Confessions of a Tony Starkoholic

I'm very excited to present our very first guest writer here on TFS, empty_splendor (as seen on LJ, of course). I'll get out of the way now and let her do the talking.


Confessions of a Tony Starkoholic
by empty_splendor

I have been a reader of Iron Man comics ever since I knew how to read. My dad would take me to the comic book store when I was a kid, holding my little chubby hand and let me peruse the selection of books with brilliant colors and vibrant lettering, but he always found his way to getting me a copy of Iron Man’s latest adventure. From Iron Man, it took me to the adventures of the Avengers and Captain America, but my most steady purchase (especially now, what with this economy) was the one book.


Tony Stark had it all: rich, handsome, successful, restless genius and he knew how to charm the ladies. Oh yeah, and he’s a superhero. He was legit too, none of the “he came from space and has these powers” or “he was bit by a radioactive monkey” but a man who nearly lost his life and found himself faced with two choices: make a difference or choose to continue to live ignorantly. I think everyone knows which he chose because we have Iron Man. Comics called: Tony Stark: Guy Who Drinks a Lot and Does Nothing wouldn’t sell, would they? Okay well maybe.


The point is that I could see this man as a plausible entity. He was vulnerable in that sense in a way that no other hero was. Tony could use his powers for good or evil and the fact that he had chosen his own path to fight for the good guys makes him that much more interesting. Tony took all that power and money and made it a force for good in the universe. Of course, there’s the now clichéd slogan from Ben Parker that with great power comes great responsibility, and with Tony things have been no different. Sometimes he does well with this and other times the best intentions pave his road to hell.


Tony is always a guy that is faced with a decision. In all of his important milestone books he’s had a big choice to make that could alter not only his life but also the lives of his near and dear. First of all, there's his come to Jesus moment of becoming Iron Man that I mentioned before. Stark very easily could have said, “Well, fuck it… where’s the party? Pass the Doritos!” and gone on with his life as he knew it. The fact that he didn’t, the fact that he took this crippling disability and perfected an armored suit to fight super villains is something not everyone would have done. It was his choice to do so.


Secondly, there's his drinking, which was a large part of the books in the 70s and 80s. Tony is known for being an alcoholic party boy, a side that was played up in the 2008 live action film with Robert Downey Jr. He battled with the bottle for a long time, and even now well into the new millennium he still carries it as a scarlet letter on his chest. Again this is a point where he had a choice. He could have stayed drinking; he could have let alcoholism destroy his life. He didn’t. He got up after losing it all and knew that he was better than that. He got help from a lot of people, Captain America, Rhodey, Bethany Cabe and especially his sponsor Henry Hellrung. Tony knows very well what could have happened to him if he chose the other road, and he’s the first one to admit it.


Often however, Tony’s choices don’t play out as he expected. Tony is not infallible and no fan will tell you he is. That’s part of why I like him. The fact that Tony Stark makes monumental mistakes and isn’t perfect. The fact that Tony Stark is a human being with free will and thoughts of his own, and sometimes his opinions, no matter how much he stands for them, are just a bit off. Tony has a great way of believing in something so profoundly and so unabashedly that it blinds him to others' opinions and sometimes makes him a down right dick.


The fact that Tony Stark is prone to doing some really asshole things is what makes me love him. He has made some very questionable moves during his time, especially in recent years with the Super Hero Civil War and shooting Hulk into space, but the Iron Dickery has always been there. From dating Janet Van Dyne when she was fresh out of Hank Pym Wife-Beater (which bugs me that it marred his character forever because I love me some Hank Pym. Alas, that is another topic for another day…) to making his nearest and dearest believe he had died from irreparable nervous system damage (he was cryogenically frozen).


Which brings me to my final point and that is, if people are shocked and surprised and have been turned away by the latest turn of events in the Invincible Iron Man, then you’re a fair weather fan. Tony has a long history of doing ridiculous extremes that most of us would consider either stupid or sort of dick. His recent behavior is nothing but in character. Sure, it’s not ideal. Sure we’d all like to see Tony on top of the world but the fact is, he had too much power.


Stark is prone to replacing one addiction with another and if he had continued to climb, power would have been his new drug of choice. He needed a fall from grace. He needed to be brought back down and the only way to do that is to rip the floor out from beneath him. It’s just another test of his character, of Tony’s enduring strength in the face of adversity. He’s suffered before and he’s lost it all and every time he’s gotten it back and become a stronger man for it. Tony is a guy who will bet it all on a bluff and hope he gets out of the game with the pot. In the world post Secret Invasion, he’s stumbled out, bewildered and at the bottom. They’ve taken his business, his home, his money, his power, his name and all his clout. What makes this story interesting is watching him come back into his own.


In conclusion I have this to say. Fraction has said his venture into this yearlong arc for Iron Man is meant to be the disgrace and redemption of Tony Stark. He’s going to fall hard but we’re going to watch him rise again, and as he’s done many times before like a phoenix from the ashes (not Jean Grey) he will come out of it a better man than he was when he went in. None of this, the auto-lobotomy suicide machine, Iron Potts, loving and leaving Maria Hill are out of the realm of possibility for the Stark I’ve always known and loved. If you can’t take him as he is, then you’re not a fan. He will go there, whether anyone wants him to or not.


That is why he’s so interesting to read.

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