The PROBLEM With Tony Stark!

The PROBLEM With Tony Stark!

Tony Stark: Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, idiot, careless, forgetful, inconsistent

Editorial Opinion
By SwordBrothers - Jul 31, 2013 11:07 PM EST
Filed Under: Iron Man

I am no way insulting Iron Man. I am the biggest Iron Man fan out there and love the movies. I thought Iron Man 3 was the best comic-book-movie of the year. With that said, I just have noticed one problem with Tony Stark in the newer movies.

TONY STARK IS NOT AS SMART AS HE WAS IN IRON MAN 1!

A major part of Tony's character is his intellect. He is a genius. In Iron Man 1, in that cave, when he built the suit, I literally had a nerdgasm. That was so amazing. It showed him as a genius. It also showed that no one could match his intellect. Obadiah could not recreate the arc reactor in a lab with a group of scientists. I also liked the fact that Stark struggled. He is a billionaire genius and he struggled. He struggled to build the suit. Even the smartest man is still human. Although he overcame it and built the suit, it was shown that he gave it all that he had. His full effort. He also did other stuff like the building of Mark 2 and the Jericho presentation. Now future movies fail to capture this magic in Iron Man 1.





Iron Man 2: Tony Stark builds an element almost effortlessly. Uses his dad's blueprints and tears up his apartment. No big deal. Yet, because he did it effortlessly it does not make it seem like a hard task. Or anything that is impossible. The problem I have is that he was given the blueprints. In Iron Man 1 he had no blueprints. He had to create them, he was the creator. That is much more impressive then following some blueprints. I would have much preferred if Tony were to have developed the configuration for the element for himself rather than just follow some instructions. So in my opinion its not as smart if you follow blueprints that someone else wrote. It definitely does not recreate the suit scene in Iron Man 1. Feel free to disagree with me. :)





Avengers: I have actually no real problems with Avengers. I mean its a team movie so I don't expect it to take out 20 minutes to show Tony doing something smart. Especially since it has to establish the Avengers themselves. Either way it shows Tony becoming an expert at the cosmic cube in a night, which is realistic for him. Not that big of a feat. I don't have a problem with that. It shows his new suit which is cool and I don't expect them to show how he built it. He also worked with Bruce Banner and hacked Shield. I really enjoyed that. So this movie gets a pass.





Iron Man 3: Kevin Feige said, "We had pillars: we want it to be a Tony Stark-centric story, we want to blow up his life and see how he deals with a nemesis without his suits working- get him back metaphorically to the cave with box of scraps, like the first movie." LIAR! I was expecting some awesome montage where Tony pulls an all-nighter by building all forty suits. With all his equipment gone, he has to, by himself, using only his mind, build all forty suits in a single night. That's what I wanted. Instead I got Tony working with some little kid and then going to Home Depot and putting together some garbage. I mean a taser glove and some smoke bombs? Really. I mean you can buy a taser and smoke bombs. You don't need to build those. Then all forty suits were built in the end and he really did not have to think. Or they did not show him think. He also did not behave in the smartest fashion. Curing Pepper of the extremis was not shown either. Then blowing up all your suits. What a whip! Hopefully he hid one. I mean I just feel he is getting stupider each movie. He is at least on Peter Parker level on Iron Man 3. No where near Tony Stark level in Iron Man 1. This movie was not as big as it should have been considering it followed Avengers. Yes, all that charging a suit would be impressive if he did not fight off an alien invasion with the Hulk and Thor before. I mean charging a suit is pretty boring to watch and no where near as amazing as building one. I get the stranded part, but he's Tony Stark. I'm sure he could have got money from somewhere. Even without money, I think it could have been made better. I mean, Tony Stark, Creator of Iron Man, introduces his newest weapon, a taser! Really, definitely a step down from building a suit and an element. Definitely dumber. 40 suits in one night seems impossible and unrealistic. But it's a movie. I doubt anyone is going to complain that its unrealistic that he built that many suits in one day, after all it is a movie. A movie with extremis and all this unrealistic procedures. Just imagine him, doing like a factory line up with the suits, building different heads, arms, etc., and some dramatic music in the background. I think it would look pretty awesome. The forty suits built in the first place is actually one of my complaints. Why not use them earlier on. That is not that smart either. Also, in this movie he just got the mark 42 to deploy from various places. But still that suit broke apart like every fifteen minutes and was very unreliable. All those suits actually broke apart. So it is not that impressive. The scenes with Pepper and Tony being cured from extremis/being injected with extremis were like one minute tops. Blowing up the suits is pretty dumb, actually very dumb. I mean, I guess its noble in some way. But I mean, it is a form of protection all. I mean what if there is another attack suddenly after and unexpected. Villains don't wait for heroes. The city needs to be saved and he is nearby. What is Tony going to say, "I blew up all my suits for my relationship." He could just by Pepper a flower or blow up like half his suits. Or save just one. All of them is just unsafe and naive. Feel free to disagree once again. :)





