Summary
- Iron Man movies depict Tony Stark’s growth from irresponsible to hero, but some outdated scenes age poorly.
- Some controversial scenes, like Elon Musk’s cameo and sexist attitudes towards women, are problematic in the Iron Man films.
- Stark’s vigilante justice, lack of oversight, and indifference towards endangering others show problematic traits in the character.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark may have kicked off the MCU, but the Iron Man movies already feel slightly outdated just over 15 years later. In 2008, the MCU had its humble beginnings when the egotistical billionaire hot shot Tony Stark was captured by a terrorist group and threatened with grievous bodily harm at the hands of his own weapons. The story was an incredible journey for a man who had more money than sense, and no real purpose in life, to become a hero who would begin taking responsibility and accountability.
On that note, the Iron Man franchise set out to establish a man who picks himself up and overcomes clear character flaws to become someone that would one day lay his life down for his friends. Tony Stark is a changed man by the time he appears in the concluding chapters of the Infinity Saga, happily married to the love of his life and raising a young daughter. However, the hero’s initial outings were rife with awkward and uncomfortable moments and scenes that have become even more abhorrent in the years since they first appeared.
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10 Elon Musk’s Cameo In Iron Man 2
Iron Man is an icon and a hero, and the movies which explore his growth do a great deal to establish this. However, that doesn’t mean every moment of the films was pitch perfect. Some scenes and minor moments have aged poorly, such as the cameo from Elon Musk in Iron Man 2. At the time of the films’ release, Musk was not quite the household name that he eventually became, and people frequently compared him to a real life Tony Stark, with engineering genius, vast wealth, and a workaholic nature.
Despite this, Musk’s social standing has been incredibly divisive over the last decade. From his controversial takeover and renaming of the social media platform Twitter, to his incredibly vocal presence online, Musk is not quite the Stark in real-life figure that he was portrayed to be. Whether you love him or hate him, Musk is a businessman first, who manages vast wealth and industry. It’s inaccurate, and simply mind-boggling that the public figure would be associated with the fictional hero that is universally beloved.
9 Happy Hogan Watching Black Widow Change
Also, in Iron Man 2, there is a moment that feels incredibly outdated and inappropriate when Happy Hogan, played by director Jon Favreau, peeks at Natasha Romanoff while she is changing in the rear seat of his car. Favreau is a spectacular director, with a talent for storytelling. However, this moment clearly highlights a point in time where movies valued women more for their physicality, than what they brought to the picture.
Even if this is simply a passing gag in the movie, meant as a light-hearted and passive joke, it drags down the tone. In the years since, actress Scarlett Johansson has been very vocal about the difference in questions she received during press tours for the MCU movies, and this joke contributes to that kind of mentality. Regardless of how it was intended, it feels out of place in a family-friendly movie from Disney, but fortunately, the MCU has been more mindful in this regard in recent years.
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8 Tony Stark’s Attitude Towards Women
It’s a vital part of the character, and so the illustration of Tony as a womanizer who takes girls into his bed for the night and then has them taken out with the trash in the morning contributes in many ways to the story. However, it’s still uncomfortable to see Tony have his way with beautiful, strong women in high-powered careers, only to ghost them after. And this type of thing happens in both the first and second Iron Man movies, with Stark continuing to treat others as less than himself.
This attitude of using others does extend to colleagues and men as well as women, but the emphasis is placed on his blatant disrespect towards women. Even in Iron Man 3, one of the primary antagonists of the story, Maya Hansen, is a woman who was previously mistreated by Stark. His arrogance, thoughtlessness and inconsiderate behavior does illustrate a journey for the eventual hero, but it could have been approached with a lighter touch potentially, avoiding so much degradation and demeaning of the female characters.
7 Stark Being Unaware Of His Own Companies Dealings
Something incredibly troubling about Stark in Iron Man is just how far removed he is from his company’s dealings. It is fair that he was a relatively young man, who inherited vast wealth, and cared very little about his father’s legacy. For this reason, Stark was happy to offload responsibility to others, like Obadiah Stane, and simply revel in his fame and fortune. However, this kind of mindless revelry and disregard of money and responsibility, is troubling.
Again, it’s an essential part of his character, so it makes a lot of sense for these moments and characteristics to feature in the film, but it’s an uncomfortable watch. Billionaires in today’s world are consistently being held to a higher standard by the public and the government. Yes, things slip through the cracks, and hearings are put together to question major missteps, but Stark’s inattention to his business is alarming. It’s worth highlighting that he also faces a government hearing in Iron Man 2, but strangely not in connection with his companies dealing with weapons of mass destruction to competing markets.
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6 The Relationship Between Pepper And Tony
Pepper and Tony have a happy ending when the pair eventually marry and start a family, before Tony nobly sacrifices himself. However, the beginning of their relationship is problematic. Tony employed Pepper as an executive assistant. She helped manage his day-to-day dealings, and ensured that he was where he was meant to be, when he was meant to be there. The pair also have a close friendship, and speak openly and honestly with one another.
However, the issue comes when Tony flirts intensely with his assistant. In a position of power, as her employer, Tony is very forceful and consistently makes Pepper uncomfortable with his advances. There is clearly a mutual connection, but the approach was inappropriate to begin with. It may have turned out OK for the happy couple, but the portrayal and foundations of the relationship early on were definitely sketchy and uncomfortable to watch back.
