INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #26: Tony tells Maria Hill a story

[starwolf_oakley]

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #26 has Tony Stark, right after getting his memory rebooted during DARK REIGN.

This scene seems to be Marvel saying "When Tony Stark is a jerk, it is because he's an alcoholic, even if he's sober at the time."





Was this flashdrive shutdown MacGuffin ever used?



Larocca drew Tony Stark to look like Josh Holloway (Sawyer from Lost) and Pepper Potts to look like Nicole Kidman. Is Maria Hill supposed to look like an actress?



The Continuity Geek in me wonders when this blackout took place, since Pepper was away from Stark Industries (and married to Happy Hogan) for quite a while.



Tony goes to this well a lot. "If I had to do it all again, I'd do it all the same."

But, is Tony's alcoholism the reason he does these villainous things so often? Even if he's not drunk? It seems his alcoholism was the reason he supported Super Hero Registration so fervently during CIVIL WAR, to the degree of becoming nearly a fascist.

Everyone got over Tony's actions during CIVIL WAR. But I'm wondering how Tony and Carol will stand to be in the same room after CIVIL WAR II?

Comments

[beyondthefringe]

I want to see a miniseries that fully explores the events of this lost weekend, where we find out that yeah, all of this shit was a cover-up or implanted memories to hide the fact that he actually saved the world from aliens or something.

Or maybe he saved the world from aliens -while- doing all of this.

Tony Stark: The Lost Weekend.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I'm down.

[wizardru]

I have mixed feelings about this run; it tried to make the best of a bad thing; i.e. trying to make Tony a likable character post-Civil War. Parts of it succeeded in defining that Tony Stark meant well, regretted his mistakes and had specific moral beats that still concerned him. It also tried to square him with the now very popular presentation from the movies. A good chunk of the beginning of the run was Tony's apology tour (or public drubbing, like with Thor).

And yet it still had moments like this where we're supposed to like Maria Hill and expect her to hold the moral high ground somehow (despite her role in Civil War and her being the character more responsible for it spiraling out of control than any other character). Tony acts like 'well, I don't remember it, but I bet I do everything over again like I did', implying he's not really sorry and he wouldn't have done it better in hindsight, which seems ridiculous on its face.

The artwork...well, it had its moments, I guess. Slid a lot into uncanny valley territory a lot of the time, though.

[locuatico]

I think part of the problem is writers wanting to take a Broad Strokes approach to some characters. And Hill is victim of this too often.

This Tony is trying to reconcile the.......villain... from Civil War with the more heroic characterization. This Hill is trying to ignore that she tried to arrest Captain America even before the super registration act was little more than a PROJECT. (meaning, it was SUPER illegal)

That is probably part of the reason why Hill (on top of writers confusing downright villainy with moral ambiguity) has grown to be so unlikable over the years. Writers will either write her as someone who does immoral and awful things. Or, like right here, someone who seems to think they have the moral high ground, despite Tony at least trying to stick to the law, while she was a little too eager to ignore legal procedure.

[owlbrigade1]

I've known a few drunks in my life, I say drunks because alcoholics seek help and admit they have a problem, and every single one of them had control issues. When they were drinking they were flying high and doing every risk and attention seeking behaviour possible; but when they were "sober" they were white knuckling control freaks who didn't just try to control their own lives but set abusive limits on other people around them's lives too in order to try and control the environment around them too.

Obviously this comes with the caveats that this is anecdotal and based on small sample sizes, but I find Tony's behaviour realistic. Obviously his addiction and control abuses are amplified by his vast wealth and social privilege. He is exactly what a drunk would be like if he was a superhero and super-industrialist. Actually, if anything, this could be at the milder end of the possible continuum.

[shadowpsykie]

wait... why is hill pissed if it was her idea?

[kore]

That's pretty much how Maria has always looked in the comics -- SHIELD jumpsuit with white bands, no makeup, cropped hair. MCU Maria (Cobie Smulders) is a lot more femme, we see her in civilian clothes (skirts/dresses) more and she has longer hair.

Is it me or is that dialogue painfully BENDIS-ish?