Avengers 2: Now we all know that Tony will be creating Ultron. Its pretty obvious. Will this be good or bad. I don't know. I have faith and Whedon, so lets see. I imagine it takes off from Iron Man 3. Tony retires and builds Ultron to take his place. Uses AI. Shield improves the robot and it goes evil. Turns out that Hank Pym is the one that improved it. Anyways, Tony does not know about shield's upgrades. So he feels guilty and does a redemption by building a suit and saving the day. If done right, Tony can look smart depending on how he builds a suit with no Jarvis or AI.





Also, Stark can get dumber. He, after all, is a fictional character. If a writer writes him as an idiot then he is an idiot. If he is written as a genius, he is a genius. But basically my PROBLEM with Tony Stark: Movie after movie, he pulls a less amazing feat. The threats get bigger and the feats get smaller. I mean, the writers should write him doing better stuff. Not just basic tech. And I understand that his technology has improved, but they never show how he improved it or his struggle. And I would much rather sport the Mark 3 armor over the Mark 42 in a fight. His newest armors lack durability and power.

This is how I would rank his intelligence:

Iron Man 1 - 9/10

Iron Man 2 - 8/10

Avengers - 8/10

Iron Man 3 - 7/10

Thanks for reading. Do you agree? What are some of your problems with Tony Stark?

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SwordBrothers
SwordBrothers - 8/1/2013, 1:15 AM
Thanks anyways. I appreciate that you gave it a read and enjoy others' feedback. I understand that most people aren't going to agree with me. Just thought I would post my opinion and see how others see it. Plus if you didn't like my points you at least got to see some cool pictures, so it is isn't a total loss. :)
SwordBrothers
SwordBrothers - 8/1/2013, 5:48 AM
Thanks 0mwgaDaGod, you're right I should have used more examples. I'll take that into consideration for my next article. I actually forgot about the suitcase suit, so thanks for the reminder. But, again, they did not show him build it, so maybe that's why it isn't as memorable and it was only in the movie for like 5 minutes. The Mark 42 lost its impressiveness for me because of its lack of durability. I mean who wants a really cool cellphone that freezes every 2 minutes? All in all, I guess I'm blaming the writers for making the situations in Iron Man call for less work. Again, Thanks for you feedback.
NBAfanaddict
NBAfanaddict - 8/1/2013, 6:04 AM
I actually thought he was shown to be smarter in Iron Man 3 than in Avengers or Iron Man 2. He actually had less to work with in in IM3 than any of the other films. Even in the first film, the terrorist has assembled weapons he could use in his suit. He had jack-sqaut in the third film, yet he stormed the Mandarin's compound with his "home-made goodies". That was probably my favorite scene in IM3 (aside from the Air Force One, and Climax battle scenes).

Good article though. Articulate points.
SwordBrothers
SwordBrothers - 8/1/2013, 6:17 AM
Thanksk NBAfanaddict. I understand what you're saying. My problem was the goodies he made were not anything special, I mean any person with an engineering education could have replicated something similar. But I see how it could be seen as smarter since he had less resources. Thanks for you feedback as it is very helpful.
Starkasm
Starkasm - 8/1/2013, 6:46 AM
@swordbros

Yes, but him out smarting people wasn't the point of IM3. We've seen that before. Yes maybe what he did was doable but he also charged into a house full of hostiles. The point of IM3 was to show hes just as much of a hero outside the suit as he is in it.

As for IM2. He didn't just read it off a bit of paper and then created it. Hos dad left it foe him knowing he'd be the only one able to crack it.

