Tony Stark aka Iron Man is one of the most brilliant minds in the MCU. Unlike some of the other heroes, his powers come from what he was able to make himself. He is incredibly inventive and intuitive. However, this is also balanced by his often reckless and short-sighted behavior.
It is common that Tony is the Avenger coming up with the plan of attack, whether as part of the team or in his solo adventures. There are times when those plans highlight what a genius he is, and then there are times when his survival is simply the result of blind luck.
Brilliant Plan:
Building The Mark I Suit
The MCU kicked off its grand adventure with Tony Stark being held captive by the Ten Rings in a cave. The terrorists decided to use their valuable prisoner to make a weapon that would give them power over their enemies. However, they underestimated how dangerous Tony could be with just his tools.
Instead of building the weapon his captors wanted, Tony secretly builds his first Iron Man suit which he then uses to escape. It is a defining moment for Tony as a hero as he sees the good that can be done with his one-of-a-kind mind.
Freezing Iron Monger
As soon as the Iron Man armor shows up, Tony creates rivals that want to duplicate this ultimate weapon. One of those people is Tony's former friend, Obadiah Stane who creates the Iron Monger suit. But while his armor might be bigger, the man inside the armor is just not as clever as Tony.
Knowing he cannot defeat Iron Monger in a straight fight, Tony flies to the skies, causing Iron Monger to chase him. But once they get too high, Iron Monger's suit freezes. It is a moment of Tony learning from his previous mistakes and using that knowledge to his benefit.
Recruiting Spider-Man
When Iron Man and Captain America find themselves at odds in Captain America: Civil War, each hero sets out to recruit other heroes to their side. But while Cap gets some heavy-hitters like Scarlet Witch and the newcomer Ant-Man, Tony finds an impressive rookie of his own.
While it was a bit of a risk in seeking out Peter Parker and trusting him to come through, Tony has clearly been keeping tabs on the young hero and sees something special in him. He turns out to be very right as Spider-Man becomes an essential hero in the MCU.
Going To 1970
The time heist was a desperate plan by the Avengers to reverse Thanos' snap and there were a million things that could have gone wrong. But not only is Tony the one who comes up with the formula to make time travel possible, but he also comes up with the secondary plan when things go awry.
While back in 2012, Tony and the others miss their shot to get the Tesseract. But Tony wisely realizes that going to the SHIELD base in 1970 where they are able to find both the Tesseract and the Pym Particles necessary to return home.
Tricking Thanos
Though the time heist works, Thanos proves to have a few brilliant plans of his own and ambushes the heroes. This leads to the epic final battle in Avengers: Endgame which ends with Tony making the ultimate sacrifice to save the day.
While Thanos is more powerful than Tony, he is also arrogant and seems to think he is destined to win. This leads to him missing the fact that Tony pulled a fast one on him, swiping the Infinity Stones from the gauntlet and using them to wipe out Thanos and his army.
Got Lucky:
Becoming A Race Car Driver
Tony has a very rebellious nature which means if there is something he is not supposed to do, he is almost certainly going to do it. So it is perhaps not entirely surprising that he decides to jump into a race car and participate in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix on a whim.
Along with the dangers of a non-professional driver taking part in something like this, he is also attacked on the race track by Ivan Vanko. Tony is only able to escape with his life when Happy and Pepper risk their own lives to get him his suit.
Giving His Address To A Terrorist
The fact that Tony was the Avenger who sacrificed himself to defeat Thanos, in the end, makes sense as he always seemed to have a death wish. His ego can get so out of hand that he puts himself and others at unnecessary risk.
After Happy is injured in one of The Mandarin's attacks, Tony gives his address to the news cameras and challenges the terrorist to come to face him. Instead, the villains simply bomb Tony's house, nearly killing him and Pepper.
Facing Off With Killian
While a version of the true "Mandarin" would appear as a terrific villain in Shang-Chi, Aldrich Killian turns out to be the villain in Iron Man 3. And with his Extremis powers, he proves to be a very formidable foe.
Despite his best efforts, Tony is unable to defeat Killian who is ready to kill Tony. However, he is saved at the last moment when Pepper emerges with her own Extremis powers and proceeds to beat Killian herself.
Creating Vision
One of Tony's biggest blunders was creating Ultron. Though he meant to create an A.I. defense system for the entire world, the risky plan backfired and Ultron gained his own mind which led him to plan the extinction of all humankind.
However, his mistake did not deter Tony from making such risky moves as he then set out to do the exact same thing by giving Vision life. On the surface, it is clearly a bad idea and just Tony being stubborn. Despite having no idea what would happen, Vision luckily turned out to be one of the good guys.
Fighting Thanos
Tony's plan to go to Titan to face Thanos was an interesting one that ultimately didn't help the heroes achieve victory. But it also almost led to Tony's untimely demise as he faced off with Thanos in a one-on-one fight.
Tony handles himself admirably against the Mad Titan but he is eventually stabbed and Thanos is ready to finish him off. If it wasn't for Doctor Strange making a deal to save Tony's life, he would never have lived long enough to defeat Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.