Tony Stark and the OG Iron Man was shuffled off this mortal coil in heroic fashion at the climax of Avengers: Endgame, which as a pretty fitting end to Marvel’s most popular hero. It’s certainly a better ending than Tony Stark staying alive because he definitely wouldn’t have survived a public reckoning of his seedy past would’ve inevitably been unearthed by the MeToo movement.
Speaking of MeToo, the GOAT team talk about the Harvey Weinstein trial and his conviction on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
Iron Man immediately established Tony Stark as not only the “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” everyone quickly grew to love but also someone who is a little seedy around women.
Case in point: the opening sequence of Iron Man where Tony only accepts an impromptu interview with reporter Christine Everhart because she’s “cute” and he spends most of it trying to get her to sleep with him (which ends up happening anyway).
Now that isn’t fair since their one night stand was consensual, but Tony’s exchange with Pepper Potts at a function is less okay as his conduct is a textbook case of “things a CEO should never say to a female employee, especially when at a party and alcohol is involved”.
Okay, still not entirely fair as Tony and Pepper later fall in love and marry despite a bunch of world-ending obstacles getting in the way. But what isn’t excusable is Tony’s conduct towards Natasha Romanoff in Iron Man 2.
Unaware that Natasha is Black Widow when Tony first meets her, he spends the first few moments of their initial meeting uncomfortably leering at her – and in full view of his future wife (and CEO of his company) no less.
After checking out her lingerie modelling photos (while she is standing literally metres away), Tony immediately insists that she should be his assistant based on nothing other than she’s attractive. Telling Pepper “I want one” isn’t exactly a good thing to say to your assistant, let alone to your company’s CEO.
Now one may argue that Tony grows and matures over the course of Marvel’s numerous films, which does indeed happen. And yes, he has his flaws, but that doesn’t mean we can’t call them out, especially when old habits refuse to die.
Another case in point: Tony couldn’t help but make inappropriate comments about women as recently as Spider-Man Homecoming, where he asks Aunt May (via a vlog) what’s she’s wearing and following that up with “something skimpy I hope.”
Now that’s not to say that Tony Stark assaults women or anything. He definitely doesn’t do that. But workplace and sexual harassment? Hell, MeToo will catch him on that like white on rice. But don’t take just my word for it, Black Panther co-writer Joe Robert Cole says a “douchey” character like Tony Stark who is “disrespectful of women” won’t fly today.
Perhaps that’s why Marvel decided to kill Tony Stark off in Endgame as having Iron Man be taken down by MeToo wouldn’t have looked anywhere near as heroic onscreen, even if it is more fitting and realistic.
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