Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man does have a superpower in the MCU, but it’s also his very own Kryptonite. Despite being physically outmatched by powerhouses like Thor, Hulk, and Captain America, Iron Man is unquestionably the Avengers’ heart and backbone. Time and again, Tony Stark is the Avenger who identifies the problem first, adapts the fastest, and takes responsibility when things go wrong, whether it’s spearheading the Avengers Initiative or making the ultimate sacrifice to save the universe.
Behind the armor, Tony Stark commands an almost unmatched combination of wealth and intellect. Iron Man has access to limitless resources, global infrastructure, cutting-edge laboratories, and a network of allies spanning governments, scientists, heroes, and corporations. More importantly, Stark’s creativity allows him to turn ideas into reality at an unprecedented speed. Yet, Tony Stark’s true superhuman ability hides in plain sight.
The MCU Proves Iron Man’s Superpower Is To Excel Under Pressure
If Iron Man Is At A Disadvantage, Victory Is Guaranteed
Tony Stark is known for his genius-level intellect, but that’s not his only strength. Iron Man is at the peak of his intellectual capacity every time he has to improvise with the odds stacked against him. Stark’s most influential creations come from his most successful battles, which are almost always his closest calls. The idea of Iron Man itself comes from Stark’s brush with death, which inspires him to transform his company’s weapons into a suit of armor, in a cave, with a bunch of scraps.
After Iron Man’s origin, almost every time Tony Stark wins a battle in the MCU, it’s with an unfinished or rushed Iron Man suit. Mark 1 disintegrates right after Stark successfully escapes from the Ten Rings. In Iron Man 2, Stark fends off Ivan Vanko’s whip prototypes wearing the flightless Mark 5. In The Avengers, Iron Man singlehandedly stops the Chitauri using the Mark 7 suit, which JARVIS explicitly describes as “not ready”.
Iron Man 3 is all about Tony Stark’s superhuman resourcefulness. Stark defeats Aldrich Killian with the experimental and remarkably battered Mark 42. Most notably, Tony Stark manages to break into Aldrich Killian’s lair and take down many of his henchmen using nothing but handcrafted devices bought from a hardware store.
Iron Man’s MCU Superpower Is Also His Main Weakness
Having Enough Time To Perfect His Iron Man Suits Is A Curse For Tony Stark
Just as the threat of death awakens Tony Stark’s skills, comfort and tranquility seem to play against him. Stark spends a long time building over thirty different Iron Man suits between The Avengers and Iron Man 3. He makes sure each suit in the Iron Legion has a wide variety of special abilities and could only be handled by himself. Yet, they’re all untested and break too easily, as shown by Aldrich Killian slicing through them like a knife through butter.
After Iron Man 3, Stark decides that focusing his efforts on perfecting one Iron Man suit at a time is a better approach. The Mark 45 is exceptionally sleek and durable, yet there’s little Tony Stark can do to save Sokovia, and the city’s destruction ends up being one of his biggest failures. Likewise, Mark 46 has one of the most intricate suit-up scenes, yet Iron Man is ultimately defeated by Captain America and the Winter Soldier.
Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame present the two most advanced Iron Man suits, but also the two biggest defeats in Tony Stark’s MCU journey. The Mark 50 introduces nanotechnology and allows Stark to go toe-to-toe with Thanos. However, it isn’t enough to prevent Thanos’ snap. Five years later, Stark’s Mark 85 becomes the crown jewel of Iron Man technology, but it’s also the suit he dies wearing. The few times Tony Stark has a lot of time to perfect his Iron Man suits, he loses.
Iron Man Creates Most Of His Own Problems
Tony Stark’s Genius Mind Is A Ticking Bomb
Many of Tony Stark’s biggest trials come from his own hand, usually because he tries to accomplish too much. His industrialist overreach places him in the Ten Rings’ sights and creates villains like Vulture and the Maximoff Twins. His arrogance transforms Ivan Vanko, Aldrich Killian, and Quentin Beck from potential associates into resentful enemies.
More infamously, it’s Iron Man’s wish to automatize the protection of the world that leads to Ultron’s rebellion and Sokovia’s destruction. In turn, the Ultron fiasco leads to Baron Zemo’s revenge plan, and it pushes the Sokovia Accords forward, dividing the Avengers and leaving them vulnerable to Thanos’ arrival. Supporting the Sokovia Accords is a lost cause from the beginning, as forcing superheroes and vigilantes to conform to the government’s expectations is impossible when city-leveling battles and world-threatening supervillains are a weekly occurrence.
Iron Man finally turns things around in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. He truly believes he can take on Thanos by himself on Titan as a last resort. In Avengers: Endgame, Stark chooses to leave his peaceful life with Morgan and Pepper behind to tackle the nearly impossible task of traveling back in time to restore half of all life in the universe. At this point, Iron Man pushes the envelope for truly selfless reasons, and his death is just the cost he has to pay to achieve it.
- Video Game(s)
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Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2
- Movie(s)
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Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3