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Chapter Text

I am amused by the irony of this conversation between Harley and Tony "Everyone must suffer because I won't handle my daddy issues" Stark in Iron Man 3. What if Harley was as much of a jackass to Tony as Tony was to him in this conversation?

Harley frowned as he considered how to explain why he was a latchkey kid. Then he said, "Well, my mom already left for the diner and Dad went to 7-11 to get scratchers. I guess he won, because that was six years ago."

Tony Stark hummed and then said, "Which happens. Dads leave. No need to be a pussy about it."

Harley blinked and stepped back. Then his fists clenched as he said, "Screw you. I'm calling the cops."

As Harley turned away Tony grabbed his arm and said, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. No need for that."

Harley yanked his arm away and rubbed where Tony grabbed him. He said, "My dad left me when I was practically a baby. Your dad never actually left. I read about it---he died. And you were OLD---like 20 or something."

Tony looked away, then he shrugged and said, "Okay, that was a shitty thing to say."

Chapter Text

Personally, I find Tony's extortion of Peter very creepy. What if instead of webbing Tony and succumbing to the blackmail, Peter beat Tony at his own game?

Peter was still trying to shake off the bad vibes of Tony locking them in Peter's bedroom together. Then Tony sat next to Peter and put a hand on Peter's shoulder. Tony asked, "You got a passport?"

Peter answered, "Uh, no. I don't even have a driver's license."

Tony nodded and asked, "You ever been to Germany?"

Peter said, "No."

Tony dropped his hand and said, "Oh, you'll love it."

Peter sat up in protest. He said, "I can't go to Germany!"

Tony stared and asked, "Why?"

So many answers crammed into Peter's head: Aunt May, keeping secret, not knowing what Tony actually wanted with him. But he said, "I got...homework."

Tony looked like he was rolling his eyes without rolling his eyes as he said, "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

Peter leaned forward, urgent now as he said, "I'm---I'm being serious! I can't just drop out of school!"

Tony strolled to the door as he said, "Might be a little dangerous. Better tell Aunt Hottie I'm taking you on a field trip."

Peter jumped to his feet. The urge to web Tony was strong. Instead he yelled, "You want me to WHAT?"

The door rattled as May said from the other side, "Why is this door locked? What's going on in there? Peter!"

Peter called, "Just a second, May."

The he walked over to Tony. Peter said, "This doesn't look good for you, Mr. Stark. If anything gets out about me to ANYONE, well, I'll have to mention how you tried to force a 14-year-old boy to go with you on a secret trip to Germany."

Tony stared for a moment, then said, "Shit kid, you play hard ball. Deal."

Peter shrugged and flipped the lock. As he opened the door, he smiled at May and said, "Mr. Stark was just leaving."

Chapter Text

This was definitely the height of bitterness and pettiness for Tony. People have pointed out that Steve's reaction to Tony's demand isn't shame or embarrassment. Steve looks up, not down, and drops the shield without regret.
It sometimes seems that there is something mystical about the connection between Captain America and his shield, like Thor and Mjolnir. In this snippet, the shield knows where it belongs, and it's not with Tony Stark. (And to quote Peter Parker, "That thing does not obey the laws of physics at all!”)

Tony jerked back as he rounded the corner. The gleam of metal caught his eye. Metal that should still be buried in the box hidden in the shipping container stacked on the bottom row in a warehouse of containers exactly like it.

The metal gleamed...sullenly. Like it was judging Tony.

Tony glared back and said, "I could have left you in Siberia, you know." Like Barnes' arm. Tony winced at the memory of slicing through the metal, shearing off Barnes' limb...

"Shut up," he said to the shield as he scurried away.

Later, he stood in front of the shield, still sullenly gleaming at him.

He was going to do it. He was. He could just melt Cap's...Rogers'...his father's...THIS shield down and make a nice vibranium coating for one of his suits.

"I could do it, you know," he said to it.

Tony didn't. Really, he couldn't. The closer he got to it the greater the chill that ran down his spine. He was half-afraid it would freeze his fingers off if he even dared to touch it with his bare hand.

He wasn't all that surprised when the shield disappeared two days later. Or when he later saw it gleaming on Nomad's arm.

Gleaming...happily, damn it.

Chapter Text

It's funny how many prop-Tony folks wail about how mean Steve was during the helicarrier argument when the Avengers were being influenced by the scepter. (Point of fact, Steve was kinder than Tony, but that's another quote to explore.) Tony doesn't even have the excuse of being influenced by the scepter when he said this incredibly cruel thing about Steve. What if Bruce didn't let Tony's remark slide?

The door started to close behind Steve as Tony turned away and said, "That's the guy my dad never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice."

Bruce stopped what he was doing and turned with a frown. He said, "How could you say that? How could you even think it?"

Tony looked over with a shrug.

Bruce shook his head and stepped forward. He said, "No really. Captain Rogers is barely two weeks in this era. As far as he's concerned, two weeks ago he was in the middle of World War II. His whole world---his whole LIFE was gone in an instant. And you say maybe they should've kept him on ice?"

Bruce's eyes flashed green as an expression of disgust crossed his face. He said, "Maybe you should consider this, Stark: how would you feel if you overheard someone saying they should've left you in the desert."

Tony shivered and turned away, dropping his eyes in shame.

Chapter Text

It's interesting to contrast how Ant-Man and Spider-Man were recruited (adult versus child, informed consent versus blackmail, introduced to the team versus hidden from the team). What if Rhodey found out that Tony had lied about what he knew---about everything?

Rhodey's wheelchair didn't make a sound as he pushed himself up by the side of Tony's desk. He said, "So we're short a few people here. When can you get the spider-guy up to the compound? He should start training ASAP."

Tony shifted in his chair as he tried to think of an excuse. He said, "Um, well, he's not much of a joiner."

Rhodey frowned and stared at Tony a moment. Then he slumped in his chair, shook his head, and asked, "Were you ever going to tell me?"

Tony sat up and said warily, "Tell you what?"

Rhodey lifted a tablet from his lap and turned it around to show Tony. On it was a video of Peter---Spider-Man stopping a bus. Rhodey said, "Seems like you've been watching this guy for a while."

Tony frowned and said, "Yeah, I've been watching him for a while. So?"

Rhodey said, "You should have told me sooner. I did some digging through the files. How could you even think of bringing him to Germany, Tony? That kid is 14 years old!"

"That 14 year old can lift a tank and stick to walls!" Tony said as he stood. He continued, "THAT'S why I didn't tell you---I didn't need a lecture from Colonel StickUpHisAss."

Rhodey leaned back and stared. Then he said, "There are rumors about this kid now, footage of him with the Avengers. That could be trouble for him."

Tony clenched his jaw and said, "I'll handle it."

Rhodey nodded and continued, "There are some other rumors floating around, too."

Tony crossed his arms and tried to keep his face from showing anything. He asked, "Like what?"

Rhodey said, "Like you went to see Ross at some secret prison where Wilson and the others were being held. And that you left that prison to go somewhere the U.N. didn't give you permission."

Rhodey leaned forward and asked, "Is any of that true, Tony?"

Tony frowned and leaned over Rhodey. Tony said, "Yeah, all of it. And you know what else is true? When I got there I found out Rogers kept a secret from ME---his brainwashed assassin best friend killed my parents 25 years ago. And Rogers' reason for keeping that secret? "I thought I was sparing you but I was really sparing myself."

Tony stepped back and said, "What a load of crap."

He pointed at Rhodey and said, "So excuse the hell out of me if I'm not feeling like sharing right at the moment."

Tony pushed past Rhodey and stopped halfway to the door, startled to see Vision standing there.

Rhodey spun the chair around and said, "I'm sorry to hear about your parents, Tony. That must have been tough to find out."

He moved to Tony's side and looked up at him. Rhodey frowned as he said, "But you know what? That doesn't make you keeping secrets okay. Especially when you look at it. Rogers sounds like he kept his secret to protect people, Barnes and you."

Rhodey leaned over to stare at Tony as he continued, "But you? All your secrets seem to do is cover your own ass."

Tony had no reply as Rhodey wheeled past him and Vision and out the door.

Chapter Text

It's funny how many prop-Tony meta and fics bash the Avengers, Rhodey, and Pepper for letting Poor!Woobie!Tony suffer alone. It's as if his PTSD, his trauma, is SO much more important than anyone else's. But why? Why isn't TONY responsible for his own well-being? He's older than all of the Avengers except Thor, has unlimited resources and time, plus has a 24/7 nanny with his personal AIs. Plus, why are the Avengers getting bashed for not noticing when Tony's suffering, but Tony gets a pass on not noticing that EVERY OTHER PERSON IN THE MCU HAS SUFFERED AND PROBABLY HAS PTSD. It's quite a double standard. But best of all is that in canon, people DO notice Tony suffering. Rhodey actually shares his concerns about Tony in several films, but Tony blows him off most of the time. So in this scenario, Rhodey points out how reckless it is for Tony to be wearing the suit while he's not 100%. Also of note: People have pointed out that it's not really fair of Tony to try to dump everything on Bruce in Iron Man 3. That wasn't a friend-to-friend chat but a pseudo counseling session. Bruce was right to point out he's NOT that kind of doctor.

Rhodey set aside the arc reactor and said, "You had this in your body? And how about the high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?"

Tony shrugged and replied, "Road rash. Thank you." He glanced over at Rhodey and asked, "What are you looking at?"

