100 Fictional Characters That I Love
Apr. 23rd, 2012 01:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shinysylver#1 - Tony Stark AKA Iron Man
Iron Man is my favorite superhero. From comic page to movie screen to cartoon he mesmerizes me. There is no one quite like him.
Stan Lee created Tony Stark during the Vietnam War because he wanted to see if he could take a character that the readers would want to hate and make them love him. He was part of the military industrial complex selling weapons during the era of peace protests and yet Stan Lee succeeded and Tony was loved.
This is a character with SO MANY flaws. He's an alcoholic, a narcissist, a jerk, and a sometimes womanizer. He's a genius with a martyr complex. But he is also so much more. Underneath the pompous facade he is deeply insecure and lacks a sense of self worth. He's loyal to a fault and he always does what he thinks is right no matter the personal cost. He is a character that never stops fighting. He fights his weak body, he fights his alcohol dependency, and he fights the super villains.
Tony Stark is a character that has made so many unpopular decisions, enough to occasionally get leveled with the antihero and even villain label (Marvel Civil War anyone?), but he always does them with the best of intentions. Of course Captain America would point out that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and Tony wouldn't argue, he'd just accept that he was going to hell so that Steve wouldn't have to. Martyr complex remember?
One of my favorite things about Tony is how very human he is. He's a superhero with no super powers. He uses his brain and his money to level the playing field, but ultimately he is a human trying to compete with gods and aliens and mutants. Not only is he human but he's a human with a bad heart (or brain in the Ultimateverse). He's flawed and vulnerable and yet he still goes out and saves the world every damn day.
Tony Stark proves that you don't have to be more than human to be a hero and more importantly you don't even have to be a particularly good human to be a hero, you just have to devote yourself to it. He's a beautiful mess and I love him for his flaws and his heart, as broken as it is.
Iron Man is my favorite superhero. From comic page to movie screen to cartoon he mesmerizes me. There is no one quite like him.
Stan Lee created Tony Stark during the Vietnam War because he wanted to see if he could take a character that the readers would want to hate and make them love him. He was part of the military industrial complex selling weapons during the era of peace protests and yet Stan Lee succeeded and Tony was loved.
This is a character with SO MANY flaws. He's an alcoholic, a narcissist, a jerk, and a sometimes womanizer. He's a genius with a martyr complex. But he is also so much more. Underneath the pompous facade he is deeply insecure and lacks a sense of self worth. He's loyal to a fault and he always does what he thinks is right no matter the personal cost. He is a character that never stops fighting. He fights his weak body, he fights his alcohol dependency, and he fights the super villains.
Tony Stark is a character that has made so many unpopular decisions, enough to occasionally get leveled with the antihero and even villain label (Marvel Civil War anyone?), but he always does them with the best of intentions. Of course Captain America would point out that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and Tony wouldn't argue, he'd just accept that he was going to hell so that Steve wouldn't have to. Martyr complex remember?
One of my favorite things about Tony is how very human he is. He's a superhero with no super powers. He uses his brain and his money to level the playing field, but ultimately he is a human trying to compete with gods and aliens and mutants. Not only is he human but he's a human with a bad heart (or brain in the Ultimateverse). He's flawed and vulnerable and yet he still goes out and saves the world every damn day.
Tony Stark proves that you don't have to be more than human to be a hero and more importantly you don't even have to be a particularly good human to be a hero, you just have to devote yourself to it. He's a beautiful mess and I love him for his flaws and his heart, as broken as it is.
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no subject
Date: 2012-04-23 06:13 pm (UTC)I'm actually doing a speech this afternoon on how Marvel is better than DC comics, and one of my focal points (besides that Marvel exhibits more positive diversity than DC) is that Marvel's characterizations and conceptions of what it means to be a hero, the morality of a hero, are so much deeper and more complex. Actually, one of my big points is how Tony Stark is more "real" than Bruce Wayne. I hope you don't mind if I snatch a little off your ideas to use in my speech. :)
no subject
Date: 2012-04-23 06:19 pm (UTC)I am generally a bigger Marvel fan than DC because of the moral complexity. Just look at the X-Men. In order for them to even be heroes they have to accept being reviled and hunted by the people they are saving. Superman wouldn't know what hit him.
Although I do enjoy some DC too. :)
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Date: 2012-04-23 07:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-23 09:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-23 09:03 pm (UTC)Tony is flawed but he never stops trying to overcome those flaws. It is the thing that keeps me coming back for more and probably always will.
You really do him justice with this. Thanks for sharing.
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Date: 2012-04-23 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-23 11:39 pm (UTC)Tony/Iron man = love
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Date: 2012-04-23 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2012-04-23 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 02:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-29 05:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 03:38 am (UTC)YES.
THIS.
THANK YOU.
~fin
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Date: 2012-04-29 05:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-30 05:11 pm (UTC)I think you hit on all the reasons Tony Stark hooked me and tied me to his heart so much, after just seeing the Iron Man movies for the first time a bare few weeks ago.
And the thing is? Robert Downey Jr. kills and buries Stark's nature because he practically IS Tony fucking Stark. So it makes for that much better viewing.
I think I love that at the end of the day, you take away h is suit and he's just this broken, vulnerable guy with genius intellect and a penchant for HORRIBLE decision making.
I like that he needs a keeper. And I like that Pepper *is* his keeper for most of the time. I also like that she fought against it for so long too. I gots to have my tension.
Tony is dark and twisty at times bu then he'll have an emotional revelation and his heart will show through.
Yes on the insecurities. Wow. I had no idea how deep those insecurities ran until IMII. But then again, a lot of his partying, immature nature bares that out too.
He's just fun. Fun to play with, fun to meta about.
Yeah. Love me some Tony Stark.