News that Robert Downey Jr. was cast as Doctor Doom in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sent shockwaves through the fandom. Not only was it the return of the actor who kickstarted the MCU, but he would be playing one of the greatest villains in all the comics. Doctor Doom looks to be one of the biggest villains in the entire MCU, so it is a sharp contrast to Tony Stark/Iron Man, whose self-sacrifice made him the biggest hero in the franchise. Yet, throughout the MCU, Tony Stark does some questionable actions that paint his heroics in a new light, one far more sinister.
We aren’t suggesting in any way Tony Stark was evil or the true villain of the MCU that was a greater threat than Thanos or Kang. Yet, looking at his actions, Tony Stark’s actions before and after becoming Iron Man had significant impacts on the MCU. Many major world-changing events that impacted millions of lives can be traced back to him. While Bruce Banner’s alter ego, The Hulk, made the public see him as a monster until he joined The Avengers, Tony Stark’s Iron Man might have been the true monstrous Avenger who stood in sharp contrast to the likes of Captain America, Thor, Captain Marvel or Black Panther. Here is how some could call Tony Stark a villain…and if that critique is fair.
Tony Stark Created Ultron
The biggest source of Tony Stark’s damaging impact can be seen in the creation of Ultron in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron. While Tony Stark’s intentions on the surface seem heroic, wanting to create a suit of armor around the world to protect the planet from threats like those The Avengers faced off with in their debut film or ones like Thanos in the future, Bruce Banner quickly points out that it sounds like a cold world. Tony Stark takes it upon himself to decide what is best for everyone and his will is the right way. He doesn’t tell the rest of The Avengers apart from Banner because he doesn’t want to be drawn into a debate with his teammates, thinking their opinions matter less than his.
In Tony’s hubris, he creates Ultron. Despite what Tony Stark and Ultron want to believe, the artificial intelligence reflects his creator. Scarlet Witch underlines this point when she says, “Ultron can’t tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it; where do you think he gets that from?” Stark created Ultron, and all of Ultron’s actions could have been prevented if Tony Stark hadn’t moved forward with the project or even if he had looped in Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye into his plan. Ultron is the embodiment of Tony Stark’s arrogance, which is manifested in metal.
Ultron was also not an isolated event. The creation of Ultron and the villain’s actions afterward caused a chain of events that is still rippling across the MCU. Ultron’s destruction of Sokovia led to the creation of the Sokovia Accords, which split apart The Avengers. It also led to the death of Helmut Zemo’s family, which resulted in him taking revenge on the Avengers at a point when they were already fragile due to the riff caused by the Sokovia Accords. With The Avengers fractured, they were divided and not at their full strength to fight Thanos leading to the snap that wiped out all life in the universe. That means the events in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame all spin out from Tony Stark’s actions in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the impact of Thanos’s snap is still felt in MCU titles like Spider-Man: Far From Home, WandaVision, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
While many criticized Age of Ultron for being a misleading title as Ultron was only around for about a few days (although he is set to return in the upcoming Vision series), in many ways, the MCU, as audiences know it now, is the Age of Ultron. They all stemmed from the villain’s actions and his creation from Tony Stark. This means the Age of Ultron might truly be the Age of Stark.
How Many Other Villains Did Tony Stark’s Actions Create?
While Tony Stark literally created Ultron and, therefore, had an indirect hand in creating Zemo, Tony Stark’s actions in the MCU also led to the creation of many other threats. Before he donned the Iron Man suit, his actions as an arms dealer led to the death of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff‘s parents, leading to both of them volunteering to undergo experiments by Baron Strucker. While they eventually became Avengers to stop Ultron, they still allied with him for a short time, and those actions led to the destruction of Sokovia. Tony Stark would then see Wanda Maximoff as a weapon instead of a person during Captain America: Civil War, isolating her and setting her down the path to becoming the Scarlet Witch in WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Another victim of his time as the reckless playboy Tony Stark was Aldrich Killian. After blowing him off on New Year’s Eve in 1999, Aldrich would dedicate his life to becoming a new type of arms dealer, one that created the Extremis serum and led to the deaths of many. Iron Man 3 explores how Tony’s past actions before becoming a superhero would create demons that would eventually return, and he would have to face them. Yet even after becoming Iron Man, Tony Stark ended up creating plenty of other villains despite trying to do the right thing.