Rhodey frowned and said, "I’m looking at you. You wanna do this whole lone gunslinger act and it’s unnecessary. You don’t have to do this alone."

Tony said, "You know, I wish I could believe that. I really do. But you’ve gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I’m doing."

Rhodey crossed his arms and said, "You know, there are rules about safety and fitness for duty in the service. A pilot flunks his physical---OR his psyche eval---and he's grounded until he's back to baseline."

Tony frowned and crossed HIS arms. He asked, "So what are you saying? You're gonna take the suit away until some doctor signs my walking papers?"

Rhodey lowered his arms and stepped forward. He said, "Tony, the suits aren't toys. We're flying around in WMDs that could do a hell of a lot of damage if we make a mistake. And the way you are right now, that seems like a mistake waiting to happen."

He took a breath and said, "Please, Tony, tell me what the hell is going on. Let me help."

Tony bowed his head and...thought about it.

Chapter Text

This seems to be a straight-out lie. Sure, EVERYONE would think Tony was crazy AND CRIMINALLY WRONG to recruit a 14-year-old kid. BUT TONY DIDN'T CONSULT WITH ANYONE. He decided his way was best and plowed ahead without checking with anyone else on his team. (Sound familiar?) What if Peter came to his senses and realized just what a creep Tony was? Also of note: Some people consider Tony a bully to Peter, and some think what Tony did was "grooming," and totally inappropriate.

The Iron Man suit swooped in. Tony's voice sounded through it, "Previously on Peter Screws the Pooch, I tell you to stay away from this. Instead, you hacked a multi-million dollar suit so you could sneak around behind my back doing the one thing I told you not to do."

Peter ignored Tony's snide tone. Instead, he asked, "Is everyone okay?"

Tony's sneer was clear in his voice as he said, "No thanks to you."

Peter stood and paced over to the suit. He said, "No thanks to me? Those weapons were out there, and I tried to tell you about it, but you didn't listen. None of this would have happened if you'd just listened to me. If you even cared, you'd actually be here."

The Iron Man mask flipped up and the suit separated as Tony stepped out. As he stalked forward, getting into Peter's space, he said, "I did listen kid. Who do you think called the FBI huh? Do you know I was the only one who believed in you? Everyone else said I was crazy to recruit a 14-year-old kid."

Peter stopped cold. He asked, "Who else knows about me? Happy, yeah, but who else?"

Tony stopped at the change of topic. He said, "That's not important right now. What is---"

Panic made Peter step forward. He said, "No, who else did you tell about me? I trusted you, now you're saying you're blabbing about me behind my back? I have to keep May safe!"

"ALL RIGHT!" Tony shouted. He continued, "Jesus kid, calm the hell down. I didn't tell anybody else, all right? Nobody knows, just me and Happy."

Peter frowned and said, "So you lied." He paused, then continued, "You lied because you CAN'T tell anyone about me. Because you don't want to get yelled at. By your bosses or whoever."

Tony crossed his arms, now on the defensive. He said, "Nobody's the boss of me. And we're talking about YOU. If somebody had died tonight---"

"It would be because you didn't bother to TELL ME what was going on," Peter said. He continued, "It feels like...I don't think this is working out."

Tony gaped. He said, "Excuse me? Are you dumping ME?"

Peter said, "Maybe. I don't think I can trust you after this."

Tony blinked and fell silent.

Chapter Text

It's funny how Tony, who was actually known as the "Merchant of Death," tries to claim he was never a weapons dealer or war profiteer. What if the twins got to respond to Tony's claim?

Pietro Maximoff eyed the missiles and other weapons on the abandoned barge's floor. He said to Tony, "Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?"

Tony looked down at the weapons and said, "This was never my life."

Wanda stepped forward and said, "Of course it was." Her hand flashed scarlet a moment, then she nodded and said, "The man who saved you in the cave, Ho Yinsen. He told you that the Ten Rings---terrorists, killers---were your best customers."

PIetro nodded and said, "We SAW your weapons, Stark. They destroyed our home, killed our parents. We lay in the rubble staring at your missile, for days."

Tony flipped up the faceplate and said, "That wasn't me. I wasn't selling the weapons to terrorists. It was---"

"It was YOUR company," Wanda interrupted. She continued, "It was YOUR responsibility to know whose hands were firing your weapons. But you were not interested in anything except your workshop and your fine life."

Pietro nodded and pointed at Ultron. Pietro said, "This one, he just quoted you. 'Keep your friends rich and your enemies rich, and wait to find out which is which.' And you know what? That man, Klaue, said you used to say that to him."

Wanda frowned and said, "It was not a one time thing. Klaue KNEW you. And you pretend that this was not your life? That your money is not drenched in blood?"

The Avengers stared for long moments as they waited for Tony to respond to the twins. Even Ultron kept silent.

Tony had nothing to say.

Chapter Text

This is one of the most despicable things Tony has done. He knows that Clint is a prisoner. He knows that Ross is listening in. He knows how to block the audio feed. But Tony chooses to mention Clint's hidden family when Tony KNOWS Ross is listening. As people have pointed out, even LOKI kept Clint's secret. (And even if you want to suggest that Clint's family was out in the open after Ultron, it doesn't make a difference. You don't point out an innocent woman and her children to a man like Thaddeus Ross.) What if Clint pointed out how Tony betrayed Clint?

...

Clint said, "Criminals, Tony. Think that's the word you're looking for. Right? That didn't used to mean me. Or Sam, or Wanda. But here we are."

Tony puffed up and said, "Because you broke the law."

Clint said, "Yeah."

Tony continued, "I didn't make you."

Clint disagreed with that---he'd heard how Tony ignored the news about the other Winter Soldiers at the airport. Tony DEFINITELY started that fight. But he also knew Tony's mean streak and how it erupted when anyone disagreed with him. He started making noise, trying to keep Tony from spilling anything to Ross. He said, "La, la, la, la, la..."

Tony ignored the hint and said, "You read it, you broke it."

Clint could point out that he hadn't been given enough time to thoroughly read it, but he didn't bother because he didn't have to go past the signing page to know what a piece of crap the Accords were. He continued, "La, la, la, la la..."

Tony came close to the bars to deliver his betrayal. He said, "Alright, you're all grown up, you got a wife and kids. I don't understand, why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?"

Clint froze. How could he? Tony had his flaws---sometimes he was a real pain in the ass---but Clint never thought Tony would stoop so low. He asked, "How could you?"

He shook his head and yelled, "How COULD you! I trusted you with them. I shared my secret to save your miserable life, and this is how you repay me? By painting a target on their backs?"

Tony froze. A deep sense of shame filled him as he realized exactly what he had done. He hastily cut the audio feed and spun around.

Wilson and Lang were staring at Tony, disgust on their faces. Clint was glaring.

Tony said, "I didn't mean to---"

Clint said, "Don't talk to me. Don't you EVER speak to me again." He turned his back on Tony and said, "You better pray Nat got them to safety already. Because if anything happens to them, I will END you."

Tony quickly moved over to Wilson's cell and said, "You have to tell me where Rogers went."

Wilson spat on the floor and said, "I'm not telling you shit, you traitor."

Lang said, "Hank Pym always said you could never trust a Stark."

Tony slumped and turned the audio feed back on. As he left the Raft, he felt a new weight of guilt on his shoulders.

Chapter Text

I wasn't going to bother with this one, but apparently some prop-Tony folks are claiming that STEVE is insensitive for referring to Phil as a soldier when Steve was trying to COMFORT Tony. But they COMPLETELY ignore Tony calling Phil an idiot. And to them STEVE is the insensitive one?

Steve nodded at the information that Coulson had someone special to mourn him. In the war, Steve had learned time and again that sometimes the only thing you could do was let the next of kin know that their loved one was lost. To give them some kind of closure. He said, "I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man."

Tony said, "He was an idiot."

Steve blinked and straightened at the blatant disrespect of the dead man."Why? For believing?"

Tony replied, "For taking on Loki alone."

Steve frowned and said, "He was doing his job." A dangerous one that had demanded the ultimate sacrifice.

Tony scoffed and said, "He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have..."

Steve quietly said, "Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony." It was a truth that Steve had learned the hard way.

Tony walked away, saying "Right. How did that work for him?"

Steve asked, "Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?"

Tony whirled and shouted, "WE ARE NOT SOLDIERS! I am not marching to Fury's fife!"

"But Coulson was," Steve said as he stepped forward. He continued, "Like every other Shield member aboard this vessel, Coulson knew when he signed up that protecting people can be risky. And that standing up to Loki could kill him. He thought protecting his crew and his friends was worth that risk."

Steve shook his head and said, "No matter how upset you are, he deserves better than you calling him an idiot."

Tony bowed his head. Not admitting anything, but...

Steve took pity on him and moved the conversation along. He said, "Loki needs a power source..."

Chapter Text

During the airport fight, Natasha realized the world was in danger and let Steve and Bucky go. But she was willing to keep working with Tony, trying to help him understand that saving the world was more important than following the Accords. (Ironically, something Tony decided for himself later when he flew to Siberia without authorization.) But Tony didn't treat Natasha like a teammate. Instead he makes a comment that he KNOWS is extremely hurtful, given what he knows of Natasha's past. And even then, Natasha tries to warn Tony of the danger he could be in. What if she took a moment to express how childish it was to attack her after everything that happened?

Tony saw Natasha come up beside him at the hospital balcony, even if he didn't hear her. He said, "The doctors say he shattered L4 through S1. Extreme laceration in the spinal cord. Probably looking at some form of paralysis."

