Tag: Tony Stark

feliciates:

jayleeg:

theactualcluegirl:

mamalaz:

The relationship between Tony and Howard Stark feat. Steve Rogers.

Bonus:

image

One of the things that never fails to PISS ME OFF about MCU fandom is how nobody ever addresses how fucking UNFAIR all of this is to Steve himself!

Steve didn’t make Howard act like a douchewad; Steve didn’t seduce him, or court his favor, or do anything to try and get Howard to put him onto such a high pedestal that Tony would spend legitimate effort trying to knock Steve off it every time he’s in an insecure mood.

No, Steve fought a war, in the best way he knew how, and if that included dying, then fine, it included dying. He doesn’t deserve Tony whacking him over the head with Howard’s failings as a dad every time he turns around. That was never Steve’s fault, but Tony never lets him forget about it either.

What @theactualcluegirl said!!!

As a parent I get especially angry about this. Because by pinning blame on Steve, who is 100% without fault in this scenario, they’re excusing Howard’s shitty parenting and culpability. And that’s disturbing.

Steve is not responsible for Howard’s issues.

…The only one responsible for Howard’s issues was Howard.

If one truly believes in accountability and they want to be accountable for their actions, then part of accountability is not creating or accepting excuses. 

Not only isn’t Steve responsible for Howard’s behavior and Howard’s weird Steve fixation, Steve isn’t AWARE of it.  Steve comes out of the ice remembering Howard as merely a friend. For Steve all of Tony’s resentment and hostility comes out of left field. 

Maybe Tony telling Steve he grew up hating Steve at least was the dawning of understanding.

dornishjedi:

poisonpam:

Iron Man II analysis, a closer look to the contents of the box Howard Stark left his son:

  • The very first comic book of Captain America ( here a proper image of the comic book, barely visible in the box )
  • His journal/notebook ( contains advanced equations -not known in which contest they’re mentioned/why Howard wrote about them ; notes about the Tesseract, which is called the HYPERCUBE -or n-cube– by Howard )
  • Newspapers about Vanko
  • Videos ( behind the scenes of the Stark Expo recordings ; message to Tony ; possibly others? )
  • Files ( with what looks like a dossier -last screencap )
  • Photos
  • Stark Expo booklets from 1964 and 1974
  • A map of the Arctic ( quite probably from Howard’s search of Steven Rogers after he crashed with the plane )
  • Blueprints ( ARC REACTOR – TFTR-1 ; BUILDING 290 UU-IOP44 ; Projects Designers: ANTON VANKO )

please do not delete the text! kind of worked hard for this. if there are any corrections or additions you’d like to make just come and tell me and I’ll add them.

Notice how Bucky’s name is on the cover and that this is the original comic younger teen Barnes. Therefore, this is visual evidence that within the MCU, Bucky has this distorted highly fictionalized version just as Peggy Carter was vexed by the damsel in distress caricature of the Captain America Adventure Program radio show heard in Agent Carter season 1. Maybe as a child, Tony identified with this kid Bucky? More fuel for the rage in CACW.

As the cover is the first issue, then perhaps the comic made it overseas even before Bucky became a POW, and definitely afterwards.

Good find. Thank you for this.

“But I Did It”- Guilt in Captain America: Civil War

verysharpteeth:

I came away from Civil War really struck by how overwhelming the theme of guilt was. It motivates people to do selfless things, it motivates people to do selfish things, and it’s the driving force behind the ultimate showdown between Bucky and Tony. What the movie does though is contrast the fashion people deal with their guilt.

Tony and Bucky are both people consumed by guilt. In both cases it’s guilt over things they ultimately had no control over. Tony couldn’t have predicted that his parents would die with so many things left unsaid between them and him, yet when we first see him he’s reliving that moment over and over. Tony is steeped in even more guilt when his actions in creating Ultron are thrown back in his face by a victim’s mother. He’s even guilty that his teammates hold him responsible for their containment. The crux of the issue is that Tony just can’t let it go. He’s willing to stare his flaws in the face, but he’s unwilling to forgive himself for those flaws, which leads to an issue I’ll get to in a second. Tony is stuck in an endless guilt loop. His attempts to fix things always seem to lead to more issues that lead to more guilt. He’s understandably frustrated because he’s just so driven to try to make things RIGHT that he’s willing to clash hard and often with people who don’t agree with his ideas. Ultimately the government might be right that the Avengers should have some limitations put on them, but Tony is so desperate to try to fix or at least ease his mind over what he feels like he’s responsible for that he makes agreements and does things without looking at every angle. He flogs himself over his mistakes, but he can’t even really articulate the real problem: acceptance that sometimes things happen no matter what and you’re going to have to live with them.

