Marvel peddling their sugar daddy Tony Stark: Tony has a feeling that something bad is coming and is doing everything in his power to keep the Earth safe.
Me, an intellectual:
Now you know damn well… There was no indication at the end of Civil War that Tony had any feeling/inkling of something bigger coming. It was Thor in Age of Ultron that sensed something was off in the force or whatever. Even in that little mini short of what he was doing during Civil War he had a drawing of the Infinity Gauntlet so I really don’t know how y’all jumped to Tony being the one to tell something is off but okay, sure Jan, whatever.
tony stark in IM3: *builds army of suits to protect his loved ones because he’s convinced that “threat is imminent”* *has been convinced of that since the alien attack in new york*
tony stark in IM3: *has anxiety attack when harley asks him if the aliens will come back*
tony stark in AoU: *acknowledged to have been thinking about ways to protect the earth from intergalactic threats. wants a “suit of armor around the world”*
tony stark in AoU: *worst nightmare scenario is the avengers/earth succumbing to a hostile alien take over he didn’t do enough to stop*
tony stark in AoU: *to steve, regarding extraterrestrial threats* “we can bust arm dealers all live-long day, but that up there? that’s the end game. how are you guys planning on beating that?”
tony stark in AoU: *met with derision when he tries to explain the importance of ultron based on a previous extraterrestrial attack*
tony stark in AoU: *to nick fury, about his nightmare scenario, which is the earth perishing due to extraterrestrial threat* “i saw them all dead, nick, felt it. the whole world too”
tony stark in AoU: *adamantly tells steve that “everything that’s happened” is “nothing compared to what’s coming”*
thor in AoU: *after explaining his vision about the infinity stones to the team* “STARK IS RIGHT.”
me, more of an intellectual: tony stark has been worrying about and sensing future extraterrestrial threats and trying to think of ways to protect the earth from that exact greater threat since the avengers battle in new york, so there’s absolutely nothing new to the idea that tony’s been the one who’s still trying to address that whole issue but sure, jan, whatever
To add on to this, I know people want to just say “Even a broken clock is right twice a day” and yeah, maybe Tony’s PTSD had a role in this, but people seem to forget that he’s also a genius???
Like Tony is always looking two steps ahead, its just who he is. And when he feels (and sees) that destfuction is coming, what does he try to do? He tries to get two steps ahead AKA Ultron.
And when he does try to explain himself to the team, they just roll their eyes like ‘yes we get it you went into a worm hole; not this story again’ and we even get the whole line about how when people try to stop a war before it starts people die (but like its war ppl are gonna die anyway so why sit on your butt and do nothing????)
You can say it was Tony’s paranoia, but you can’t tell me that he didn’t feel like a threat was coming.
This is the culmination of six years and 4 movies of Tony’s character arc but some people still wonder why he is mentioned as important to the plot.
They seem to forget that in Avengers he was the one that went to the other side of the portal and as such the only one who saw the sheer armed force that was waiting on the other side. As a result he knew it was a matter of when and not if the aliens would be coming back.
Iron man 3 was him trying to cope with the realization and overcoming his simple mortal condition, still fragile under his armor by creating more and more advanced interfaces and suits. To be the best he could and always perfect his abilities and skills.
Age of Ultron was him being reminded that chasing after Hydra was a fool’s errand when the larger threat was still looming and could happen at literally any time (even if this realization WAS prompted by Wanda exploiting his anxiety and knowledge to inflict a nightmarish vision on him) and so the Earth needed to be proactive to survive. He already had the Iron legion which worked to help keep the public safe during raids. Ultron was just a step further to provide a first line of defence against any outsider invasion. It backfired and that’s why he retired at the end because he realized he needed to look at it with a calmer mind instead of working under the grasp of (totally justified and rational) paranoia/hysteria that clouded his judgement and didn’t let him make his best work. Just like in IM3 isn’t it. He’s a scientist, he’s working with the formula of trials and errors: his IM3 approach wasn’t good enough, his AOU try was a disaster, it was time to step back and try something else.
That’s why when Civil War opens Tony is stil an active Avenger, just a “non-combatant” as he was more focused on fixing the damage done during the precedent movies and quelling the growing anger against the superpowered population because he knows the Avengers will be needed for the oncoming cosmic threat and then he’s trying to keep them together and out of jail for the same reasons.
Tony was always the one with the big picture in mind since the first Avengers movie. He was the one who saw the truth of the war against Loki and since then worked to stop another Manhattan incident except worse (I’m not sure a Deux Nuke Machina would actually work this time). First he tried to work on it alone but was just driving himself mad and going nowhere really fast. Then after the Mandarin fiasco he started trying to reach out only to have the door slam shut on his face every. single. time. (first Bruce and Rhodey, then Steve and Thor).
In the end Bruce accepted to help create Ultron and Thor came around to the idea that Earth was still in mortal peril thanks to the exact same type of vision he received that prompted Tony to create Ultron. So no, the excuse that this is just PTSD and anxiety ramblings and that Tony has no leg to stand on is as stupid as saying Thor doesn’t know what he’s doing when he leaves to investigate after the movie.
So Yes, Tony is doing in the time between and until Infinity War what he’s been doing since the first Avengers: trying to find a way to face off the coming attack when he knows Earth is hopelessly outclassed. Because that’s who he is, he’ll continue looking for a solution until he finds it, because he won’t give up until his dying breath. Because even if the whole world turns against him and thinks his warnings are the ramblings of a mad man at worse or Cassandra truths at best he’ll take the burden of knowing on himself and still do his best because he’s not petty and selfish enough to put his ego before the greater good (contrary to what his so-called teammates and some fans thinks).
And YES, he suffers from anxiety and PTSD and this is not pretty and has a great impact on his life, but this is stupid and frankly offensive to think that this invalidates everything he says because people can still function with mental illnesses, people can still think and be right and actually do things. Pretending mental illness is not complex and fluctuating (like all illnesses you have good and terrible days) is the product of ignorance at best or petty and/or hateful bad faith at worst. Tony is vulnerable and takes things on himself much more than he should, he is affected with self-worth issues and a lot of issues sleeping and setting boundaries. He has triggers and is prone to flashbacks and irrationnal guilt. BUT he still can create 50+ armors in a few months, remake the whole Avengers’ gear and handle the PR and Legal troubles that arise with their activities. So he is damaged but far from a vegetable, thank you very much.
So you can explain away everything I just wrote to make him look bad but in the end it will just be delusions-fueled screechings because, before every thing else, this is Tony’s fight: the one he has been preparing for more than half a decade for. So grumble because your unfave will have screen time all you want but this is normal and logical progression of the overaching plot of the MCU leading to this confrontation. Because this is the point of the MCU, each movie leads to another and a whole universe is created. You know, what most people, critics and fans alike, praised Marvel for managing to do. Or #It’sAllConnected