Natasha said, "Steve's not gonna stop. If you don't either, Rhodey's gonna be the best case scenario."

Tony frowned and said, "You let them go, Nat."

Natasha had already figured out that oversight as an idea was very different than the Accords in action. She said, "We played this wrong."

Tony scoffed and said, "'We'? Boy, it must be hard to shake the whole double agent thing, huh? It sticks in the DNA."

Natasha blinked at him. She'd spent YEARS making up for the red in her ledger. She rebuilt her world as an Avenger when Shield turned out to be Hydra. Was Tony really that cold, to use her attempts to remake her life to ATTACK her? She said, "I could just as easily ask when you're going to grow up enough to stop making the world and everyone around you pay for your mistakes. But I didn't. This is more important."

She frowned. Was Tony really so self-centered to ignore everything that happened? Even the world being at risk? She asked, "Are you incapable of letting go of your ego for one goddamn second?"

Tony shrugged off the question. He said smugly, "T'Challa told Ross what you did, so...they're coming for you."

Natasha already knew her time was running out. But despite Tony's digs at her, she could give him one last warning. She said, "I'm not the one that needs to watch their back."

She walked out knowing that Steve would never fail her. And the rest of the team had never turned on her the way Tony did, even when they were on different sides.

Chapter Text

As many people have pointed out, Tony is fine with signing the Accords (which just shift the blame) because he ALREADY does this. The rest of the Avengers sitting in the conference room didn't use alien technology to upload their flawed AI program and give Ultron a doorway into the world. That was Tony. And yet after Charlie Spencer's mother confronts TONY, Tony blames all of the Avengers and says THEY need to be put in check. (Funny how Tony doesn't even TRY to keep himself in check throughout the film. He just does what he wants when he wants to, same as always. And same as always, he faces NO consequences while others pay the price.) What if someone pushed back at Tony's flippant and untrue statements?

Tony concluded his rant about Charlie Spencer. He said, "He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass."

Vision frowned and said, "That does not seem to be entirely accurate. None of us here 'dropped a building' on anyone. In point of fact, we were attempting to prevent anyone being injured by the buildings falling because of Ultron's actions."

Steve frowned and said, "Tony, I don't think your words OR your tone are very respectful to the people who lost their lives, including that young man. We were desperately trying to clear civilians from the combat area while also trying to stop Ultron's plan to destroy the world. 'Kicking ass' makes it sound like we were playing a game or something. I think we all realized just how serious the situation was. "

Tony frowned at the group and decided to shift the subject. He said, "There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys."

Steve frowned and said, "Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up."

Tony waved his hand and asked, "Who said we're giving up?"

Steve replied, "We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blame."

Natasha narrowed her eyes and said, "Like you just tried to do, Tony. WE didn't give Ultron access to the world, YOU did. Saying it was all of us doesn't make it true."

Chapter Text

So many prop-Tony fics try to pretend Tony wasn't responsible for Ultron because Bruce and Tony "weren't close to an interface." This entirely misses the point. USING THE SCEPTER in the first place is the problem. Tony asked Thor for the chance to STUDY it. But after Tony discovered the AI in the scepter, he decided to use it to upload the Ultron program. The scepter should have NEVER been plugged into the system like that. Note that Strucker had the scepter for YEARS and didn't provide the AI a way into the world. TONY's flawed program and systems did. (And I'm not all that convinced Tony's systems were secure to start with. Look how easily Ned cracked the safeguards on Peter's suit in Homecoming.) And even more important, Tony KNEW he was doing wrong by not telling the team. And it was Tony driving the whole thing. Bruce was the gun, but it was Tony's hand on the trigger. (And not Wanda's. She showed him a vision, that's it. She didn't brainwash him or take over his will. There was NO red mist in Tony's eyes when he was persuading Bruce or using the scepter.) What if Bruce had balked at Tony's attitude? (Also note that the "three days" deadline was BECAUSE Tony wasn't telling Thor. If he told Thor, he could have asked for more time. But Tony KNEW Thor would never agree to let Tony use the scepter that way.)

After Tony showed Bruce the AI residing in the scepter, he said, "I want to apply this to the Ultron program. But JARVIS can't download a data schematic this dense. We can only do it while we have the scepter here, that's three days, give me three days."

Bruce frowned and said, "So you're going for artificial intelligence and you don't want to tell the team."

Tony nodded and said, "Right. That's right, you know why, because we don't have time for a city hall debate. I don't want to hear the 'man was not meant to meddle' medley. I see a suit of armor around the world."

Bruce shook his head and said, "Well that's great, Tony. You want to see your suits of armor around the world. But there's a huge problem with your plan. You want to hide this from the team. Because you KNOW Thor would never agree to this. And you KNOW what Steve would say about it."

Bruce raised his hands and backed off. He said, "And if you're that desperate to hide it from them, then doing this must be a REALLY BAD idea."

He left the room as he said, "I'm going to tell the team about your little plan. I don't suggest you try anything while I'm gone, because I guarantee they will NOT be happy."

Bruce paused and said, "Especially Thor. AND the other guy."

Chapter Text

It's interesting how so many prop-Tony fics pretend that Tony is this great friend to everyone. But there's not a lot of evidence for that in the MCU. Tony belittles and insults Rhodey, ignores and takes advantage of Pepper, and pretty much spends his time mocking and insulting the Avengers. Another interesting trait is that Tony turns on people when they dare question his actions. He does it a lot in Civil War, but notice also how he does it in Ultron. Bruce is humble, acknowledging that THEY are responsible for Ultron, while Tony lashes out at Bruce for telling the truth.

Helen Cho shivered as she shook her head and said, "I don't understand. You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

Even though Bruce is shaking his head to stop, Tony starts laughing.

Thor frowns and asked, "You think this is funny?"

Tony shrugs and said, "No. It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so...is it so...it is. It's so terrible."

Thor angrily said, "This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand."

Ignoring that painful truth, Tony replied, "No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

After everything, Bruce realized how wrong it was to not have had this discussion BEFORE using the scepter. He said, "Tony, maybe this might not be the time to..."

Tony whirled on Bruce and said, "Really?! That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls."

Bruce replied, "Only when I've created a murder bot."

Tony denied it, of course. He said, "We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"

Bruce shook his head and said, "Seriously, Tony? That is not the point. TRYING to create an interface was the PROBLEM. We took alien technology we didn't know anything about, with an AI we knew literally NOTHING about, and plugged it into our systems like it was a giant flash drive."

He continued, "Tony, WE let that thing out into the world. We did it. We were like the stupid teens in every bad horror film, using the Ouija board or reading out loud from the big black book that says 'Don't read this out loud' on the cover."

Bruce looked at Tony and said, "We did more damage with that scepter in three days than Strucker did in YEARS. WE did. So yeah, I'm gonna roll over and show my belly because we were WRONG."

THAT shut Tony up.

Chapter Text

I've seen some prop-Tony folks try to explain this one away by saying Tony literally meant Wanda didn't have a visa and that Tony was protecting Wanda by interning her. The film itself shows Tony was worried about PR, not Wanda. Vision reveals the reason Wanda's being held, because "Mr. Stark would like to avoid the possibility of another public incident." And as someone online pointed out, even if in the WMD line Tony is just parroting Ross (who called Thor and Bruce nukes), Tony doesn't give any indication he disagrees with Ross's assessment. From the way Tony treats Wanda, he pretty much shows he agrees with Ross's take on things. What if Steve called Tony out on his dehumanization of a teammate? (And don't even get started on the "kid" stuff. Steve calls a pilot who looks older than him "son" in Avengers, so Steve calling Wanda "kid" doesn't mean she's a kid. Peter is a LITERAL kid, though, and Tony turned that kid into a child soldier.)

Steve frowned as he pondered Tony's attempt at blackmail. Bucky was already being denied due process. Could Steve take the chance of Bucky falling into T'Challa's hands? He said, "I'm not saying it's impossible, but there would have to be safeguards."

Tony replied, "Sure. Once we put out the PR fire, those documents can be amended. I'd file a motion to have you and Wanda reinstated..."

Steve froze and asked, "Wanda? What about Wanda?"

Tony leaned back and answered, "She's fine. She's confined to the compound, currently. Vision's keeping her company."

Flashes of Japanese Americans imprisoned in camps during WW2 made Steve frown as he said, "Oh God, Tony! Every time. Every time I think you see things the right way..."

Tony asked, "What? It's a 100 acres with a lap pool. It's got a screening room. There's worse ways to protect people."

Steve shook his head and said, "Protection? Is that how you see this? This is protection? It's internment, Tony."

Tony frowned and said, "She's not a US citizen."

Steve could have pointed out that Wanda had been here for years out in the open with no problem, but instead he said, "Oh, come on, Tony."

Tony continued, "And they don't grant visas to weapons of mass destruction."

Steve froze again, stunned. That was close to how Ross had described Thor and Bruce. As if they were weapons...not people. He said, "Of course they don't, Tony. Because WMDs are THINGS. Wanda is a PERSON. Bruce is a PERSON. Thor is a PERSON."

He shook his head in disgust and laid the pen on the table. Steve knew that Bucky would want Steve to do the right thing, even if it put Bucky at risk. He looked at Tony and said, "I guess you're more like Ross than I thought. I won't be signing the Accords, Tony. Good luck with the avenging."

