While weâre on the topic of Civil War having weird narratives: Peter Parkerâs speech about being a Superhero completely aligns with Steveâs worldview, not Tonyâs⌠yet Marvel had Spidey side with Tony. It makes his storyline a little muddled, because while the narrative objectively connects Peter to Tony through their heart-to-heart conversation, Marvel wrote Peter as being very similar to Steve. With the characterization they gave us, thereâs no way Peter would have joined Tonyâs side if he knew anything about the fight.
Peter says to Tony âIf you can do the things that I can, but you donât, and then bad things happen⌠they happen because of youâ .
Which is the same philosophy that Steve has, and says to Tony twice in this movie: first when discussing the Accords â âWhat if thereâs somewhere we need to go, but [the UN] wonât let us?â â and then later, in a more personal tone: âIf I see a situation pointed South, I canât ignore itâ.
Both Steve and Peter believe their powers almost obligate them to help people whenever they can, because they can. Taking that choice to help out of their hands doesnât make them any less responsible for what occurs â it just shifts the blame. Which is why Steve wonât sign the Accords, and Peter helps people even though heâs just a kid whoâd prefer to play football. They want to help, they can helpâŚÂ so they do. Itâs that simple honesty and true belief that really defines Captain America, and we see it here in Peter, too.
Tony accepts Peterâs answer even while realizing that itâs Steveâs argument (which is weird, since he fought with Steve on the same statement only hours before), and replies âSo you want to look out for the little guy, do your part, make the world a better place?â. Peter agrees and reiterates that the âlittle guyâ is his reason for being a superhero.Â
Which is interesting, because Steve has always been the little guy from Brooklyn who just wanted to help make the world a better place. Steve and Bucky are the underdog in this fight⌠not Tony and the government. This aligns Peter with Steve even more, but Marvel still tries to connect him to Tony over their intelligence and shared love of technology.
Tony gets Peter to fight for his side using Steveâs ideology. And Marvel doesnât really acknowledge the irony in that. Itâs especially unsettling when Peter parrots back what Tony said about Steve, not realizing itâs actually Tonyâs problem in the film: âYouâre wrong, but you think youâre right. That makes you dangerousâ. Â
Give me a moment – Iâd like to rewrite Tonyâs speech to Peter and give it the same meaning in different words:
âYour work could be a gift to mankind. You could shape the century. Without you, weâll fail, and the Avengers canât give the world the freedom it deserves.â
Sorry, Marvel; from where Iâm standing, Iron Man has officially become a bad guy.
I also liked how Peter told Cap that Tony âsaid youâd say that, and youâd be wrongâ. The way Tony handled the situation with Peter was just wrong on so many levels and illustrates why *Tony* is the one who needs oversight. Because Tony is a man who does not seem to learn from his mistakes.
In AoU he builds a killer robot(itâs purpose is to protect in place of the Avengers, donât tell me it wasnât programmed to kill), so not only is he in the weapons business again but when it goes wrong he takes the fleshy robot downloaded with Ultronâs consciousness and adds some Jarvis and a magic space rock that has the power to enslave and by the grace of God or I donât know what he manages to Forrest Gump(thank you âThe Mexicanâ) his way out of an even worse disaster.
In Civil War heâs confronted by the mother of a young man who died in the Sokovian disaster. Laying aside how offensive it is that it has to be an American to die before Tony(and we the audience in the US of A?) has it really hit home the kind of massive collateral damage his invention caused and resolves that everyone(kthxTony, we all knew about the killer robot and fully supported building it to make us obsolete) has to do better. As soon as things arenât going his way he brings in a young man without the consent or knowledge of his guardian to be his ace in the hole in another potentially fatal confrontation.
I love RDJ, I enjoy Tony at times even if he lashes out and I would never be able to work around someone who has so little respect for anyoneâs boundaries but his own. This makes it very difficult for me to trust Tony as a character to do the right thing. I think he wants to, and means to but heâs not learning and when he doesnât get it right things go horribly wrong and others suffer for his hubris.
He wants to and means to, yes. But Tony Stark is a concrete example of how the road to hell is paved with good intentions.