Why Iron Man Siding With The Government In Civil War Makes Sense

With Captain America: Civil War approaching, the Marvel Cinematic Universe reaches its 13th installment and 3rd phase. The movie pits hero against hero as Captain America and Iron Man lead opposing factions over the right to hero freely.

Captain America and co. are of the strong opinion that super people and vigilantes should keep their methods to themselves and any oversight would be tantamount to the death of modern civilization as heroes would inevitably become hired guns, blasting away at the behest of the US government, which isn't to be trusted. If you've ever seen 'Watchmen' picture that scene where The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan are fighting in the Vietnam war, and that's essentially Caps worst fear.

Not a good time for the National Liberation Front

Iron Man on the other hand, believes that with the amount of chaos and destruction caused by superheroes already, it's time they were kept in check and allowed to do their acts of heroism, under sanction and with the guidelines set out by a third party.

If you're a fan of these films, Iron Man's position seems entirely out of character. Why would the man who worked so hard to get his weapons out of the hands of the government be so quick to relinquish his independence? After all, this is the guy who went from "Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy, to "I want to protect the people I put in harm's way". Well as far as the movies are concerned, it actually makes a lot of sense.

In 'Iron Man', the place we see Tony Stark at the beginning of the movie is tonally different than where he is at the end. It starts with Tony as a weapons manufacturer who's made a habit out of defending what he does. He's happy to have maintained a fortune, and doesn't waste a minute thinking on the possible repercussions of his actions. This all changes when he's forced to face those repercussions and finds out that his company, unbeknownst to him, has been selling weapons to the enemies of America and causing the deaths of countless innocents.

Humbled and broken, Tony Stark becomes Iron Man

Clearly, the fruit of Tony's genius cannot be trusted in the hands of others. Tony builds a suit, and attempts to rid the world of his weapons and cuts ties with the government. He becomes a renegade and puts his mind to creating the tools for a better world while atoning for his sins as a blissfully ignorant arms dealer.

6 months after the events of the first film, 'Iron Man 2' sees Tony solidified as a man against government superveillance (see what I did there?). He's successfully proven that he can maintain his duty as Iron Man, and keep it as a weapon to be used only as he sees fit. Other countries try to imitate the Iron Man suit, but are unsuccessful as Tony seems to be the only one who can craft an armor of this stature.

Tony then has some serious egg on his face when Whiplash shows up, with his very own Arc Reaktor, the technology that Tony Stark believes could never be replicated. Suddenly there's cause for taking the Iron Man armour by force. This is why Tony gives Rhodey the suit that makes him War Machine. It's a way to keep the anxious military at bay, while also helping Tony sleep at night knowing his weapons are in the trusted hands of his friend.

Armor Bros!

This shows Tony that maybe his idea in the first Iron Man isn't as perfect as he might have thought. It's the first of many instances that tell him that he needs to make a few compromises if he wants to see the world protected. Still, even with giving Rhodey an armor, Tony still maintains his position that he's the only one capable of being the Iron Man.

The Avengers is actually where Tony Stark is at his most Tony Stark. See, the character at the end of the first Iron Man is still untested. Sure he has grand ideas about what it means to be Iron Man, and he has his code of conduct that he's unshaken in, but it's not until Iron Man 2 that he has that code tested. It's only after saving the day in Iron Man 2 that Tony proves that he's the best person to handle being the Iron Man, to keep the world safe as a one man army.

This is why he's such a dick in The Avengers. He's mostly a dick to Captain America because well, at the time Cap represents everything he hates and does it with a smile (Also there's the fact that Cap knew his Dad who didn't really care for Tony on the outside). Cap is establishment personified, but from an era that doesn't conduct itself in the way Tony objects to.

Tony hates the soured ideal of Captain America

But Tony coming to terms with being a team all in himself is broken down as the movie reaches its third act. Tony realises that the threat faced in 'Avengers' is not something he would've ever prepared for. Tony is a guy who always wants to have the tools he needs to blow away the corner he's backed into. When an infinite army comes through a portal in the sky, led by a mythical God who just stabbed his friend in the back, Tony understandably says "nope" and gives the reigns over to Cap.

So yeah, the man who hates the establishment with everything he is, just let the man who represents the establishment the power to call the shots. Of course at this point in the movie, Tony has more of a feel of who Steve Rogers is, but not by much. Tony realises that in this situation, he's powerless. No more so than when he has to fly a nuclear warhead into space, coming face to face with something he'd never thought to anticipate.