Chapter Text

Tony's disdain for Steve started from the moment they met, as Tony dismissed Steve's trauma of waking up after 70 years with the mocking nickname "Capsicle." It's only gotten worse over the films, but this first exchange is very telling. Steve points out a painful truth about the privileges Tony has always enjoyed, and Tony basically strips away all of Steve's good qualities and claims he's nothing but a walking lab experiment. What if someone in the know overheard him?

Bruce looked around and the helicarrier lab and said, "That's Loki's M.O., isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb."

Nick Fury sensed Bruce's tension and said, "You need to step away."

Tony scoffed and asked, "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?"

Steve looked at him like he was crazy and said, "You know damn well why. Back off!"

Tony leaned in smugly and said, "Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."

Steve stared him down and said, "Yeah. Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?"

Tony's smugness increased as he recited, "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

Steve replied, "I know guys with none of that are worth ten of you."

He continued, "I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you." It was barely two weeks ago he'd been shivering in the cold of Austria, surrounded by men who risked their lives to make the world safe. Not for glory, but because it was their duty.

Tony smirked and said, "I think I would just cut the wire."

Steve swallowed. He could tell Stark that most of the time you didn't get that choice. But instead he said, "Always a way out. You know, You may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

Tony sneered and said, "A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

Suddenly Nick Fury was in Tony's face. Nick said, "Now you wait one goddamn minute, Stark. I heard this little chat and I'm going to stop you right there just to tell you how wrong you are. Rogers was telling you the truth: He knew guys worth ten of you. The Howling Commandos. Not one of them had your millions. And none of THEM demanded a medal and a senator in a goddamn Capitol Hill ceremony just to do their duty. You've got your head so far up your own ass you don't even notice the shit you fling at everybody else."

Fury leaned back and looked Tony up and down. Fury was not impressed as he said, "You got it backwards, Stark. Steve Rogers isn't special because of the serum. Captain America is special because of Steven Goddamn Rogers. So you can just shut the hell up."

Tensions in the room evaporated as everyone turned to glare at Tony.

Tony shut up.

Chapter Text

I tend to doubt that all of the prop-Tony folks who try to excuse Tony's trying to MURDER Bucky actually pay attention during the Siberia fight. Steve pleads with Tony to stop. Steve is clearly trying only to disable (confirmed by the directors), while Bucky just wants to get away. TONY is on a murderous rampage. Not a murderous rage, though. Watch how long that fight is and how many times Tony could have stopped and walked away. Watch how cold-bloodedly Tony behaves all through it. He's ice-cold by the end when he slices off Bucky's arm rather than stand down. (Oh, and for all the folks who say Steve should have made Tony "hug it out"---Tony's wearing a flying tank and firing lasers and missiles at an innocent, WEAPONLESS Bucky. Steve doesn't have a choice except to stop Tony any way possible. Tony wasn't listening. Tony doesn't need a hug. He needs to grow the hell up and behave like an adult.)

Tony stared at the man and woman in dark suits standing in his workshop at the compound. He asked, "Who are you, discount Mulder and Scully?"

"We're not federal agents, Mr. Stark," the woman said. She flashed a badge and said, "We have a warrant for your arrest," then continued with the Miranda warning.

Tony shrugged that off as his thoughts raced. He asked, "What are the charges?"

The man stepped forward and said, "Attempted murder, aggravated assault, battery, terroristic threats, and of course Accords violations."

Tony shook his head and said, "Siberia."

The woman nodded and said, "Yes. We'll be taking you in and processing you as the diplomatic corps figure out which jurisdiction gets first crack at you."

Tony lifted his hands and said, "If you know what happened, then you know WHY it happened. I was under stress and provoked. I snapped---it was clearly a crime of passion."

Disgust showed on the man's face as he said, "I would advise you to find another tactic, Mr. Stark. The evidence clearly indicates otherwise."

Tony crossed his arms and said, "Oh yeah? Prove it."

The woman shrugged and pulled out her phone. After a moment, Cap's voice came through the speaker as he said, "He's not going to stop. Go."

Tony knew that Cap was talking to Barnes. He could hear the roar of the Iron Man leg jets, then clanging and other sounds as the fight resumed.

Tony's voice on the speaker said, "Come on, come on."

Friday's voice answered, "Targeting system's knackered, boss."

Tony could recite the words as his past self said, "I'm eyeballing it." A whoosh and boom sounded as he launched the rocket that missed Barnes but took out the silo lid.

After a few more moments, past-Tony growled, "Do you even remember them?"

Barnes weakly replied, "I remember all of them."

After more clangs and thumps, Cap's voice said, "This isn't gonna change what happened."

Tony froze as he heard his own cold voice reply, "I don't care. He killed my mom."

His mind raced as he tried to find a way out of the cage that was closing around him. But he was guilty. In typical fashion, he looked for someone to punish for "betraying" him. He asked, "Where the hell did you get that?"

Vision phased into the room and said, "I gave it to them, along with all of the visual footage."

Tony stared at the android and asked, "What?"

Vision nodded and said, "Friday showed me the whole thing. It was...unfortunate, how you found out about your parents' deaths. You had every right to be upset, Tony. Even angry. No one would deny that."

Tony straightened, a smirk beginning to form.

It faded when Vision shook his head and said, "But you had NO RIGHT to take that anger out on Sergeant Barnes. You KNEW what he had been through and that he was not himself at the time of your parents' deaths. The man had no weapons and you still went after him. He was no threat, he was just trying to get away and still you continued to attack him. You even attacked Sergeant Barnes after he was already battered and bleeding on the ground---after YOU lasered off his arm, which was part of him."

The cops nodded as Vision continued, "Even worse, you pulled Friday into your crimes. She has no will to disobey you. You made her plot to defeat Captain Rogers so you could get him out of the way. Because Captain Rogers was all that prevented you from beating Sergeant Barnes to death with your own hands."

Tony swallowed at the remembered feel of his fists smashing into Barnes's flesh.

Vision sagged a little as he said, "And after all of these crimes, you came back here and left Wanda and the others on the Raft. Instead of calling a lawyer or finding a way to help them, you ABANDONED them. Even after you saw the conditions they were in."

Vision spread his hands and said, "These are not things heroes do."

Tony bowed his head as handcuffs closed around his wrists as he was led away.

Chapter Text

It's pretty blatant that Tony cares mostly about himself, and drops people the moment they're no longer of use to him. He certainly didn't care about the other Avengers after Captain Marvel rescued him. One clear example of that is the way he talked about Natasha after she sacrificed herself. Tony never knew her, or else he'd have known who she considered family. What if someone was actually allowed to mention Tony's callousness?

The lake was quiet as Thor, Clint, Bruce, and Steve mourned Natasha.

Tony broke the silence to ask, "Do we know if she had family?"

Steve's jaw clenched, but he only answered, "Yeah. Us."

Clint couldn't hold his feelings in. He snarled, "Which you'd know, Stark, if you'd bothered to get your head out of your ass."

Bruce stepped forward, but before he could restrain Clint, Clint launched himself at Stark and yanked him by the collar. Clint said, "But you never did, did you? You never even realized how much Nat cared about us all. That WE were her family. But you never cared about her. You never cared what happened to ANYONE in the world as long as YOU weren't affected."

Clint shook Tony and continued, "You just took yourself off to your private lake and told the world to fuck off. Well guess what---I can get Natasha and everyone back, or you can keep your perfect world and perfect family. Guess who I'm gonna pick?"

Clint flung Tony away and stalked to the room where the gauntlet was. The others followed as Tony shook himself off.

By the time he got to the room, Bruce was sliding on the gauntlet. Tony said, "You remember–--everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago and just bringing them back to now, today. Don't change anything from the last five years."

Bruce looked at Clint, then looked at Tony. He said, "Clint's right. You never really care about anyone unless they're of use to you. And you're always wrong. I should never have listened to you."

Bruce shrugged and said, "And I never actually agreed to that five-year deal."

Tony screamed as Bruce snapped.

Bruce shook his head and looked around the room. He was in Stark Tower and Tony was staring at the two floating figures representing Jarvis---and the entity that would become Ultron.

Tony said, "This could be it, Bruce. This could be the key to creating Ultron."

Bruce said slowly, "I thought Ultron was a fantasy."

Tony replied, "Yesterday it was. If we can harness this power, apply it to my Iron Legion protocol."

Bruce had a flash of looming disaster---Tony's robots killing civilians and taunting the Avengers, buildings falling and a city flying, some white-haired kid dead, a weird planet with a short-haired Thor, Tony refusing to call for help, people turning to dust, Natasha dead---and shook his head. He said, "No way, Tony. Not without running this by the entire team."

Tony scoffed and said, "I don't want to tell the team. You know why, because we don't have time for a city hall debate. I don't want to hear the 'man was not meant to meddle' medley. I see a suit of armor around the world."

Bruce had a sudden memory of someone saying to Tony, "You never even realized how much Nat cared about us all. That WE were her family. But you never cared about her. You never cared what happened to ANYONE in the world as long as YOU weren't affected."

Bruce knew that he'd never heard those words. And now he knew he never would as he said, "You see a suit of armor around the world? I see a disaster waiting to happen. So I'm going to tell the team what you're planning--and how YOU want to hide using the scepter from them."

Bruce snatched the scepter from its cradle and left the room. He would find Natasha first--and let her know how much he cared about her too.

