Robert Downey Jr. did a tremendous job in bringing Tony Stark to life in the MCU. Not only did he capture the charisma of the billionaire but also the intense burden that he carries.
From the very beginning in Iron Man, Tony Stark has been working on making the world a better place to redeem himself for the destruction his company inadvertently caused. While he’s arguably atoned for his sins, not all of his efforts worked out the way he planned.
10 He Coped With His Impending Death By Partying & Getting drunk
Death is inevitable and everyone has their way of coping with it. In Iron Man 2, Tony discovered that the reactor core in his chest was slowly poisoning and killing him. He responded to this by living it up, throwing wild parties, and getting drunk.
Obviously, alcohol plus an Iron Man suit is a recipe for disaster and led to a fight between him and his best friend, James “Rhodey” Rhodes. Tony placed himself in great danger and risked distancing himself too far from the people he loved. It was not his greatest moment but it could have been a lot worse.
9 Challenged the Mandarin & It Cost Him His Home
Let it be known that when anyone tries to harm his friends, Tony Stark won’t be afraid to seek out vengeance. That’s painfully true in Iron Man 3 when his bodyguard Happy Hogan was injured in one of the Mandarin’s supposed attacks. Tony called out the Mandarin and challenged him, going so far as to reveal his home address.
That turned out to be a poor move as the Mandarin’s forces destroyed Tony’s home and almost killed him and Pepper in the process. One would think that he would have used all those Iron Man suits to protect his home.
8 He Lost the Tesseract During the Time Heist
Everyone knows that the first rule of time travel is to never alter the past but it is also the most commonly broken rule. Such is the case in Avengers: Endgame when the Avengers travel back in time to collect the Infinity Stones.
Tony and Ant-Man go after the Tesseract which is crucial to bringing back everyone who was wiped out in the Snap and manage to retrieve it. Only to lose it almost immediately and have it fall right into the hands of Loki. They managed to find the Tesseract at another point in time but they came dangerously close to losing their chance at bringing everyone back.
7 Being An Inattentive Mentor to Spider-Man
On paper, Tony Stark should be the ideal mentor to Peter Parker given that they are both geniuses and gifted inventors. However, throughout Spider-Man: Homecoming, he is neglectful and ignores almost all of Peter’s calls. This is surprising considering he gave Peter a fully automated Spider-Man suit and left him to his own devices.
As a result, Peter feels the need to prove himself to Tony and take on dangerous criminals that are out of his league. At the very least, Tony is partially responsible for the incidents that Spider-Man causes for not being more attentive.
6 Failed to Convince Steve Rogers To Sign the Sokovia Accords
In Captain America: Civil War, Tony had enough on his plate dealing with the guilt of inadvertently causing the destruction of Sokovia and dealing with his relationship with Pepper. Things only got worse when he and the rest of the Avengers were threatened to sign the Sokovia Accords or else their group would be dissolved.
Desperate to maintain a semblance of control, Tony tried his best to negotiate with Captain America, get him on Tony’s side, and keep the team together and safe. However, Steve Rogers wouldn’t abide by his conditions and refused to compromise. While Tony had everyone’s best intentions, things only got worse from that point on.
5 Failed To Stop Captain America & Bucky At the Airport & Almost Lost His Friend
When Steve went on the lam with Bucky Barnes, Tony brought it upon himself to capture him before the authorities could. He recruited a team to assist him but Steve also had a team ready to help him. When Tony couldn’t intimidate him, it came to blows in one of the franchise’s best action scenes while Steve and Bucky tried to secure an aircraft.
The two escaped and an ill-timed blast from Vision resulted in Rhodey crashing and suffering critical injuries that almost cost him his legs. While Tony was able to capture most of Steve’s team, he came close to losing one of his best friends.
4 Gave Into His Anger & Tried To Kill Bucky For Murdering His Parents
Usually, Tony does a good job at keeping his emotions in check and not letting his anger get the best of him. But in Civil War, he was pushed to his limits. The straw that broke the camel’s (iron) back was when Zemo revealed that Bucky killed Tony’s parents while under Hydra’s control.
Blind with rage, Tony tried to kill Bucky but he was incapacitated by him and Steve. Not only did he fail to kill Bucky but he fell right into Zemo’s trap to create a rift in the Avengers.
3 Ran A Company That Made Deals Behind His Back
It wouldn’t be a complete list without the failure that made Tony Stark the man he is today. When the MCU first started, Stark Industries was a weapons manufacturer with Tony as its poster boy.
It wasn’t until he got blown up by one of his company’s weapons and kidnapped that he realized that his company was making shady deals without him knowing. He discovered the company’s weapons were also being used to harm innocents. It was a real wake-up call that put Tony on the righteous path.
2 Creating Ultron Resulted in the Destruction of Sokovia
Tony Stark is used to breezing through any problems he faces without giving a second thought, but Loki’s invasion of New York was different. While the Avengers won the battle, Tony knew that they did so by the skin of their teeth and wanted to be prepared for future incidents.
He attempted to make an AI that would control his Iron Legion and protect the Earth at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, the AI that became Ultron possessed Tony’s worst traits, went rogue, and tried to eradicate mankind. Resulting in the devastation of Sokovia which caused long-lasting repercussions.
1 Failed to Beat Thanos on Titan Resulting in Half Of All Life Getting Erased
Ever since Loki invaded New York with the Chitauri, Tony Stark has been driven to preparing for the next attack from space. In the process, the world was nearly destroyed by Ultron and the Avengers broke up, but his fears were confirmed when the Black Order arrived.
He pursued them into space and teamed up with some unlikely allies to confront Thanos and get the Infinity Gauntlet from him. Tony came close to succeeding but due to Star-Lord’s hasty reaction to Gamora’s death, the plan fell apart and Thanos devastated them. For his failure, Tony had to watch as his allies and his protégé, Spider-Man, turned to dust right before his eyes.
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