Iron Man and Batman works. Batman's final act in The Dark Knight involved going almost full Patriot Act to find Joker. Given the demise of his parents, he knows full well the rules are suggestive. For some, the line in the sand is an aesthetic choice and just that, a line. A boundary drawn by some kind of honor system that Batman knows nobody actually has to observe. Iron Man is more/less there. His arc is really 180 since the beginning and I think, like Batman, not only does he see laws, rules and lines in the sand as suggestive, he figures himself strong enough to carry the burden of making the difficult decisions that nobody really asked him to.
My kid was 10 when my husband died.
There is a loss of security.
A parent is supposed to protect the child.
Remember the bit in Jurassic Park where the attorney left the kid & they panicked?
My mom said my sister & I would be playing outside & just randomly come in to check that she was there.
So Tony & Bruce lost their security blanket. Their safe place.
It's not like they ended up on the streets, but the loss of routine, of same safe world hurt both.
Bats lacks faith in others. Can't believe others can be trusted to be there when needed.
Tony is so afraid to lose anyone, he believes he must bubble wrap the world do his buddies dont have to risk their lives protecting it. His great genius must be able to fix the problem of him losing his new family like he lost his parents
He thought his dad hated him, remember? He thought dad sending him away to schools to feed his mind was his dad's way to get rid of Tony.
Look at his reaction to Winter Soldier-killed his mom. Big raw ugly wound that never healed.
But as Wanda said, Tony is like Ultron-neither can see the damage of their actions.
I believe it was Whedon who said Stark sees the world as his plaything. If you matter to his world, then you belong to him. He maybe joked about Phil, but Coulson was HIS SHIELD contact. The face he could work with at SHIELD. Unlike Fury who was THE spy (his secrets have secrets), Coulson was more relatable. Coulson saved Pepper.
Loki killed Tony's SHIELD agent.
Because he lost his parents.
These new friends have very dangerous jobs that could remove them from him
Not to mention Tony may be jealous as hell of the friendship between Howard & Steve, but that made Steve the annoying older brother dad liked better, but still family.
So Steve picking Bucky over Tony is a giant insult. Its like Pepper & Killian or when Happy was hurt. Pepper & Happy are Tony's. How could Pepper gush over Killian?
How could Steve prefer Bucky?
All I remember about pre-MCU is Tony had a bad heart the suit somehow helped. He was something of an ass & very famously Marvel did an alcohol story-1979's Demon in a Bottle.
Sounds about right.
I think my little SoCal elementary schoolgirl self couldn't relate to Stark so I only remember him in connection to Thor & Cap.
I think it all boils down to Stark's daddy issues.
His dad never shut up about Steve Rogers. The only comfort Tony had was he would never meet this too perfect hero
But then he does.
So he has to tear him down because he was everything Howard thought was ideal in a hero. Howard knew Steve was a GOOD man, better than Howard ever was. Better than Tony. Steve may not be a genius, but to his core he has more heart than either Stark
Like Clark Kent.
Good guys.