MCU: Iron Man's 10 Biggest Mistakes (That We Can Learn From)
Tony Stark aka Iron Man is undoubtedly one of the greatest heroes in the MCU. However, that does not mean he's perfect. In fact, Iron Man is more flawed than your average hero. He is arrogant, reckless and responsible for more than a few world-threatening incidents.
While he was always there to save the day, there are a lot of things Iron Man could have done better. And like every good hero, there's a lot that can be taught through this action. Here are some of Iron Man's biggest mistakes in the MCU and what we can learn from them.
10 Not Giving Credit For The B.A.R.F. Tech
Even after he died saving the world, Tony was still influencing supervillains who hated him. Quentin Beck presents himself to Peter Parker as a hero from another universe named Mysterio. In reality, Beck is a former Stark Industries employee and the creator of the B.A.R.F. tech seen in Captain America: Civil War.
Beck attempts to take that tech and other valuable Stark tech for himself after failing to get his due. While Beck is clearly unhinged, he does have a right to be angry. No matter whose name is one the company, Tony should know to give credit where it is due.
9 Careless Weapons Manufacturer
When we meet Tony Stark in the MCU, he is a selfish yet successful weapons manufacturer. He is responsible for designing some powerful and awesome weaponry. However, he is also careless about who is able to get their hands on those weapons.
Tony gets hit with reality when he sees terrorists with his weapons. However, if he was paying more attention to his company and its dealings, this wouldn't have been such a shock. Given the seriousness of his business, Tony should have taken it more seriously.
8 Trusting Obadiah
Tony has a knack for surrounding himself with a solid group of companions even before the Avengers were formed. Pepper and Rhodey have been solid allies for him over the years. But he failed to recognize the most obvious villain in his midst.
Obadiah Stane was Howard Stark's business partner and became Tony's mentor. He was also the one who had the most to gain from Tony's demise and seemed to disagree with Tony on all aspects of the business. Tony likely learned a valuable lesson about where to place his trust from Obadiah.
7 Putting Wanda Under House Arrest
Captain America: Civil War presents an interesting situation with the Avengers divided over a political issue. Tony takes the stance that the Avengers need oversight and need to be held accountable. With the complex issue, it's not easy to decide if he's right or wrong.
However, some of his actions are just obviously wrong and the one that pushes things over the edge is his confinement of Wanda. He sees her as a danger to the public but ignores that she is a member of the team. He rash action is the last straw for Steve Rogers.
6 Giving Out His Home Address
When a deadly terrorist known as The Mandarin is responsible for a number of bombings, Tony decides it's time to take him head-on. He decides the best course of action is to give his address out on live television and dare the madman to come get him.
In a surprise to no one, The Mandarin's thugs bomb Tony's house, nearly killing him and Pepper. It is another example of Tony acting before he thinks. If he had taken just a moment, he would surely realize this tactic would not solve anything and is probably a bad idea.
5 Insulting Killian
Aldrich Killian is yet another villain who is formed out of Tony's selfish behavior. After running into each other at a conference, Killian excitedly proposes a business idea to Tony. Just for the sake of being a jerk, Tony tells him to meet him on the roof to discuss it more but stands Killian up.
That simple act of cruelty inspires Killian on his dark path in which he ends up killing many innocent lives, targets Tony, and almost kills Pepper. With a little more kindness from Tony, there would be fewer villains in the MCU.
4 Letting The World Know He's Iron Man
Perhaps Tony Stark's most iconic moment in the MCU was admitting to the world that he was, in fact, Iron Man. It also happens to be one of his dumbest moves. It is perfectly in keeping with the character whose ego would prevent him from having a secret identity, but once again, he didn't think things through.
By saying this publicly, Tony introduced the ideas of superheroes to the world and potentially increased the number of threats. He immediately made him and thought around him a target. And it's hard to think of one way it benefited at all.
3 Trying To Kill Bucky
After the political sparring at the center of Civil War, the final confrontation comes down to something much more personal. Zemo influenced everything to reveal a devastating truth, that Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier was responsible for killing Tony's parents.
Tony plays right into Zemo's plan as he immediately tries to kill Bucky, putting him and Steve at odds in a serious way. While the emotional reaction is understandable, if Tony had taken a moment to listen, he would understand that Bucky did not do it willingly and he is a victim as well.
2 Not Reforming The Avengers
Following the events of Civil War, Tony and Steve are not on speaking terms. When Thanos attacks Earth, Tony realizes this is the time to put aside differences and call Steve. However, he eventually winds up heading into space and joining Doctor Strange to take on Thanos.
Tony seems to think this is the best plan, but if he had returned to Earth, like Strange suggested, the entire Avengers team could have combined their forces instead of fighting as a divided team. This leads to Thanos winning and wiping out half the universe.
1 Creating Ultron
Tony knew before everyone else that a threat was coming. Though he didn't know about Thanos at the time, he knew Earth needed protection and to have "a suit of armor around the world." Despite being right, his way of achieving that nearly destroyed the world.
Tony creates Ultron, a super-intelligent A.I. that immediately becomes conscious. Ultron quickly sees the Avengers and then humankind as the real threat and goes about his plan to wipe them all out.