Chapter Text

There were quite a few folks who compared the Tony/Peter blackmail scene to grooming. We've already looked at the passport section, but another part of grooming, undermining the self-esteem of the victim, is also in the early part of the scene. Tony compliments Peter on the one futuristic thing Peter has (his webbing), then uses the rest of the conversation to put Peter down so Tony can "upgrade" him. And Tony has the gall to lie to Peter that Tony is there for Peter's benefit, instead of Tony's own.

Mister Stark said, "Quick question of the rhetorical variety." He pulled out a phone and showed a video of Spider-Man. Then Mister Stark asked, "That's you, right?

Peter froze. Someone had found him out. He answered, "Um, no. What do you. What do you mean?"

Peter got more and more tense as he continued to say the videos were fake while Mister Stark kept insisting they were real.

Then Mister Stark pulled out the Spider-Man suit.

Mister Stark said, "So. You're the . . . Spider . . . ling. Crime-fighting Spider . . .you're Spider-Boy?"

Peter crossed his arms at the insult and said, "S . . . Spider-Man. "

Mister Stark said mockingly, "Not in that onesie, you're not. "

Peter protested, "It's not a onesie." Peter described his day, but Mister Stark didn't seem to be listening.

Instead Mister Stark asked who knew about Spider-Man and was kind of creepy about May.

At first, Peter was pround when Mister Stark complimented the webbing fluid. But when Peter started to share what happened to him, Mister Stark wasn't interested.

Instead, Mister Stark picked up the goggles and said, Lordy! Can you even see in these?"

Peter was kind of hurt that his idol was being so dismissive. Peter said, "Yes. Yes, I can! I can. I can-I can see in those. Okay? It's just that… when whatever happened, happened . . . it's like my senses have been dialed to 11. There's way too much input, so . . . they just kinda help me focus."

Mister Stark scoffed and said, "You're in dire need of an upgrade. Systemic, top to bottom. 100-point restoration. That's why I'm here."

It wasn't until years later, when Peter had kids of his own, that Peter realized just how wrong that whole conversation had been. Mister Stark had LOCKED HIMSELF in a room with a 14-YEAR-OLD. Mister Stark LIED to Peter. Stark proved he wasn't there to help Peter because the next thing Mister Stark did was blackmail Peter into going to Germany to fight for Mister Stark.

It made Peter look back on the handful of conversation they'd had over the years. In pretty much each one, Mister Stark insulted or put down Peter.

Peter shook his head when he realized how naive and manipulated he'd been. Hopefully HIS kids would never come across someone as self-serving as Tony Stark.

Chapter Text

Tony Stark has done many stupid and reckless things, but this is one of the worst: He put Pepper in danger by taunting a known terrorist on camera. And even after that, he ignored Pepper's very good advice to evacuate the premises. The whole scene showed that once again Tony overestimates his security (it's actually crap).

What if Pepper made a different call? (I'm ignoring Pepper and Tony's trash talk about Maya. Neither of them treated her well in this scene.)

Pepper watched as the news report showed Tony doing the most stupid, reckless thing possible.

On the screen, Tony said, Is that what you want? Here's a little Holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now. My name is Tony Stark and I'm not afraid of you. I know you're a coward, so I've decided that you just died, pal. I'm gonna come get the body. There's no politics here; it's just good old-fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon; it's just you and me. And on the off-chance you're a man, here's my home address: 10-8-80, Malibu Point, 9-0-2-6-5. I'll leave the door unlocked.

Pepper shook her head. Part of her was in shock, but part of her was not suprised that Tony had forgotten that the building he'd just exposed to the world was her home too. Or maybe he figured she didn't even get 12 percent of this one.

She picked up her bags and went to find the man who still could surprise her, but not in good ways.

As she threw the bags from the balcony, she saw an unfamiliar brunette. Pepper ignored her to tell Tony, "We're going out of town."

Tony dismissed her by saying, "Okay, we've been through this. Nope."

Pepper shook her head as she came down the stairs. She said, "Immediately and definitely."

Tony said, "I can't protect you out there. I challenged---"

Pepper frowned and said, "You can't protect me in here. You gave a known terrorist your address. MY address. Did you even bother to think how I would react to that?"

Tony said nothing, which meant the answer was No.

Pepper said, "Jarvis, what's your assessment of the security here?"

Jarvis replied, "As I said to Sir, 'There's only so much I can do, Sir, when you give the world's press your home address."

Pepper nodded and said, "I'm out of here, Tony. You can come with me or you can stay here and hope the man you taunted doesn't have any nukes---or Stark weapons."

She looked at the stranger and said, "I suggest you clear out too, for your own safety."

Neither the woman nor Tony said a word as Pepper headed out the door, already hitting her speed dial.

Pepper slipped off her shoes and sank onto the couch in Stark Tower. She looked over at a touch on the shoulder, and gratefully accepted the cup of tea Steve Rogers was holding out to her.

It had been a long week. She'd been miles away when the mansion blew up, but she'd known then that she'd never see Tony again. Pepper had followed the plan Natasha Romanov had given her: Get Happy and get off the grid for their own safety.

Again, part of her was unsurprised that Tony survived the bombing of the mansion. But part of her was also not surprised when Aldrich Killian, the real Mandarin, had managed to burn Tony to ashes.

The Avengers were the ones to stop Killian, who didn't survive his last encounter with the Hulk.

Now they were staying with her in New York, helping her sort through Tony's will and the hard decisions she had to make. Steve, Bruce, and Natasha had been shoulders to cry on and sounding boards as Pepper stepped into her new role as one of the richest women in the world.

As Rhodey, Steve, and Natasha sat near her with their own cups of tea, Pepper let herself begin to face a life without Tony. She wished more than anything that he'd listened to her that day, but he had chosen his own fate. And now she would have to plan her new future.

Chapter Text

This is one of the reasons Tony doesn't get a pass for lashing out at people in Ultron and Civil War. He is one of the most privileged characters of the MCU. Over the course of Iron Man 3, he almost killed Pepper because of his own recklessness and paranoia. He did endanger her by taunting an international terrorist. He holed up without letting anyone know where he was, and eventually came back to have the absolute mess of an ending where Pepper was forced to kill (again) to save Tony.

So apparently Tony is aware of the damage and suffering he's caused. He's aware his VOLUNTARILY UNTREATED PTSD is part of the problem. So does Tony use a fraction of a percent of his multi-billions to get discreet treatment from anyone in the world he wants? No, he tries to dump his problems on Bruce, and ignores Bruce when Bruce points out he is not qualified for this. So Tony should have gotten help or given up the suit. Those are the only RESPONSIBLE options.

(Ironically, PEPPER'S PTSD never gets HER a pass from prop-Tony folks. They berated her for not "supporting Tony" after his suit almost killed her. She was bashed for "abandoning Tony" in Civil War, with not one of them giving even a passing consideration to how much SHE has suffered because of Tony or because of situations Tony triggered. (I do think Pepper DID get counseling, because in a lot of ways she's smarter than Tony the "genius."))

Tony finished his tale of woe and looked up from the counch. Bruce was asleep. Tony asked "Are you actively napping?"

Bruce shifted and replied, "I was... I... I drifted."

Tony asked, "Where did I lose you?"

Bruce shrugged and said, "Elevator in Switzerland."

Tony couldn't believe it. He said, "So, you heard NONE of it?"

Bruce nodded and said, "I'm sorry. I'm not that kind of doctor. I'm not a therapist. It's not my training."

Tony shurgged and said, "So?"

Bruce started to explain, saying, "I don't have the---"

Tony interrupted to ask, "What? The time?"

Part of Bruce wanted to agree, but instead he replied, "Temperament."

As Tony shrugged again and started on more of his issues, Bruce sat up and said, "I'm not kidding, Tony. It's one thing to ask a friend to listen to you rant. But you have SERIOUS problems."

Tony opened his mouth---probably to complain---but Bruce held up his hand and continued, "You don't get to JOKE about this. I saw the reports. I talked to Pepper."

Bruce shook his head and asked, "Do you know how SCARED she was? How you almost KILLING her in her sleep gives her nightmares? How she feels about what that Killian guy did to her, or how scared she was of HERSELF?"

Tony said nothing and looked elsewhere.

Bruce stood up and said, "She KILLED someone to save you, Tony. And apparently this wasn't the first time. And yet Pepper is handling it. She's not a danger to herself or anyone else because she got PROFESSIONAL HELP."

As he walked out the door, Bruce said, "You'd better do the same, Tony. Because I'm calling Steve and Nat and letting them know that you should be grounded until you get your head on straight and deal with your issues. Right now you're a danger to EVERYONE. Including yourself."

Chapter Text

Considering the lack of consequences for Tony Stark after Iron Man 1, this line becomes incredibly ironic. He's had zero accountability since he left Afghanistan. Someone said the cardinal rule of the MCU is that no one is allowed to call out Tony Stark. (Unless you're a villain, and then you're used to show how only villains could have a problem with Tony Stark.) Even in the context of the film, this line is kind of a lie. The industry had plenty of rules, protocols, and requirements. It's Tony who ignored them.

Tony could feel the hum of the arc reactor in his chest as he began his speech. He said, "I never got to say goodbye to Dad. I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."

Before Tony could continue, a man's voice called out from the back of the room. The man said, "Is it the SYSTEM that has zero accountability, or you?"