5 Iron Man’s Vigilante Justice With High-Tech Weapons And No Oversight
This is a typical problem in most superhero movies, but Stark operates with nearly endless wealth, and incredible engineering knowledge and expertise in building weapons. Stark literally supplied weapons to the military, with cutting edge tech that could potentially kill or injure countless people. However, instead of scrapping this tech, or focusing on alternative solutions for helping with war efforts, Stark builds his own weaponized suit to fight crime on his own.
Stark designed and built a world-leading combat suit that made him into a lethal weapon. This is impressive, but it’s also highly irresponsible. Even after building the suit, rather than thinking about ways to use it for the greatest good, to the largest number of people, Stark flies into war-torn third countries, and begins to kill whoever he views as being “evil.” This is not only an outrageous amount of power for one man to wield, but he also willingly embraces his role as a vigilante.
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4 Tony Stark Having No Problem With Killing
And continuing on with that same topic, Stark uses lethal force on his enemies. When he lands in a small community where people are afraid of terror attacks, Stark is ready to kill every single intruder without hesitation. While some heroes, like Daredevil or Batman, struggle to keep a strict moral code and avoid crossing that line, Stark has no such issues in any capacity. This is clearly why he is so comfortable jumping in with both feet to his new vigilante lifestyle.
However, it does feel like a slight contradiction to the hero on his journey to becoming a good man. While there are long, rigourous processes that allow citizens to take the life of a criminal in rare circumstances, and martial law allows soldiers to kill without punishment, Tony is operating outside of the law. The very fact that he is so willing to take human life, as a civilian with no official mandate to do so, is terrifying.
3 Tony Constantly Putting People In Danger
This also highlights another issue, with Stark constantly putting other people’s lives at risk. While Iron Man 3 provides some of the most clear examples of Stark’s reckless nature, his actions also create problems for others. Stark is an extremely public figure, both because of his position in business and his wealth, and his superhero activities. However, he is more than willing to invite danger to his doorstep, disregarding the lives and safety of the people around him, like Pepper and others that may be in his employ.
Whether he is declaring his address on live TV and inviting terror attacks on his home, or blatantly announcing that he is Iron Man, Stark paints a target on himself and everyone around him with his actions. He is also equipped to save them from that ensuing danger, but the damage is already done. In addition, saving people from the drama he has caused and the dangerous situations he creates is almost redundant because of his lack of care and thought.
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2 Iron Man’s Relationship With His Villains
Both Tony and his father, Howard, were incredibly egotistical men who valued their public image above family, friends and doing the right thing on several occasions. Before Tony was born, his father, Howard, worked with other incredibly gifted engineers and inventors, such as Anton Vanko. Vanko played a significant role in designing and building the first Arc reactor. However, Stark eventually had Anton deported, and took credit for his work without ever acknowledging Anton’s involvement.
Continuing on with that tradition, Tony becomes the merchant of Death, dealing powerful weapons to the highest bidder. And despite his lack of awareness, Stark dealt to both sides. Many of his villains come from his ignorance, arrogance, and disregard of others, such as Aldrich Killian, Maya Hansen, and the Ten Rings crime organization. Tony’s lack of compassion, and his willingness to embarrass and dispose of people was the very thing that led to many of his villains’ origin stories.
1 Tony Stark Deciding To Retire As Iron Man
Finally, Stark’s decision to get rid of the suit and focus on other endeavors may appear to be a noble gesture to focus on his relationship with Pepper, but it also meant turning on his friends. Stark had a gift that made him one of the most valuable people in protecting the Earth from threats. Along with the Avengers, Stark protects and repels any potential threat from succeeding in dominating the world. Despite his importance, and his intelligence, which makes him an invaluable asset, Stark chooses to dispose of all of his old suits, and leave the superhero business behind in Iron Man 3.
On one hand, this is a major loss for his friends, and a choice that immediately increases the danger and threats to his allies, but it’s also a promise he fails to keep. Even if he was serious about retiring as a hero so he could spend time with family, Stark doesn’t stick to those promises and continues to build new suits. For this reason, either way, Stark comes off as a problematic character in the Iron Man movies.
Iron Man 
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Iron Man is the first film in the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Robert Downey Jr. stars as Tony Stark, who becomes Iron Man after he is kidnapped and discovers terrorists are using weapons developed by Stark Industries. Gwyneth Paltrow stars as Tony’s love interest Pepper Potts alongside Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan and Jeff Bridges as the villainous Obadiah Stane.
Director Jon Favreau Release Date May 2, 2008 Studio(s) Marvel Studios Distributor(s) Paramount Pictures Writers Matt Holloway , Art Marcum , Hawk Ostby , Mark Fergus Cast Robert Downey Jr. , Jeff Bridges , Gwyneth Paltrow , Terrence Howard , Leslie Bibb , Shaun Toub , Clark Gregg , Paul Bettany Runtime 126 minutes Franchise(s) Marvel Cinematic Universe , Iron Man Sequel(s) Iron Man 2 , Iron Man 3 Budget $140 million Main Genre Superhero Expand
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