And avengers. You said not much happened concerning his intellect but you forget he has a entire building power by arc reactor tech.
Starkasm
Starkasm - 8/1/2013, 6:47 AM
Still. Decent write up :)

Clearly youve put some time in it. Well done.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 8/1/2013, 7:00 AM
In Iron Man 3, Tony Stark releases his home address to terrorists on live TV seen across the world and has no defense system in place for when the terrorists attack.
NBAfanaddict
NBAfanaddict - 8/1/2013, 7:04 AM
Levitikuz: Well he is volatile....
SuperBatCap1
SuperBatCap1 - 8/1/2013, 7:31 AM
And he doesn't play we'll with others...
NovaCorpsFan
NovaCorpsFan - 8/1/2013, 8:09 AM
... Beep...
Lhornbk
Lhornbk - 8/1/2013, 9:02 AM
Ok, first of all, he doesn't build the Mark III himself, Jarvis actually manufactures it. Tony builds some of the main components (the jet boots, hand repulsor), and designs the entire Mark II & III on the computer, but if you remember, Jarvis actually manufactures it and comes up with the paint scheme, using Tony's specifications. Jarvis even tells Tony how long it will take (5 hrs.)

In the next one, he is able to see the model of an atom hidden in a model of an expo. That is incredible. Then Jarvis tells him that there is no way to synthesize the element. Tony then comes up with a way to do just that, synthesize an entirely new element.

I'm sorry, but the idea that he could build 40 new suits in one night is just dumb. The suit in the cave took weeks. The Mark III took 5 hrs, after what was undoubtedly many hrs of testing and computer design. Tony probably designed all those suits on the computer, then had Jarvis manufacture them. Assuming 5 hrs for each (and they probably took longer because they were more advanced), that would be at least 200 hrs for all of them. And quite frankly the last thing I wanted to watch was Tony build more suits. Been there, done that. As for the Mark 42 being unreliable, it was a prototype, basically still in the testing phase. And I'm sure the writers made it that way for purposes of the story. I can understand not liking that he blew the suits up, but that was the story. And yes, sometimes you do something that extreme for the woman you love. As for the idea that he was leaving the world unprotected by blowing up the suits, remember that Rhodey still had his suit, and of course Tony also knows that the other Avengers can do that for him.

And, as for the next Avengers movie, no, we do not know that he will build Ultron. That is the most likely scenario, yes, but it's not guaranteed. It's very possible that Shield builds Ultron. And speculation about that movie doesn't really apply anyway.
Abary
Abary - 8/1/2013, 9:24 AM
Avengers > Iron Man > IM2 > IM3

Lindsey35
Lindsey35 - 8/1/2013, 9:37 AM
My problem with Tony Stark? He's an ASSHOLE, a complete and utter MORON, and so freakin arrogant! THERE is the problem with Tony Stark.
tonytony
tonytony - 8/1/2013, 10:47 AM
im2 is 6/10-
NBAfanaddict
NBAfanaddict - 8/1/2013, 11:12 AM
SuperBatCap: Think he's also a bit Self-obbsessed...
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 8/1/2013, 11:23 AM
I think you did a good job with the editorial, but your wrong. They don't really show it, but his tech gets amazing every time. The MK42 was incredible (Even though it wasn't a finished product) His suit controlling ability is great as well. Sure he didn't build a nuke to get to the trevor guy but come on, he made some pretty cool stuff. IM2 wasn't a great movie. Still though the element was pretty cool, it was supposed to mend his relationship with his dad pretty much. Also he didn't really struggle to make the suit in the cave, he pretty much just made it the only problem was the guards. His MK2 only had the ice problem really. After that he has just been perfecting the tech. Good editorial, I just dissagree.
LegendaryOutlaw
LegendaryOutlaw - 8/1/2013, 1:02 PM
This is stupider than the article on how Supes and Lois Lane would do "it". And THAT was pretty stupid.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 8/1/2013, 1:19 PM
Thats the great thing about Tony, he's a jerk. Normally super heroes are great people, not him. He's smart and amazing and he knows it. That's what sets him apart. There are enough Captain america's and Batman's who don't do anything wrong.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 8/1/2013, 2:04 PM
I think the problem stems from your expectations of Iron Man 3. Nowhere did I see in the trailers that suggested Tony would build all 40 suits in one night, or anything like that.

Now having said that, I sort of agree with you. I was let down by the movie as well, for different reasons. But I did think they would come up with something a little more clever than JARVIS malfunctioning to strand Tony. They did mislead us with that quote about Tony having to come back to the basics and become stuck in that cave, so to speak, from Iron Man 1.

I'm working on an editorial that sort of touches on your article, but it's a little different. It still has to do with how inconsistent Tony is written from movie to movie. You bring up a good point though, so well done!
SwordBrothers
SwordBrothers - 8/1/2013, 6:00 PM
Thanks everyone

@SauronsBane1 I look forward to your article. Good luck! :)
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