Okay so what does a man who needs to have an out for every situation do when faced with an impossible situation. He tries to find a way out of it. Iron Man 3 starts with a very bothered Tony Stark. He has nightmares about the events in Avengers and can't seem to stop building Iron Man suits. It's the most shaken the character has ever been because well, like I said, in Avengers, he'd thought he'd figured everything out, only for the universe to go, "nah buddy you still got some work to do"

When he's forced to face that problem it's understandably jarring, and because of that Tony doesn't ever want it to happen again. The risk is way too high. See normally if a person gets too secure with themselves, then life finds a way to show them what they need to work on. In Tony's case, people could die, specifically the people he cares about. Tony building the 32 suits is him trying his best to get back to form like he was in Avengers. Get back to being the one man army.

A little more literally this time around.

By the end of the movie, Tony realises that, with all the suits mapped out for every eventuality in the world, he still couldn't stop danger before it started. He still had to be reactive, never proactive. It even got to the point where the woman he loved fell to her certain death*. Tony decides to blow up his suits, realizing that he can't be a one man army. Maybe he could've been before the world decided to become Marvel-ous, but when faced with such impossible situations, the old ways aren't enough.

Because he's too slow. Tony tries to come up with suits that are each suited for different situations, but of course that's impractical because what if the situation changes? What if the situation isn't something he could have precedented? What Tony needs to be is not just a man in a machine, he needs to BE a machine. Constantly thinking and evolving so that he is ALWAYS prepared, and has his arsenal at his disposal. Always finding a way in situations that were impossible to predict.

Tony says "Well if I can't be a machine..."

Yes, when faced with the problem of saving the world Tony realises that the weak link is himself. So therefore, Tony decides to take himself out of the equation. Building Ultron is a way for Tony to keep the world protected in a better, smarter way, and also, protect himself.

After the first Iron Man, Tony's endeavours had something of a suicidal notion to them. This is not to say that Tony does what he does hoping that one day he'll bite the bullet, but what I mean is, Tony becoming Iron Man was atonement for his sins. With that in mind, Tony thinks that he deserves every bit of pain that comes his way. Anytime his life is in danger wouldn't matter to him since in his mind, he put someone else's life in danger too. By the time Age of Ultron comes around, he finds a way to forgive himself ever so slightly, and also realises that even if his life doesn't matter to him, it matters to the people around him.

So he doesn't want to be Iron Man any more. He wants Ultron to take his place and even do a better job than he ever did. Make none of the mistakes facilitated by human error. Ultron is it. It's everything that the character of Tony Stark has been working towards since Iron Man. He's finally found a way to get back to the level of closure he felt at the beginning of the first Avengers. The world would finally, be in safe hands again with the real one man army.

Nope.

As Obadiah Stane says in the first Iron Man film, trying to rid the world of weapons, he gave it it's best one ever. Ultron turns out to be less of a deterrent for threats and more of a direct threat himself. When the ultimate culmination of your entire ideology becomes the antithesis of that ideology, you start to question that ideology.

Prior to Age of Ultron, Tony was like Rocky Balboa. He took hit after hit after hit and kept on getting back up. Trying to find a better way. Whiplash makes him look bad? He gives Rhodey an armor and gets to keep working on his suits. Aliens attack? He starts working on suits for every situation. Situations he couldn't prepare for come up? He builds a robot that will evolve faster than he ever could. By the end of Age of Ultron, Tony is more like John Hammond at the end of Jurassic Park, realising that he never had control of the park in the first place.

Audiences are right to think that Iron Man's position in Civil War seems out of place with his character. That's because by the time Civil War comes around, it won't be the same character. Everything that character stood for, the independence necessary to keep the mission pure, to make sure that the threats that were out there were provided against, that all went up in flames with Ultron.

Tony realises that his dream of being the one man army, the man to protect the people he put in harm's way isn't possible. He can't do it on his own. Of course, the character of Tony Stark has an ego the size of the Hulk, so naturally, if he can't do it, no one else can. His best option for a world kept safe is the government he so mistrusts.

At this point he's desperate. He doesn't see a way out anymore and that's not easy for Tony Stark. The government is the last resort after everything else failed. It's not like it was before though. He's not relinquishing weapons for the government to use as they see fit, he's simply putting the responsibility of protecting the world in their hands. The Avengers and all the other characters in Civil War aren't so malleable as a few missiles and bombs, so, Tony doesn't think it'll turn out like last time. Plus he's smarter now, he won't make the same mistakes again.

Right?

Thanks for reading and if you liked this, or not, please leave a comment telling me your thoughts. I also have a podcast about movies that you can listen to. Our episode on Iron Man movies will be coming out soon, so please keep a look out for that. The most recent episode was on Disney Movies, which you can listen to here:

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