While both Iron Man and Captain America might be out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, at least for now, they were two of the main characters in the franchise for years. As such, fans had some rather strong opinions as to the actions of each of these heroes, and Tony and Steve didn’t always get along well or seem like they were friends. Their conflict in Captain America: Civil War changed the course of the Avengers.
These two characters had rather different personalities and approaches to life. While Steve Rogers valued sacrifice and a more straightforward approach, Tony Stark was more about inventing new ways to change the world. However, while they both did a lot of heroic things, they also made miscalculations, too, and some mistakes were worse than others.
Captain America: He Became A Fugitive
Steve Rogers did have good reasons for not wanting to sign the Accords and for wanting to save his best friend, Bucky Barnes, from being killed and captured. So, there is something positive about the reasons why he ends up going against the Accords and has to be on the run.
However, he didn’t really handle the situation with the Accords very well with Tony, and things got out of hand in a way that spiraled and destroyed the Avengers. He also put other people, like Sam Wilson and Natasha Romanoff, in the position of criminals alongside him.
Iron Man: Tony Stark Had A Worst Past Than Steve
When looking at the two characters’ past mistakes, Tony comes out looking much worse. Steve was a kid from Brooklyn who hated bullies and wanted to help protect people in the war while Tony Stark was a billionaire who gained his wealth from family money.
Plus, Tony didn’t really care about anyone but himself and had no qualms about using his intellect to create weapons. It wasn’t until he himself suffered because of these choices that he changed his ways, so his reasons for wanting to be a hero feel more selfish.
Captain America: He Could Be Too Stubborn
Steve and Tony have different traits and different values overall, but they do have some that are quite similar. They can both be stubborn and think that their way of doing things is best, but Steve is the more stubborn of the two.
He can be too idealistic about things, and he is also rather judgmental when people don’t live up to his standards of how things should go. Once he's made up his mind, he's difficult to reason with, such as when Tony tried to discuss the Accords with him.
Iron Man: Trying To Kill Bucky
Tony’s reaction when he learned the truth about his parents’ deaths is understandable in a lot of ways. It was a huge revelation that shook him to his core, and seeing his mother be killed on video had to have been really traumatic. So, reacting angrily and even overreacting marks sense. However, he did take things too far.
He seemed very intent on actually killing Bucky even though he said outright to Steve that he didn’t care that Bucky was a victim, too. This implies that Tony did know Bucky couldn’t be held entirely accountable, so he should at least have not gone so far as to try to kill him.
Captain America: The Fight With Iron Man
On the other hand, Steve wasn’t exactly a saint in the show between these three characters in Captain America: Civil War. However, he was in between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, he was right to try to protect Bucky from being killed by Tony because Bucky was also a victim. But, on the other hand, it felt like Steve went too far in trying to stop Tony.
He also got caught up in the moment and nearly hurt Tony very badly. Leaving Tony behind clearly angered Tony, and the rift between these two became massive.
Iron Man: Overall, He Was More Wrong About The Accords
Fans and critics alike are still discussing the Sokovia Accords and their impact in the MCU, and people have pretty strong opinions about who was right: Captain America or Iron Man. However, Tony Stark was more wrong for two main reasons.
First of all, he had no real skin in the game. He wasn’t an actual superhuman but just was smart enough to create tech that could make him super. Second of all, he was hypocritical because he showed almost immediately that he also had no intention of being directed by any government as to how he could and couldn’t act as a hero.
Captain America: Not Telling Iron Man About His Parents
So much of the conflict between these two boils down to everything that happened in Civil War, but while Tony might have been more in the wrong about the Accords situation, Steve made things much worse. He was defensive from the outset, and Tony, for his part, wasn’t exactly forthcoming either about the fact he knew about the Accords.
But, when it was revealed that Steve knew that Tony’s parents, Howard and Maria, had been killed by HYDRA, this was a huge betrayal. Steve did make a mistake here, and it ended up making the situation that much worse.
Iron Man: Was Reckless About The Mandarin
It’s practically a joke amongst fans that Iron Man has created more villains in the MCU than anyone else. And, truthfully, a lot of these villains have rather pathetic reasons for hating him.
However, his handling of the situation with the Mandarin (who was really just Aldrich Killian) wasn’t great. His dismissal of Killian at the start of the movie was overall rude, and then his bravado where he revealed his address was just really dumb.
Captain America: He Messed With Time Travel
While some fans liked Captain America’s ending in Avengers: Endgame, others had some big questions about it. It felt like a plot hole because Steve basically went and broke the rules of time travel set up in the story for Steve's own selfish reasons.
Whether you like Steve and Peggy together or not, it feels like a reckless choice and that a lot of things could have gone majorly wrong with messing with time like this. He also left his friends behind and just didn't seem to think through how his actions would impact others, including Peggy Carter.
Iron Man: He Created Ultron
While it might be unsurprising that Ultron is at the top of this list, there’s a reason why it is. It’s pretty clearly one of Tony’s worst mistakes, and its impacts are far-reaching.
Tony was reckless and arrogant to try and create something like this in the first place even if he could never have predicted what Ultron would become. And, it’s really because of his guilt about Ultron and what happened in Sokovia that he reacts how he does to the Accords.