Confessions of a Tony Starkoholic

my $.02

The main difference between this arc and others is that in the past, Tony self-destructed his own life and the elements in it. This go around, these things have been taken from him. That's a major element in why this arc isn't doing a good job selling the "redemption" aspect, because Tony hasn't done something bad enough to warrant this level of loss.

He did make some bad decisions during the Civil War, but so did Captain America. The grey areas between the pro- and anti-registration sides is what makes the CW a fantastic event. Both sides have very strong arguments for their position. But the CW wasn't Tony's fault, and he even did his best to stave off the SHRA before those bumbleheads blew up Stamford. Important things taken from Tony: his best friend Steve Rogers.

The next major event, the Skrull invasion, was badly timed (or fortuitous, if you're a Skrull), but not Tony Stark's fault. The fact that the Skrulls nuked all the Starktech is more the fault of all the agencies using the tech than Tony's directly. He did in fact have a hand in that during his tenure as SHIELD director, but who can be blamed for not wanting to buy tech from Norman-I-was-Green-Goblin-Osborn? Important things taken from Tony: his reputation, his business, his livelihood.

Which leaves us with his superpower: his brain. But if there's anything left in his life that wasn't taken from him, now Tony's being written to take it from himself? If there's anything he needs to be redeemed from, it's the decision to lobotomize himself, which even Maria Hill and Pepper Potts thought was ridiculous. We're supposed to believe that the Tony Stark who didn't back down from terrorists, alcoholism, business rivals, a fight with his best friend(s), and a war with an insidious race of aliens backs down from a loon like Osborn (who replaced him as king of the power mountain) by erasing his brain?

It's not that Tony suddenly grew a heart and decided to erase the database in his noggin to protect masks. Our Tony has had a big and noble heart for decades, despite it being physically weak most of the time.

The summation of my point is this: Tony Stark has been made a scapegoat for many events in the Marvel U, and that does not qualify him for disgrace and "redemption." If he owes penance, it's for things he's directly done, not for things out of his control. I take Tony for who he is, but not as he's presented currently, because that's not the Tony Stark of the last several decades. This differing opinion is anything but the ramblings of a "fair weather fan." It's from someone who fell in love with a hero, and wants to see him being presented as one, and not the character most handy to pin blame on.

Re: my $.02

There have been times before when his things were taken. The second time he hit the bottle with vigor was because his company was taken from him by Stane. He's lost his things before because they were taken and caused his over all downfall.

My disagreement with you is that Tony has always been prone to extreme behavior. I'm not saying that any of the Civil War or the Secret Invasion were his fault. I am valiant support of Tony's effort. Some of his methods were questionable however, and they were a bit extreme.

Tony deleting his brain, is a lot like.. and I hate to use this lightly so don't assume I am... when cancer victims shave off their own body hair. It's a way of taking something back, making the choice before the disease makes it for you. I think Tony making the choice to delete his brain before someone else did it for him. He was going to get rid of that information before Norman Osborn got a chance not only to take that, but his life as well. It was his way of protecting what he had to... and as we all know, he's prone to martyr syndrome which we've seen time and time again.

As for the fall guy, that wasn't really the point I was trying to make. Fraction isn't blaming Tony and he never has. Fraction likes Stark, and that's why he's writing this story. He's been handed this world to move Tony around in as a chess piece and he's a small part of a grander Marvel scheme. Marvel has been blaming Tony for everything so long that I accept it now. This story is going to take the mess Marvel has made and bring him back to what he was, hopefully redeeming him not so much because HE did these things wrong, but because the Marvel world holds him accountable. And in a way, he needs it... because he knows he's done nothing wrong.

Anyway, that wasn't really my point, about him having been responsible. Fraction isn't making him a scapegoat and I know he hasn't just recently grown a heart which is why I see his move to do this crazy stuff as completely in character. He's not thinking about what's good for Tony (which would be not deleting his brain) but the greater good of his friends and his peers.

One last chance to right any wrongs he feels he's done.

Re: my $.02

IIRC, Stane hired Indres Moomji to seduce and then break Tony's heart. In his depression he hit the bottle.

We don't disagree on Tony's behavior, just his motivation.

Why Fraction feels turning Tony into a vegetable (or dead, assuming brain death actually occurs) via his martyr complex will redeem him is beyond me.

Re: my $.02

Oh we wall know they'll have a last minute save in mind. They can't kill off Tony, they won't have a scapegoat for next time around... when the Osborn thing doesn't go as planned, they have to blame Stark for letting him take power.

My advice, don't give up on Fraction yet. I believe in him.

Re: my $.02

Of course Tony is going to use his armor stockpiles that Norman stole as a means of defeating him (assuming his brain isn't oatmeal by then). Where the hell is Rhodey in all this. Damn it I need spherical-gun-armor action.

I held on until issue #10. Then I gave up all hope. I'll be in the Ultimate U, you know where to find me

HINT IT SMELLS LIKE sex ribs sex

This was a really great post. Liked it a lot. I think that Tony's rough times right now are actually not so much because he had gotten too powerful and needed to be brought down, but rather that he has become so universally reviled by fans that he needed to be utterly tortured for a while so that people would get over their irrational hatred of him and he'd eventually have a chance to be liked again. Although the observation that Tony replaces one addiction with another was very apt, and indeed he may well have become addicted to power if he's stayed where he was. I remember when Busiek was the writer he flirted with the idea that Tony was addicted to being Iron Man, but like a lot of his good ideas on the book, Busiek never followed through on it.

I'm glad you appreciate it. :) Thank you.