Tony froze as the man walked forward. It was some seriously built Asian dude wearing black-on-black shirt and jacket. The guy didn't even have a press badge. NoName continued, "There are lots of forms to sign when you are a CEO. There are lots of rules to follow, including keeping track of your inventory and thinking about whether making the bigger, faster, deadlier bomb is actually the right thing to do. And whether YOU, a billionaire who has never considered the victims of your inventions, are the right person to decide when and how to use those inventions. Your privilege gives you power, Stark. Are you worthy to wield it? Or are you just some imbecile in an armored suit?"

Before Tony could pick his jaw up off the floor, he realized that everyone else froze too. Except they were still frozen. No blinking, no breathing. He and NoName were the only ones moving. Tony swallowed and asked, "Who the hell are you?"

The guy rolled his eyes and said, "Wong. So, are you going to answer my question? Because from where I stand, you are still comfortable with zero accountability. You just use this speech as an excuse to keep all your weapons for yourself and your best buddy. And you do WAY more damage with this attitude than you even did spending almost 20 years not caring who bought your weapons."

Wong did some weird gesture with his hands, and a glowing circle opened up in front of Tony. In it, he watched himself pushing his responsibilities onto Pepper, putting party guests in danger, poking someone he KNEW could be dangerous, putting Pepper in danger, telling the poked guy to ignore the rest of the team (what team?) to instead build something TONY thought was the ultimate weapon. He saw the destruction that ultimate weapon created.

But it got worse. He saw himself signing a document he KNEW he hadn't read, and trying to force others to sign it. He saw himself blackmailing some kid, firing explosive rounds at people not wearing any protection, shooting unarmed people. Flying off somewhere he knew he WASN'T supposed to be, lasering off some guy's arm, shooting that same guy in the back. And more and more until it ended with a giant satellite that Tony KNEW could kill anyone in the world on command and spied on everyone to keep tabs on where they were so it would be easy to kill them. And Tony KNEW that he'd never been held accountable for ANY of these actions. Because most of the time, he'd hid the fact that he'd done them.

Like a coward. Like someone completely comfortable with ZERO accountability.

Tony thought he might throw up as the glowing circle closed. Tony looked at Wong and asked, "This is who I am? This is what I do?"

Wong nodded grimly and said, "This is what you DID. In another time and place. But somebody came through here and asked if maybe things could be different this time. Making you accountable---it prevents a LOT of bad things happening."

Wong gestured again and another glowing circle appeared. As he stepped into it, the guy said, "So BE accountable."

When the circle disappeared, everyone else in the room unfroze. Tony swallowed and made a silent promise that things would be different from what he'd seen. He would NEVER be comfortable with zero accountability ever again.

Chapter Text

Tony showed his true colors in the original Iron Man, and he's never really changed. He's uncaring of his responsibilities or how his actions affect others. He's disrespectful to women and mocks everyone around him. He does whatever he wants because he thinks no one knows any better, and other than Afghanistan, he's insulated from all consequences by his wealth and privilege.

This particular scene showed that Tony cared more about his "wit" than he did about Rhodey's career. Tony made a transphobic and homophobic joke suggesting Rhodey was involved with a transvestite or trans man. Don't Ask, Don't Tell was still in effect. What if the crewmen really did believe it? (It might even be true, because Rhodey at least seems to be more respectful of his partners than Tony ever was.)

Rhodey walked into the Secretary of Defense's office and said, "Reporting as requested, sir."

The older man said, "At ease. Have a seat."

Rhodey tried to keep his expression neutral as he waited. He didn't think anyone had connected the power suit with Tony yet, but if Rhodey was directly asked, he wasn't sure he could lie.

The Secretary said, "I'm going to play some audio that was turned in by several airmen."

He clicked a button on his desktop computer. Rhodey's and Tony's voices filled the air.

Rhodey said, "Look who fell out of the sky. Mr. Tony Stark."

Tony said, "Speaking of manned or unmanned, you gotta get him to tell you about the time he guessed wrong at spring break. Just remember that, spring break, 1987. That lovely lady you woke up with."

Rhodey almost said it again in the office as his voice on the recording said, "Don't do that!"

Tony said, "What was his name?"

Again, Rhodey said, "Don't do that."

Tony ignored him and asked, "Was it lvan?"

Rhodey sounded like a broken record as he again requested, "Don't do that. They'll believe it. Don't do that."

The Secretary stopped the recording, folded his hands, and said, "They did believe it. Colonel Rhodes, you've had a long and distinguished career with the Air Force. But this incident--and the encounter it describes--violates some very specific policies. Not to mention the suggestion that your...partner in this incident may have had a name associated with a foreign power known for subverting American interests."

The Secretary paused, but before Rhodey could reply the older man continued, "Now, if this was anyone else, we'd already be deep into an investigation over this alleged incident. But you, Colonel, have an advantage others don't. Your long association with Tony Stark puts you in a unique position. I strongly suggest you use that position to influence Stark to restart his weapons division. Your efforts could determine how we respond to these allegations."

Rhodey swallowed. He realized that Tony had once again had his fun and left someone else to clean up the mess. Part of Rhodey wanted to resign on the spot, but his career mattered to him, even if it didn't mean a thing to Tony.

Part of him also wanted to say the incident was true, and that Ivan had NOT been a mistake. But Rhodey knew he couldn't--wouldn't. Not now. Maybe someday.

Instead, Rhodey nodded and said, "Understood, sir."

Chapter Text

In the comments on that monstrosity requesting that a WW2 hero be turned into a Tony prop, PikWik made the claim that Wanda/Vision promotes "violence in relationships" and that Wanda was "simply asked to stay inside to avoid being arrested until Lagos and her Visa were solved." I noticed my reply never showed up, but I pointed out that Vision was preventing Clint and Wanda from leaving, and Wanda did Vision no harm whatsoever because he is made of VIBRANIUM and can PHASE THROUGH THE EARTH and there was no other way to restrain Vision long enough to escape. (Also note that Vision realized he was wrong to try to keep Wanda prisoner and they reconciled. And that prop-Tony folks only care about other characters as a means to bash Team Cap. A lot of the same folks called Vision a toaster in Infinity War.)

I covered Tony's charming "They don't give visas to weapons of mass destruction" comment in an earlier chapter. (I suppose that's what PikWik meant by "solving Wanda's visa problem"?) But let's also look at the earlier scene with Wanda and Vision, where Vision reveals EXACTLY what Tony's motive was in attempting to intern Wanda. It certainly wasn't for HER benefit. What if Wanda took her stand right then?

Wanda sampled the food that Vision cooked. She managed to control her frown as she said, "I don't know what's in this, but it is not paprika. I'm gonna go to the store. I'll be back in 20 minutes."

Vision's expression stilled for a moment before he said, "Alternatively, we could order a pizza?"

Wanda carefully asked, "Vision, are you not letting me leave?"

Vision blocked her way and said, "It is a question of safety."

Wanda moved around him as she replied, "I can protect myself."

Vision held her arm as he admitted, "Not yours. Mr. Stark would like to avoid the possibility of another public incident. Until the Accords are on a...more secured foundation."

Wanda looked at him a moment, then asked, "And what do you want?"

Vision answered, "For people to see you...as I do."

Wanda considered another moment, then shook her head. She said, "But you and Stark don't want people to see me at all. I lived in a country where people were kept in their houses. Because the ones in power didn't like what those people said, or stood for. Or sometimes just because they were different."

She moved around Vision again, walking toward her room. She had to prepare. Part of her had known she would never sign the Sokovia Accords. Pietro would never have forgiven her if she had.

Vision floated in front of her and asked, "Wanda, what are you thinking?"

Wanda ignored him and entered her room. She quickly went to the closet and pulled out a leather jacket and gloves, along with the go-bag Steve and Natasha had helped her prepare. She checked the bug scanner was still inside, along with her fake IDs and emergency burner phone. Then she slung it over her shoulder and grabbed a baseball cap, her regular phone, and her purse.

She was halfway across the living room when Vision grabbed her arm. He said, "I wish you would reconsider."

Wanda pulled at his grip and said, "Vision, that's enough. Let me go. I'm leaving."

Vision shook his head and said, "I can't let you."

Wanda pulled free, dropped her things, and held her hands apart, building her power. She said, "I'm sorry."

She could see Vision felt conflicted, but he looked at her and said, "If you do this...they will never stop being afraid of you."

Wanda could almost feel the breeze of Pietro running past her as she replied, "I can't control their fear, only my own."

She swirled her hands and watched as Vision glowed and started crashing through the floors. She nodded to herself--Vision would be fine. His vibranium body would suffer no damage, but he would need a few minutes to phase or float out of the hole. Precious time that she needed to make her escape.

Wanda switched on her regular phone as she entered the garage at the compound and made her way to Steve's motorcycle. She swept the bug tracker over the bike and over herself and her stuff. Fortunately, everything was clean.

She waited until she had stored her gear and pushed the bike halfway down the drive before she pressed the Call button. Clint picked up on the first ring. He asked, "What happened?"

Wanda replied, "Vision tried to keep me from leaving the compound. I'm leaving the compound."

Clint said, "You know where to go?"

Wanda nodded and said, "Yes."

Clint replied, "OK, I'll see you there."

Wanda turned off the phone and tossed it into the grass. Then she pulled on the helmet, mounted the bike, and left the compound behind.

