I want to be done with Can't-Write-Well and his Iron Man hell-comic, but I'm just too invested. I'm sorry. I can't stand the idea that some zoomer who's never read any of the classic Iron Man stories will walk away from this one thinking it's captured Tony's essence.
So: Issue #18 of said hell-comic came out this week, and it's half a decent commentary on Tony's motivations and half an absolute smear job.
What does Can't-Write-Well get right? Well, Tony does in fact feel pretty worthless, does worry that he's accomplishing nothing, and would focus, laser-like, on every mistake he's ever made and ignore the far more numerous times he's been noble, heroic, and humble. And yes: he does very much want to be the paragon. As a lonely, sensitive boarding school kid, he nourished his soul on Malory. Of course he'd want to be an honorable, selfless knight!
Here's the problem though: if Tony's that much of a perfectionist - if he truly longs to be a saint - his actions in these "Books of Korvac" make no damn sense at all. And Can't-Write-Well, possibly recognizing his mistake on some level, tries to write around that by supposing Tony is Dr. Jekyll. In other words, the theory advanced is that Tony made Iron Man so he could shove all the "bad stuff" in his personality onto Tony Stark while pursuing good as the Golden Avenger. And -- that's not what Jekyll & Hyde is about, nor does it correctly describe the Tony Stark/Iron Man relationship.
Regarding the former: Dr. Jekyll doesn't unleash Hyde because he wants to be rid of his shadow. Quite the opposite is true, in fact. He frees Hyde to indulge in that shadow without consequences. I went back and read the novella again just to be sure I remembered it correctly, and yes: throughout Jekyll's confession at the end, there are references to the enjoyment and renewed youth he initially felt as Hyde pursued his every hidden vice. It's only when circumstances make clear that Hyde cannot be controlled or fully segregated from the Jekyll identity that the latter regrets toying with his special potion. The message here is that the dark side of one's nature - one's concupiscence, if you will - will eventually overtake you if you allow it any latitude. That's the way I understand Stevenson's work, at any rate.
Now what's interesting about this story is that it can be applied to Tony -- but only when he's drinking. To me, Jekyll & Hyde is a very, very apt metaphor for addiction. And I bet you dollars to donuts I'm not the only one who's made that observation. Those first drinks - or those first doses - do liberate you. Otherwise, why start the cursed cycle? But as time goes on, the impact of the drink or the drug starts intruding on your formerly ordinary life, and the trauma of that drives you to seek further release.
But Tony doesn't build Iron Man in Tales #39 to satiate - or escape, as Can't-Write-Well claims - his id. As I've emphasized many times before, Tony builds Iron Man simply to survive a mortal injury. Granted, later on, he discovers it's a great comfort to disappear into the Iron Man identity -- but what he's escaping in those scenes is not some evil that's inherent in his true personality but something that's been imposed from the outside. In reality, "Tony Stark, confident billionaire playboy" is the put-on! It's a façade he learned to don to escape his father's accusations that he's a coward and a fancy boy, and it persists because childhood programming is hard to change.
No: Iron Man is not a cover for the intrinsically depraved Tony Stark, nor does it enable the same (assuming such a thing as an intrinsically depraved Tony Stark exists anywhere but in Calvinist theology and Tony's own mind, which -- well, we'll get to that). On the contrary, Iron Man allows Tony to be his true, heroic, and compassionate self. And that's why he's addicted to the armor. It's not because of the fame. It's not because of the butt pats or the parades or the theoretical statues in Central Park. It's because the armor protects him from a world he believes will judge him for being gentle, kind, and moral. (Thanks, Howard, you asshole.)
Does Tony have flaws? Certainly! But they are not the flaws implied on the page I've captured below the cut.