It’s Bucky who actually voices what is Tony’s issue as well as his. As Steve tries to tell his friend that it was Hydra’s fault and that “it wasn’t really you doing those things” during his assassin days, Bucky calmly and quietly looks up and says “but I did it”. It doesn’t matter to Bucky who MADE him do it. It doesn’t matter to him that he was just the weapon. What matters to him is that he did it. He has to live with that. He has to see something he caused happen in his mind over and over again. He ultimately takes responsibility, and in doing that he echoes something Steve says earlier about being willing to shoulder the blame over things that go wrong. What Steve doesn’t address is not just being willing to bear the consequences of mistakes, but being willing to move forward from there.

That’s the real issue. Not whose fault it ultimately is, but the fact that both Tony and Bucky, in their minds, DID IT. They have to live with that. They have to live with something that no amount of reassurance from outsiders can fix. All the love and understanding in the world can’t help someone who won’t move out of the guilt cycle. And in the end that’s why Tony, in spite of knowing Bucky had no control over his actions in killing the Starks, attempts to kill him. I think it would be easy to claim Tony is motivated purely by revenge, but I think it’s more than that. Tony of anyone should be able to understand someone causing something horrible inadvertently. He’s been in Bucky’s place. He’s caused damage without really knowing it. He KNOWS Bucky was programmed, even calls him the “Manchurian Candidate” at one point proving he completely believes Bucky had no control over his actions. Part of the reason Tony can’t accept Bucky’s moral innocence in what he did is because he can’t accept his own. Tony can’t consider forgiving Bucky because he can’t forgive himself. Tony’s generally a reasonable person, but he’s willing to flat out murder Bucky in the end even though he’s aware Bucky was just the weapon that HYDRA used to kill his parents. Bucky didn’t have a choice in the matter, Tony knows that, but he violently tries to hold him responsible in the same way he mentally holds himself. “Do you even remember them” he lashes out at Bucky, sure that the person involved in causing the determining factor in his life can’t understand the magnitude of what he’s done. Can’t understand the weight of feeling responsible for some many lives. He unwittingly echoes the woman who cornered him in the elevator earlier in the movie. He’s suddenly in her place reacting the exact same way.

“I remember them all.”

That line, right there. If Tony had been able to pause in his rage and grief for a second he would have realized that out of ANYONE he’s come across, Bucky gets it the best. Tony lives with all the ghosts of what he’s caused. So does Bucky. Bucky voices what Tony can’t. No matter what people tell you, you are still going to feel guilty that you did something no matter the reason and every incident can still be fresh and painful and seared on your memory whether it really deserves to be there or not. Maybe you had false information, maybe you didn’t have control, but it still happened. You still did it. You’re still going to have to live with it. And if you don’t forgive yourself to some degree you’re not really going to function. You can see Bucky trying to figure out how to live with himself. He can at least voice that he’s not sure he’s worth it, voice his uncertainty. You see him cringing at the scythe of destruction he is (ie. “what did I do”). You see him figuring out how to live with guilt without needing to punish himself.

Tony says the problem without really saying it. “And then, and then, and then”. The cycle over and over and over. He pushes people away because of it. He tortures himself because of it. And it will eat him alive until he is able to step forward.

empathy and catharsis

robotmango:

major spoilers for ca:cw under the cut.

Keep reading

Oh man it was cathartic just reading this. I genuinely enjoyed the movie, but it left me stressed out. The people I’ve talked to about this movie have said to me “as such a huge Marvel fan, that’s really strange.” They wonder why am I not gushing about this movie.

Like… I hold Marvel to high standards and don’t want to blindly love everything they throw at me? I left the movie stressed out because all the characters had their stress dialed up to 11 and there was no moment to come down from that.

We get that Bucky feels guilty. We get that Steve is fighting for Bucky’s freedom. Why did we only get in depth explanation on Tony’s actions? I know the point of this movie is that it was adhering to an actual plot driven timeline so it was hard to fit moments of quiet into this already super packed movie, but literally 2 more minutes of MEN EXPRESSING EMOTION wouldn’t have killed anyone.

I left this movie stressed out because it winded me up and then just let me hang there with no wiggle room. Just me and my stress because nothing that happened was talked about? Or shown the grief that this is putting on these characters?