Chapter Text

It's interesting how much Tony lies about himself and his actions. In his first film, he makes a statement to Christine Everhart that he'd turn his attentions to things that would help the world when he's done making weapons. But that never turned out to be the case. Especially after the Snap, the world would have needed Tony's genius and innovation (not to mention his multi-billions). But the state of the world five years later (shown in the flyover scenes and in Cassie's neighborhood) offer no evidence Tony helped with anything. He retreated to his perfect lakeside life and left the world to burn. What if Christine Everhart survived the Snap?

Christine Everhart stepped across the grass as she moved toward the workshop beside Tony Stark's luxurious lakeside cabin. She shook her head as she considered how peaceful--and clean--this private residence was. Nothing like the chaos and devastation outside this private estate, as the 99.9% tried to recover from losing half the population in a single instant.

She saw Stark tinkering with an Iron Man helmet. She couldn't help the sound of disgust. Here the world was falling apart and Stark was playing with his toys.

Tony looked up and said, "I pay a lot for my privacy. Who let you in?"

Christine shrugged and said, "Your new bride." Pepper had been unexpectedly open to the suggestion of Christine coming here and pointing out how Tony had failed to fulfill his early claim. The SI CEO seemed really eager for Christine to interview Tony.

Tony frowned and said, "No comment. I have no comment about...anything."

Christine said, "I'm not looking for new material. I wanted to ask you about something you said the night we met."

Before Tony could say anything, Christine started the recording on her phone. Tony's voice said, "it's an imperfect world, but it's the only one we've got. I guarantee you, the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals."

She forwarded the recording to the next relevant segment. Her voice said, "All I want is a serious answer."

Tony replied, "Okay, here's serious. My old man had a philosophy, "Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy"."

Christine rolled her eyes in real life as her recording said, "That's a great line coming from the guy selling the sticks."

Tony shot back, "My father helped defeat the Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people, including your professors at Brown, would call that being a hero."

Christine's voice said, "And a lot of people would also call that war profiteering."

Tony shrugged at Christine as his recorded voice continued, "Tell me, do you plan to report on the millions we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our intelli-crops? All those breakthroughs, military funding, honey."

Christine wanted to point out that Tony Stark profited from the results of that research, and also used it as a publicity boost and tax write-off. But she kept quiet as her past self asked, "You ever lose an hour of sleep your whole life?"

She frowned as she remembered the poor choice she made that long-ago evening as past-Tony said, "I'd be prepared to lose a few with you."

As she turned off the recording, Tony said, "If you're looking for a repeat performance, no can do. The new bride and all."

Christine said, "I'm still waiting for your first performance as a maker of bricks and beams."

She stepped forward and asked, "Have you even looked at what's going on? Those research projects you mentioned are no longer enough. Systems are collapsing. Supply chains are disrupted, governments are in chaos. Power and water infrastructure is at risk. Hell, there's nobody to even pick up the trash. People are DYING."

She came closer and said, "You told me that when you stopped making weapons you'd be building hospitals. Where are they? You still have all your billions, even now when that money could do so much to help. When are you going to step up?"

Tony answered, "Never. I have a new wife and a baby on the way. THEY are my priorities."

When Christine opened her mouth to protest, Tony raised a hand for her to keep quiet. Then he put that hand on Christine's shoulder and moved her out of his way. Halfway back to the cabin, he turned and waved his hand to indicate their surroundings. He said, "THIS is my world. THIS is what I'm working to protect. And this is where I'm going to stay."

Furious and dejected, Christine walked back to her car. She reached it just as Pepper Potts pulled up. As the other woman got out, Christine said, "Congratulations on the baby."

Pepper frowned and said, "I take it you didn't have any luck with Tony?"

Christine shook her head and said, "He basically told the world to fuck off."

Pepper looked at the cabin, clenched her fists and said, "Damn it, children are supposed to make you MORE aware of your responsibilities."

After a pause, Pepper turned back to Christine and said, "You CAN'T report about this. It's still Tony's company and his money. I'm doing what I can and it's not nearly enough, but if Tony finds out, I won't be able to do anything at all."

Christine considered a moment, then nodded and stuck out her hand.

Pepper smiled and shook as she said, "Thank you, Christine."

Chapter Text

It's funny how prop-Tony folks sometimes portray Steve and Tony as best friends (usually when they have Steve wailing that he "betrayed his best friend" or Tony sulking that "his best friend tried to kill him," neither of which is true). Rhodey is supposed to be Tony's best friend, but Rhodey is portrayed as more of a babysitter in those stories, telling Tony how wonderful he is and punishing and humiliating Team Cap for that great sin of disagreeing with Tony over the Accords. Ironically, that's pretty much how Rhodey seems to view the relationship in the Iron Man films. What if instead of getting drunk on the plane, Rhodey mentioned how little he enjoys the role?

Note: I took out the dialog from the flight attendant who was in the actual scene. In this variation, Tony and Rhodey don't get interrupted.

Rhodey stood at the jet doorway and watched Tony drive up. He was embarrassed for the way the staff had been kept waiting by Tony's callousness. And disappointed, the way he'd been last night standing at the podium to present Tony an award while Tony was off playing craps. And when Tony handed off the award to a casino employee like it was nothing. It was just another sign that only Tony mattered to Tony.

Rhodey asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Tony replied, "What?

Rhodey frowned and said, "Three hours."

Tony replied, "I got caught doing a piece for Vanity Fair."

Rhodey knew that the "piece" was not an article, but another of Tony's "charming" ways of showing he didn't respect women. Rhodey shook his head and said, "For three hours. For three hours you got me standing here." Not to mention everyone else whose schedules had been disrupted.

Tony brushed it off and said, "Waiting on you now. Let's go. Come on. Wheels up! Rock and roll!"

Inside the jet, Rhodey thought about his career. He got paid extra to be Tony's babysitter, sure. And Rhodey was setting himself up for a lucrative post-military spot in Stark Industries. But was putting up with Tony worth it? Rhodey was asking the question more and more often.

Tony sprawled in the seat beside him and asked, "What you reading, platypus?"

Rhodey replied, "Nothing."

Tony whined, "Come on, sour patch."

Rhodey frowned at the immature behavior and said, "I'm not sour."

Tony replied, "Don't be mad."

Rhodey said, "I told you, I'm not mad. I'm indifferent, okay?"

Tony insisted, "I said I was sorry."

Rhodey knew he should be grateful he got that insincere apology from Tony. Most of the people around Tony never even got that much.

Rhodey replied, "You don't need to apologize to me."

Tony repeated, "I told you I was sorry."

Rhodey considered rolling his eyes as he said, "I'm your man."

Tony said to the flight attendant, "Hi. I told him I was sorry, but he--"

Rhodey waved off the woman who was looking embarrassed at Tony's whining. Rhodey said, "I'm just indifferent right now."

He continued, "You don't respect yourself, so I know you don't respect me." Or anyone else on this plane, he didn't point out.

Tony insisted, "I respect you."

Rhodey managed not to laugh. He said, "I'm just your babysitter. So, when you need your diaper changed, let me know and I'll get you a bottle, okay?"

Tony sat up and called to the flight attendant, "Hey! Heat up the sake, will you?"

Then he said to Rhodey, "Thanks for reminding me."

Rhodey frowned and said, "No, I'm not talking--we're not drinking. We're working right now."

Tony shrugged and said, "You can't have sashimi without sake."

Rhodey could feel his irritation rising as he said, "You are constitutionally incapable of being responsible."

Tony replied, "It would be irresponsible not to drink. I'm just talking about a nightcap."

Rhodey repeated, "No. Just-- I'm not drinking. I don't want any." He was starting to realize his last sentence referred more to Tony than the alcohol.

Tony shrugged and said, "Come on, honey bear. Don't be a buzzkill."

Rhodey stood up and said, "I said I don't want any. I said I'm working right now."

He shook his head and continued, "Tony, I've been your friend, but at this point I can honestly say if I wasn't getting paid for it I wouldn't be near you. You're almost 40 years old, but you are still so careless about other people's time and your own responsibilities. And I'M getting too old to have my main assignment be babysitter to a middle-aged narcissist."

He moved to another area of the plane and started thinking about how to word his request for a transfer.

Chapter Text

In a prop-Tony story recently, the writer tried to claim that Tony didn't violate the Accords because Ross was not the U.N. panel. Which makes no sense, because Ross is clearly giving the orders in Civil War and Infinity War, and shows up for the funeral in Endgame. Ross is the Secretary of State, not some flunky. Besides, Tony himself admits if Ross finds out, he'll be arrested. What if Ross did?

Tony paced his cell in the Raft. He'd only been here 10 minutes and already he was going insane. He shivered as he realized he was lucky--he could have been in a shock collar and strait jacket.

Tony wondered how Team Cap had managed, locked down here with no light, no space--and no hope of lawyers or due process. THIS was what Tony had agreed to uphold when he signed the Accords.

What had Tony been thinking? He cringed as he remembered lying to Cap about amendments. He looked around. No one who would make people disappear to an underwater prison would be interested in giving up any of the absolute control they claimed over the enhanced--and apparently everyone else.

Suddenly the speakers came on, playing part of the evidence that put Tony on the Raft--without a lawyer, hearing, or trial, of course.

He remembered the doors in the bunker elevator opening to show Cap and Barnes. Tony had said, "You seem a little defensive."

Cap replied, "It's been a long day."

Tony ignored Cap to focus on Barnes as he said, " At ease, Soldier. I'm not currently after you."

Cap asked, "Then why are you here?"

Tony had to acknowledge that given Tony's unwillingness to listen at the compound and the airport, it was a valid question. He answered, "Could be your story's not so crazy. Maybe. Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself."

