Part I // Part II // Part III // Part IV // Part V
In our podcast, Matt (borrowing from another author whose book I wish I owned) classified Tony Stark as a hero who has been "broken and remade." This -- strikes me as blindingly perfect. And you know the funny thing? If you think about it, that process of breaking and remaking doesn't happen just once. It can be argued, in fact, that it happens seven different times. In Iron Man, Tony is wrenched violently from his former unconsciousness (broken) and returns home determined to do good despite his imperfections (remade). In Iron Man 2, he falters, undone by his fear of death (broken) -- then rises once he realizes that yes, there are people out there who love him and are rooting for his redemption (remade). In The Avengers, the death of a colleague (broken) inspires Tony to become a team player willing to take big risks on others' behalf (remade). In Iron Man 3, Tony is stripped of his armor (broken) and learns that said armor is a tool and not the true source of his heroism (remade). There you go: four remixes on a theme.
And this post? This post will cover Remix Five: The Civil War Album, in which Tony looks for absolution in all the wrong places.
In Ultron, Tony's shadow is revealed for all the world to see -- and its true destructive potential evidently shocks Tony enough to direct his tinkering inward. This brings us to Tony's first scene in Civil War.
Drink in the significance of this: Tony has issues. He knows he has issues -- and he knows he needs to be fixed. So what does he do? He designs a new gadget to hack his own brain into some semblance of mental health. That -- is the most Tony Stark thing in the history of Tony Stark things. Yeah: give yourself crippling headaches trying to engineer away your frailty. That'll work!
This scene also highlights how much Tony regrets his own past -- and that matters for the development of the character too. The guy who once rehearsed stock responses to challenging questions about his company's complicity in atrocities overseas is now the guy who says "I wish I'd done something different" and then attempts to act on that wish.
And his reaction when he reads Pepper's name on the teleprompter? The look on his face? The way his voice breaks a little bit before he hurries off stage? That floors me. (RDJ, you magnificent bastard!)
Okay, so: there are several factors that mitigate Tony's culpability for Sokovia. Most important among them? The fact that the destruction was not intended. Tony shouldn't have messed with the mind stone, yes, but his thoughts at the time were focused on protecting the Earth and his teammates. And you know what? If he were actually a self-preserving asshole, he could've told this grieving mother exactly that. But no: instead, he listens wordlessly as she pins all the blame on him.
In our podcast, I told Matt that I'm intellectually #TeamCap but emotionally #TeamIronMan. Since then, though, I've come up with a better way to describe where I stand on the dispute in this movie: I am #TeamNat -- the team that sees the truth in both arguments. Steve has excellent reasons not to trust governmental organizations; Tony has excellent reasons to desire oversight. There are no bad guys here. (Except for Ross.) I categorically refuse to get sucked into fandom's dichotomous thinking on this because, quite frankly, I feel that would spit all over how well-written scenes like this are.
Also, I don't get the rhetoric around this movie that says Tony is being controlling. Actually no? Tony is vulnerable to Ross's manipulation precisely because he's scared of his own capacity to wreak havoc and wants to relinquish control. That's the irony: he allies with the wrong man not out of pride - his trademark flaw - but out of guilt and self-doubt.
Here, Tony is definitely in corporate PR mode, scrambling to protect his friends from within the screwed-up system Ross and the Accords have established. Hence his attempt to pull a psy-op on Steve. And God, this scene is so beautifully frustrating. Tony: "And then, and then, and then -- I didn't stop. Because the truth is I don't want to stop." Steve: "If I see a situation pointed south, I can't ignore it." Head: meet desk. Your heroic motives are so similar, you buttheads. Kiss and make up already!
And also: "I'm doing what has to be done to stave off something worse." Steve reads this as self-justifying, but Steve doesn't have Ross breathing down his neck all the live-long day. Tony does -- and consequently knows that if he fails to bring Steve in, Ross will send in the bad cops. As he hollers at the airport, "It's us or a squad of JSOC guys with no compunction about being impolite!"
Gah! The multiple communication failures in this movie make my heart hurt.
Je-sus. This right here shows why Tony is not the bad guy in Civil War. Principal antagonist, yes. Bad guy, no. Bad guys don't change their tack as soon as they receive new information; Tony does. Also? Ross can go die in a fire. I'm so glad Tony metaphorically flips him off at the end of this scene. "I'll put you on hold. I like watching the line blink." HA.
The sequence that begins with this scene is not a heroic moment for Tony; it is, however, a very human one. We already know from prior movies that Tony doesn't have a personality profile that easily absorbs stress. With that in mind, consider what's been happening with Tony, contextually, up to this point: 1.) Steve's faction has been shitting on him on one side; 2.) on the other side, Ross has been hounding him so much that at one point, Tony appears to suffer an attack of literal angina; and 3.) his best friend is in the hospital with a broken spine. Yeah: by the time Tony gets to Siberia, he's already in a precarious state. Now, on top of that, we're going to confront the guy with graphic footage of his parents' murder? And what's more, we're going to tell him that his teammate - a man with whom he spars but also a man he secretly admires and trusts - lied to him about said murder? None of this excuses flying into a feral rage - in a way, Steve saves Tony by forcibly turning him off - but it does explain it. Again, I refuse to think in dichotomies; you can believe a character is doing the wrong thing and yet still have deep sympathy for the emotions behind it.
Tony falls in Ultron and subsequently tries to remake himself through mind-altering technology, charitable giving, and submission to institutional strictures. At the end of Civil War, he falls again. How does he remake himself the sixth time? By rebuilding his relationship with Pepper and taking on a protégé. That and more will be covered in Part VII -- the conclusion of my celebratory retrospective on this beautiful disaster of a character
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