During Peggy’s funeral, this wonderful woman who has taken such a stance as a force of nature and a gentle place in Steve’s life, she becomes a prop for Steve to connect with Sharon? Like the funeral is a jumping off place for them to start something. During Sharon’s speech, yeah it was Peggy’s words, but it was shot and framed in such a way that Sharon was basically a newer model of Peggy and it really fucking irked me out. We literally just saw Steve barely holding it together as he was carrying Peggy to the front. That emotion is gone in literally seconds as his sadness converts to confusion and surprise and that’s the emotion we are left with on Steve’s last interaction with Peggy. That was it.

That scene could have been shot a thousand different ways and I would have come to terms with Peggy’s passing but this… this was all about introducing Sharon, not paying respects to Peggy, and that is one reason why I am disappointed in the use of Sharon’s character. We barely have any time to grieve even though there was ample time and space to do so.

What about Steve and Bucky though? Yes their actions on behalf of each other are admirable, but it’s usually in the form of fighting people. Their meeting was cut short, and I get it. Here the lack of a heartfelt reunion is actually kind of endearing because they trust each other off the bat without much being passed between them so this short interaction given the circumstance I can understand.

But after this, what about Steve’s headspace? What about Bucky’s? Bucky is heavy with guilt about what he’s been forced to do and we have a few clips of him acknowledging so… but what does that mean to those who don’t yet see Bucky as a victim? He tells Steve as much on the quinjet, and yeah ok that was a lovely line, but where’s Bucky’s headspace during this? Isn’t he fucking scared out of his mind that he’s going back to this hell hole??

Yeah the movie is fast paced but they are literally on this thing for hours so couldn’t they have gone a little more in depth about what they are feeling? There is so much regret in their eyes and yet that’s all the actors, not the actual script. They arrive in Siberia and there’s definitely some tension there, but not enough to fully convey what this actually means to Steve or Bucky.

The very first scene of the movie shows that the Siberian lab is essentially Bucky’s torture chamber, where he was imprisoned in ice, was wiped of his humanity, and had to watch, train, and get beaten up by other soldiers who were stripped of personhood just like he was. For the fans who already understood Bucky to be a victim of circumstance, the significance of going back is monumental. Bucky has every reason to sit this out, let Steve take the reigns. But Bucky swallows his fear and marches forward because if he can stop what happened to him happen to other people, he’s going to do it.

But let’s be real, not everyone is going to put that together. Sure we see them walking in the labs, but when do we ever really get the importance of this to Bucky? Some indicator of Bucky being scared to walk into this place, or Steve’s unbridled anger upon seeing the chair that Bucky was tortured in? Something other than a few flashes of Bucky (and thank god for Sebastian for conveying as much unease and fear as he could with his limited screen time).

For Bucky sympathizers, this scene is awful because we understand how horrible this much be for Bucky. But those who come out of there saying Bucky is a villain? it’s because they never blatantly saw Bucky’s humanity. He didn’t show fear, so the audience didn’t feel fear for him.

Where is his humanity? Where is Steve’s sympathy? They are stepping into Bucky’s hell, then Zemo uses Bucky as a pawn once again. Bucky isn’t causing the conflict; he is the one that conflict storms around.

When the Steve, Bucky, and Tony watch the clip of Tony’s parents’ death, the majority of the emotions are given to Tony. I get it, it’s his parents, but for just as much anger that Tony has about this, Bucky feels just as much guilt and self hatred. He gets one flash and a quick shot of watery eyes, but the focus is on Tony and the rest is left lacking.

From here, anger is the only thing fueling this fight. It stresses me out because the fight itself is so emotionally driven, and it’s not from anger. The brawl is one of tossing around masculinity and the lines do not match up with why this is happening. Well, other than “I remember everyone” by Bucky, but that is a throwaway line to Tony so it becomes a throwaway line to the general audience. When Bucky loses his arm and collapses, where is Steve hurting for his friend? Where is his reaction? Instead he “shows” this by wailing on Tony, but concern for Bucky would cause concern from the audience, but for some reason it gets glossed over.

I want to hope that by only capitalizing on the anger aspect of grief, this can cause awful things to happen. T’Challa is in a similar position as Tony in this story arc, and he manages to wrangle his anger and becomes one of the most empathetic and likable characters because of it. He does acknowledge that this behavior is damaging, but does Tony ever learn this?

This movie was fun and I did enjoy it, but it made me anxious and confused when I walked out. The audience takes cues on what they should feel from the characters, and by not giving the characters time to think, the audience didn’t have time to either, and left a lot of interpretations at face value.