Yet even after he was Iron Man, he still kept creating foes. A group of former Stark Industries employees teamed up in Spider-Man: Far From Home, led by former Stark industrialist Quentin Beck, who felt Tony mocked his illusion technology and became Mysterio. Now, that one is not entirely Tony Stark’s fault, as Quentin Beck clearly was an unstable individual, and Tony Stark didn’t actually wrong him in a meaningful way. However, the situation surrounding another Spider-Man villain, Adrian Toomes/The Vulture, is different.
Adrian Toomes began as the former owner of Bestman Salvage, lost his livelihood when Damage Control, a joint venture between Stark Industries and the United States government, took over the salvaging operation after The Battle of New York in The Avengers, despite Toomes having a city contract. Toomes had rented new equipment for this job that would have left him financially ruined, so he took on a life of crime and became The Vulture to salvage tech from other superhero battles to sell on the streets.
Tony Stark Had a Fleet of Killer Drones
Spider-Man: Far From Home‘s most controversial development is the revelation that Tony Stark created a series of killer drones controlled by an A.I. named E.D.I.T.H (short for Even Dead, I’m The Hero). This revelation puts the heroic Tony Stark in an entirely new light. While Tony Stark certainly has a lot of care and admiration for Spider-Man and knows he has a good heart, it does feel irresponsible to put such a dangerous weapon in the hands of a 16-year-old. He could have easily handed them over to his wife, Pepper Potts, or even his good friend James Rhodey or another Avenger he trusted.
Not only do the drones call back to Ultron, but they are also very similar to HYDRA’s plans with their Project Insight Algorithm to wipe out anyone they perceive as a threat, as seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Tony Stark does the same thing now, but does it under the guise of heroism. In this way, the lines begin to blur between a hero like Tony Stark and a villain like Victor von Doom. It doesn’t seem so difficult to imagine Downey Jr. playing Doctor Doom, a villain who is also motivated by his own belief that he could run the world better. Iron Man might not have been evil the same way that other MCU villains were, but he was a flawed hero.
Iron Man’s Flaws Are What Make Him a Hero
Despite all of Tony Stark’s flaws, which have had repercussions across the MCU, those flaws and his journey to heroism have been the building blocks of the MCU. While The Fantastic Four is the foundation of the Marvel Universe in the comics, Iron Man was the foundational hero who built the MCU. Starting with Iron Man underlines a major part of the MCU’s thematic drive. The Fantastic Four defined the Marvel heroes as often accidents of science, as well as inversions of typical superhero power fantasies, but Iron Man established the MCU heroes as being people whose morally questionable past does not need to define their future.
Tony Stark, an arrogant billionaire with no care for anyone growing into a hero, is the road many heroes in the MCU find themselves on. Black Widow was an assassin before she joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and later The Avengers. The Guardians of the Galaxy were all criminals before eventually becoming one of the greatest superhero teams ever and a found family. Scott Lang was an ex-con who eventually saved the world as Ant-Man. The same goes for the arrogant Doctor Strange or Thor, who must learn humility to become heroes. The MCU is built on the foundation that individuals can be redeemed.
Tony Stark made mistakes in his past and sought to correct those mistakes by becoming Iron Man. In his debut film, Tony Stark even says that he is not the hero type. Yet despite his past problems, the MCU shows through Iron Man that it is never too late in life to change one’s way and become a hero. Tony Stark stumbles and makes plenty of mistakes in his quest to protect others, as the road to hell is paved with good intentions. But it is also worth noting that Tony Stark has done plenty of good, saving millions of lives as Iron Man. Tony Stark is a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and, to some, a villain and, to others, a hero.
