Worst Things Iron Man Has Ever Done
Tony Stark aka Iron Man is, without a doubt, one of the most recognizable and well-known superheroes nowadays thanks, in large part, to the amazing portrayal by Robert Downey Jr. throughout the MCU. However, his comic book history spans decades, and not all of it is good. First appearing back in 1963, the character has gone through a lot of changes and been the center of many important storylines. The MCU version was pretty accurate in terms of matching the comic book version's characteristics, but his arc throughout the film series would see him completely change some of his ways and eventually make the ultimate sacrifice to save everyone and defeat Thanos. Whilst it's always nice to see characters develop into all out heroes, he has done some questionable things during his history, as he is human, after all, and we are all flawed. So today, we are going to look at some of the worst things Iron Man has ever done.
1. Killed An Ambassador
One of the more well known storylines in Iron Man's history is the "Demon in a Bottle" one, in which Tony's trouble with alcoholism took a turn for the worst, but many forget the actual reason it happened. At the beginning of the story arc, Tony noticed that his armor was starting to malfunction, but agreed to send Iron Man to meet with an ambassador in representation of his company. During their meeting, the repulsor in one of his gloves fired and killed the ambassador, causing an international incident and sending Tony into a spiral of heavy drinking. As a saving grace, it did turn out that the armor was being controlled remotely by Justin Hammer, so it technically wasn't Tony's fault. However, it didn't stop Tony from blaming himself or make the scene any less shocking for fans of the character.
2. Tricked The Hulk Into Space
So I think it's safe to assume we all know just how much of a bad temper the Hulk can have and the damage which usually follows. This has led to many heroes, and even the US Government, to try and stop him. Beginning with Incredible Hulk #92, the organization known as the Illuminati tricked the Hulk into going into space and tried to send him to an uninhabited world. Iron Man was part of the Illuminati at this point and played a big part in helping trick the Hulk. It would unfortunately backfire, though, as, when the planet Hulk crashed on was destroyed, he would return to Earth seeking revenge for the trickery, causing even more damage in his wake.
3. Did Nothing About The Incursions
Back in 2015, Marvel began the Time Runs Out event, during which the Marvel Universe started to get destroyed due to alternate worlds colliding in, what were known as, incursions. This event would see different factions of heroes and villains team up to destroy and/or save other worlds. The Illuminati, which included Iron Man, tried to stop the incursions without having to destroy other worlds, unlike some of the other factions who were happy to destroy other worlds. However, it turned out that Iron Man knew this was going to happen beforehand and said nothing. This led to Captain America confronting his once ally, blaming him for the lives and worlds lost and for giving them false hope, which led to the two of them fighting each other to the death.
4. Faked His Death
Whilst a character faking their own death isn't, necessarily, a bad thing, it's what it does to the people left behind that's questionable. In 1983's Iron Man #169, Tony's alcoholism went way out of control, and so he gave his suit to his best friend, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, who took up the mantle of Iron Man while Tony worked on his problems. But in Iron Man #284, Tony had apparently died, and Rhodey also took over as CEO of Stark Industries, but there was more to it than met the eye. Years later, Rhodey would learn that Tony had actually faked his death and put himself in suspended animation to allow his body to heal, which did not go down well. Rhodey struggled emotionally when he believed Tony had died and then he had to step in to keep his legacy alive. So when he found out it wasn't true, he felt extremely betrayed by the person wo was supposed to be his best friend, causing a rift in their friendship at the time.
5. Civil War
Finally, we come to one of, arguably, the most harrowing storylines to involve Iron Man - Civil War. Fans of the MCU films will know parts of the main plot to this storyline, but in the comics, the US passed a bill requiring all superheroes to register with the government.Those who didn't would be hunted down and imprisoned by soldiers, and Iron Man helped to facilitate this. Not only did he take part in the rounding up and imprisonment of his fellow heroes, he also created a clone of Thor who would kill the hero Goliath, and made Peter Parker unmask himself as Spider-Man, which put Peter's own, and his loved ones', safety in jeopardy. Peter would later actually have to make a deal with the Devil in order to reverse what he had done. Iron Man came out of this storyline looking very much like a villain.
Well there you have it, some of the worst things Iron Man has done in his history. This list is not exhaustible, however, as there are other things he has done which are pretty bad. A lot of the time, he is being manipulated or his suits are being controlled by someone else, but ultimately, the responsibility lies with him to ensure that, if he's making this technology, it's safe, and others can't take advantage.
How many of the above did you know? Do you know any other "bad" things Iron Man has done?
Until next time!