How Armor Wars Could Make Iron Man A Villain One Last Time

The MCU's upcoming Armor Wars series can make Iron Man a villain one final time. Marvel Studios' inaugural character has one of the greatest multi-year arcs in modern cinema. In the 11 years that Tony Stark was in the MCU, he made tremendous progress, starting as a self-centered war profiteer and ending as the franchise's greatest hero. Despite his purest of intentions, Iron Man was susceptible to making mistakes, with some of these errors causing massive ripple effects in the MCU.

Tony's slip-ups are often used to vilify him, and they are indeed a taint on his legacy in the franchise. This is one of the recurring themes of Iron Man's decade-long MCU arc. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the creation of Ultron led to the destruction of Sokovia. While ultimately, Tony was right in Captain America: Civil War, he was still partly to blame for the introduction of the Sokovia Accords that caused the initial rift within the Avengers. This forced the Earth's Mightiest Heroes to split up, leaving the planet at its most vulnerable and giving Thanos the perfect time to attack. Meanwhile, his haphazard decision to leave Spider-Man with the powerful gadget E.D.I.T.H. effectively put the young hero in danger as he was targeted by Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Despite all these mistakes, though, Tony Stark/Iron Man is still regarded as MCU's biggest hero, as he sacrificed his own life to defeat Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.

Marvel Studios can utilize Tony Stark again as an unintentional villain when Iron Man’s legacy becomes Armor Wars' core theme. The upcoming Disney+ series, which will be based on the comic storyline of the same name, will fully explore the dangers that Stark Tech, such as armored superhero suits, poses in the MCU if the wrong people get their hands on it. This was briefly tackled in Iron Man 2 with Tony successfully preventing the government from seizing his Iron Man tech, but now Marvel Studios is fully diving into this issue, and the fact that the Avenger is no longer around to again defend his creations would force War Machine to step up and do it himself. Had Tony made sure to protect his creations, including all of his Iron Man suits, so that no one outside designated persons can utilize them, then James Rhodes/War Machine and Stark Industries wouldn't have this big problem. Unfortunately, aside from not having the time to do this, perhaps, Tony also didn't believe that anyone was smart enough to help him with his work.

How Armor Wars Could Balance Tony Stark's Legacy

Spider-Man and Iron Man Mural in Far From Home

Until now, Marvel has had a hands-off approach to Iron Man's legacy, and understandably so considering how Avengers: Endgame beautifully wrapped up his story. However, this also has some drawbacks. For starters, the non-involvement of Stark Industries with Spider-Man's post-Avengers: Endgame issues makes it look like he has been abandoned by his mentor. And in Ms. Marvel, the Department of Damage Control ruthlessly went against Kamala Khan using Stark drones to hunt her down. In Armor Wars, Marvel can fully reexamine Iron Man's MCU legacy by highlighting both its good and bad parts. Thanks to his involvement in the defeat of Thanos, Tony has somehow become a myth, as he's typically just remembered for that. It's important, however, to recognize that he also made mistakes, not to ruin his legacy but just as a reminder that he was a human being.

Iron Man committed his fair share of crimes in the MCU, and they are what makes his story so compelling. Despite his best intentions, Tony Stark regularly made mistakes, leading to him being painted as a bad guy. This was a massive part of the character's arc and something that Marvel Studios shouldn't shy away from in their future storytelling, especially in Armor Wars, which directly reexamines the hero's legacy.