Extremis and Execute Program really highlights Tony’s dislike of himself and the ways he want to change the world for the better. Yinsen’s kid screwed him up, and the destruction caused by him and the other supers reinforces the idea that Superheroes of the Marvel universe cause some major collateral damage with little supervision. The following chapters really showcase just how cut off Tony is, and just how much pressure he is under; superheroes from all sides, Happy’s deaths, betrayals, and just people in pain from every side. It was brutal and the aftermath of Civil War left Tony in a position where he can try and make everything better.
Except, Tony start seeing the dead, and the Mandarin enters the picture. (BTW: The Mandarin is pretty damn awesome in his current run as main villain against Iron Man. There is just something about a villain that fools everyone without coming across as smarmy bastard that makes them likable. He’s just so competent). The dead offers advice and overall acts like the peanut gallery, though Tony’s hallucination of Steve was both creepy and gut wrenching at the same time.
Tony thinks he is going crazy, uses a nuke to destroy the possibility of the neoplastic tumor being released on the world where over 90% of them will go mad, and is, of course ordered to wear power dampeners around his ankles and gets suspended from his job because dropping bombs is bad. He decides to go on his own investigation, finds clues of the Mandarin, and finally gets told that the Extremis, beside providing him with awesome Matrix-like abilities and healing powers also have amazing processing abilities that the human brain can’t understand. That is, Extremis piece information together at a speed and level that the human brain can’t process in a way that a person can understand, hence creating hallucinations of dead people to tell the individual what is actually going on. It really does sound much more plausible and is much more interesting than I have made it out to be. Somewhere is there, Sal dies horribly, Maya gets doped into working for the Mandarin, and everything kinds of suck.
So, there is fighting, there is DumDum being awesome by shooting out the UN, then there is Tony vs. The Mandarin. Which OMFG! It is all sorts of awesome, and involves Tony lasering off half of his own ankle to get rid of the bloody power dampeners. There were broken arms, ripped flesh, and tony getting the rings from the Manadrin’s spine. It was a pretty awesome fight; fast, brutal, and very dirty.
At the end of this arc; the Mandarin has disappeared, Tony’s ankle has grown back (Extremis), and Tony still hate himself. Look at it this way; innocents died, Sal died, Steve is still dead, the SHRA is still there and nowhere near resolved, and Tony is still alone, hating his job, trying to hold the world together. So yes, I love Tony Stark, in all his fucked up and overly control-freak ways.
I just re-read the post, and honestly I’m not even sure it makes sense, I just needed to get it out of my system, because without verbalising it somehow I can’t process exactly what I’m feeling about the current IM arc. I don’t read any of the other titles (only the summaries) so the whole Skulls Secret Invasion is not having much of an impact on the way I view Tony’s characterisation.
Also, I really like Maria Hill. I liked her in New Avengers, and I like her more in Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
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chasethestars
chasethestars
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Extremis is standalone, he gets himself back up and running with new tech for a new age. Thanks Ellis.
Executive Program shows what happens when power isn't kept in check, the classic "who can watch the watchmen" as you saw what happened with tony in that cell.
From then on it moves towards Tony trying to work with his responsibility as a futurist. You didn't see the bullshit about Tony being shanghied into being head of shield (it was alluded to elsewhere, and the end of series three had him as a secretary of defense trying to make wars occur when noone could die). He has sal as his conscience, and his girlfriend very close as he knows what happened to the last one.
The mandarin is well thought out in this, in every way he is tony's nemesis, look at the fight tony had with him, he's correct in every way. he thinks and acts like tony, on the other side of the coin and he's trying to make a better future come around.
it's a battle of ideology, people get taken down in the mix, the mandarin is working six moves ahead. gadget makes it seem confusing but sit back and put together all the pieces. They're not giving us a battle of the month, they're giving us a little at each time. Much like lost or heroes or supernatural.
And of course, tradmark marvel flawed characters, not fake flaws or understandbale ones.
Does this help?
he gets himself back up and running with new tech for a new age. And gain some awesome abilities that still manages to make him horribly vulnerable. Yes, thank you Ellis, please write more for the series.
"who can watch the watchmen" Exactly. I was so incredibly impressed by the way they handled the whole theme, it could have been much more anvilious, and instead it was something that was in the background and only came together with Tony in the hospital at the end of the series. Very cool, and makes certain actions so much more convincing.
I think, fundamentally, Tony is an extremely intelligent person who knows exactly how smart and how capable he is, and when it comes down to it, he truly believes he is the only one who can save the world. His responsibility as a futurist, and all the deaths that was a result of his actions (real or perceived) only heightens the need for him to make the world right. It is incredibly conceited but it is also true. Tony Stark has the money, the capability, the contacts and the will to make the world a better place. As long as he doesn't die in a screaming heap, because as much as Tony Stark knows he is brilliant, he also sees himself as a failure who failed the people he was meant to protect.
In short; Tony Stark is a control freak who actually has the ability to fulfill his goals.
Yes, I have read Tony being shanghied into being head of SHIELD. I can't remember what issue it was but it was in the batch of scans I got. But man, talk about really shitty situations.
The Mandarin is awesome. And you are right, he is correct in every way. Tony and him want the same results, it is just that Tony is willing to wait, the Mandarin isn't. Hell, they remind me of Char and Amuro; wanting the same result but having very different ideas on how to reach those goals.
I love the way the Mandarin's plot was slowly revealed, the way that it was always in the background. It was like this amazing chess game that the Mandarin have played out in several hundred ways, and that contingencies was made for every situation. It is pretty amazing seeing the whole thing come together.
Yes, flawed characters. My favourite kind.
Yes, this really does help. Thank you!