically injures Aunt May is Tony's fault, since he was the one who convinced Peter to reveal his identity.
With great power comes great deniability, as Peter's decisions and actions have nothing to do with this. All Tony, yup.
Tony then does the worst thing possible, despite 9 to 1 fan support for Cap and his anti-Registration side, Tony loses the final battle but wins the Civil War.
Captain America surrenders!
Fan boy riots occur.
Finally, despite all his manipulation and wrongness during Civil War, Tony is appointed Director of SHIELD while Cap is killed by Crossbones working for the Red Skull.
Of course, Tony gets the blame for Cap's death more than the guy who pulled the trigger or the guy who ordered it.
Also while not directly connected to Civil War, Tony as the "leader" of the Illuminati is also responsible for the Hulk's exile into space and, as such, also responsible for everything that happens to the Hulk while in exile.
Bottom Line: You don't get cast as the antagonist against the likes of Captain America, Spider-Man and the Hulk and not come off as "The Villain".
I can accept some of his actions as his belief in what he was doing. I know first hand that doing what is right, is often not what is popular. The Clone cyborg of Thor and teaming up with nano-bot controlled villains both seemed out-of-character and going way too far.
I personally felt aspects of Registration were correct. Training and accountability are paramount, but there was never any logical reason why those who choose not to registered were imprisoned without due process or given the opportunity to retire.
I hope Marvel doesn't cheat its way out of the resolution of evil Tony by making him a Skrull or under outside control.
He has made mistakes, big ones. I do think he can recover from them, but he needs to make peace with Cap before this can happen, so it may be a while yet.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2007 11:37AM by Tetragrammaton.