The Raft's feed cut out and Ross said, "You were right, Stark. But I knew you wouldn't play by the rules. I was right, and now the Iron Man suit is MINE."

The recording restarted, but in his head, Tony was still continuing the coversation in Siberia. Cap said, "Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork...It's good to see you, Tony."

Tony shook his head. Just like that, Cap moved on. Cap didn't yell at Tony for being an idiot, or for being a hypocrite. Cap just accepted that Tony now understood the situation and was now joining the mission.

Tony sat and put his head in his hands. He'd always been forgiven so easily by the others. Bruce, for Tony trying to trigger the Hulk. Everyone else from the original team, for Tony creating Ultron behind their backs.

Tony wondered how Team Cap would react if they saw him now. After they realized he'd left them to rot in this very prison. And after they found out what he did to Barnes...

He may find out soon. After all, Ross now had the phone with Cap's number on it. How Ross had cackled at that find during Tony's arrest.

Tony didn't have his watch--if he had, he would have busted out already. But he thought the recording loop had gone on for about half an hour, with two hours of silence after. Tony was just wondering what was for dinner when Vision phased through the wall of Tony's cell.

Vision said, "It appears you are unharmed."

Tony didn't have a snappy comeback, for once. Instead he asked, "How the hell did you get here?"

Vision looked behind him and answered, "Through the wall. You observed my arrival."

Tony shook his head as Vision continued, "I wanted to inform you that the media has been alerted to your presence here. They were also provided footage of the conditions in which Captain Rogers' team were being held before their timely rescue."

Tony asked, "How'd that happen?"

Vision replied, "Secretary Ross attempted to use the phone you were provided to locate Captain Rogers. He failed. But Captain Rogers kept the Secretary engaged while Natasha contacted me and asked me to trace the call to find Secretary Ross's location. When I did, she further requested that I evaluate this prison and the records of its inhabitants. The footage was...quite upsetting."

Tony stood up and said, "So get on with the jailbreak--we just have to pick up my tech and we can jet back to NYC. There's a five-star meal with my name on it."

Vision frowned and said, "That is not why I am here, Tony. I am here to inform you that momentarily you will be transferred to an appropriate court to address the charges against you. And that Miss Potts has made arrangements for all of your technical equipment. It will be kept neutralized and under guard until the investigation concludes."

Tony frowned and said, "What the hell are you talking about? Bust me out of here!"

Vision shook his head and said, "I signed the Accords. You did as well, then committed multiple violations. You must answer for that. I am only here to confirm that you do so under conditions that do not violate the Constitution, nor the Geneva Conventions."

As the lights in the cell block started to brighten, Vision began to phase out. As he was leaving, he said, "Captain Rogers provided me with new contact information, should an emergency arise. I may use the number to discuss the Accords with him, and my concerns regarding them. I am contemplating withdrawing from the agreement and speaking out against them. You may wish to do the same."

Chapter Text

There was a story summary recently that said something like Tony Stark wasn't the kind of man to kick a person when they're down. And I had to laugh, because Tony has NEVER held back on his taunts and cutting remarks. Here's a good example. Ivan Vanko wanted revenge on a Stark because his father was shipped back to Soviet Russia thanks to Tony's father. (Of course, this is perfectly valid using Tony's logic that it's okay to attack people when you're "upset.")

Vanko has been defeated and is in jail. Tony's response? Hoping Vanko is a victim of prison rape.

Vanko calmly sat as Tony Stark took a chair in front of him.

He did not react as Stark said, "Pretty decent tech. Cycles per second were a little low. You could have doubled up your rotations. You focused the repulsor energy through ionised plasma channels. It’s effective. Not very efficient. But it’s a passable knock-off. I don’t get it. A little fine tuning you could have made a solid pay check. You could have sold it to North Korea, China, Iran, or gone onto the black market. You look like you got friends in low places."

Vanko could mention that Stark was more familiar than Vanko with arms dealers such as Ulysses Klawe. Instead, he replied, "You come from a family of thieves and butchers. And now, like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your own history. And you forget all the lives the Stark family has destroyed."

Stark didn't even flinch at the reminder of all the blood on his own hands. Instead he said, "Speaking of thieves, where did you get this design?"

Vanko replied, "My father. Anton Vanko."

Stark scoffed and said, "Well, I never heard of him."

Vanko wondered if Stark knew much other than technology and stroking his own huge ego. Vanko said, "My father is the reason you’re alive."

Stark puffed himself up and replied, "The reason I’m alive is ‘cause you had a shot, you took it, you missed."

Vanko asked, "Did I? If you can make God bleed, the people will cease to believe in him. And there will be blood in the water. And the sharks will come. The truth, all I have to do is sit here and watch as the world will consume you."

Stark shot back, "Where will you be watching the world consume me from? That’s right. A prison cell. I’ll send you a bar of soap."

Vanko could not say that he was surprised that Stark hoped Vanko was raped in prison. Stark did seem the type to want to punish people for showing Stark was not infallible. Vanko said, "Hey, Tony. Before you go, palladium in the chest, painful way to die."

Vanko continued, "The world will be better off when you are gone. What kind of hero tells a man in a cell that he'll send a bar of soap, knowing that dropping a bar of soap in the shower refers to prison rape? Sometimes gang rape?"

Vanko shook his head and said, "You sound more like a villain than I do, Stark."

Stark said nothing as he walked out. Vanko leaned back and smiled.

Chapter Text

I've pointed out before that bashing Natasha for "exposing undercover Shield agents" and causing their deaths is not logical nor is it likely. And yet there was another story that made this claim (and hauled Natasha off to jail to retroactively punish her for "betraying" Tony). I find it amusing that in order to bash Team Cap, prop-Tony folks ignore so many canon facts. Like in this case, Natasha didn't go rogue, waltz into Shield headquarters, and put Shield files up for people to Google. The info dump was carefully planned by Natasha, Maria, Steve, and Nick--these smart folks wouldn't endanger anyone unnecessarily. AND Nick had to authorize it by using his retina scan. AND Helmut Zemo confirms that HYDRA files (not Shield) were released to the public, and many of them were encrypted. (Besides, if it was so easy to read through the files, that makes Tony so dumb he didn't even bother to do a search on his own name.)

Tony laughed maniacally as he stood before his latest invention. This machine would show him the results of changing past incidents. Then when he actually invented a time machine, he'd know exactly where to go and what to do to punish everyone who had "betrayed" him by refusing to sign away their human rights. Or in Natasha's case, changing sides because saving the world was more important than capturing Team Cap so Tony could pretend he won.

He rubbed his hands together and said, "Some public humiliation and imprisonment is the perfect punishment for that double agent Black Widow. I'll plant someone in the hearing after the helicarriers fell to claim that Shield agents were exposed and murdered because of her info dump. THAT will teach her not to mess with ME."

Tony started the machine and watched the events unfold. When his inserted character (who looked suspiciously like Tony Stark) started ranting, no one in the scene reacted. They simply stared at the Tony-clone as it got more and more insane-looking. Tony tapped his machine and asked, "What the hell?"

Then the military person leading the questioning said, "This does not compute." Its voice was like Vision's.

Tony whirled around and saw Vision standing half-phased through the wall. Tony said, "Stop messing with my stuff."

Vision came completely into the room and repeated, "This does not compute. Why are you pretending that Natasha behaved irresponsibly? Nick Fury's retinal print was required to unlock the file access. Are you suggesting that Nicholas J. Fury was not aware of the fallout from his action? Are you perhaps pretending that he ignored the responsibilities inherent with being in charge of Shield, the way you ignored your responsibilities inherent with being in charge of a weapons manufacturing company?"

Tony crossed his arms and said, "The Shield files were dumped in the open by that backstabber if I say so."

Vision tilted his head and said, "If things happened as your avatar claimed, Shield files would have been as easily searchable as Wikipedia. That would suggest that you are too stupid to have your AI do a search on the Stark name and discover the Hydra link to your parents' deaths. Are you claiming to be that stupid?"

While Tony cursed instead of answering, Vision gestured toward the machine and said, "There is canon confirmation of what happened during the information dump, and we don't even need to go to the TV series to access it. Observe this scene and learn."

On the screen, a bound man was hanging upside-down with his head partially in a sink full of water. Helmut Zemo said, "Mission report: December 16, 1991."

The bound man, Vasily Karpov, asked "Who are you?"

Zemo replied, "My name is Zemo. I will repeat my question. Mission report. December 16, 1991."

Karpov asked, "How did you find me?"

Zemo replied, "When SHIELD fell, Black Widow released Hydra files to the public. Millions of pages much of it encrypted, not easy to decipher. But...I have experience. And patience. A man can do anything if he has those."

Karpov asked, "What do you want?"

Zemo repeated, "Mission report. December 16. 1991. "

Karpov said, "Go to hell."

Zemo said, "Hydra deserves its place on the ash heap. So your death would not bother me. But I'd have to use this book..and other bloodier methods to find what I need. I don't look forward to that. You'd only be dying for...your pride."

As Karpov began to drown, he said, "Hail Hydra."

As the screen went blank, Vision turned to Tony and said, "Like Zemo, you are taking extreme actions in revenge against people who do not deserve to be punished, yet you have no great motive like the death of your family, only wounded pride. I suggest you reflect upon how careful Natasha and the others were and how irresponsible you yourself have been for decades. Then consider how Captain Rogers and the others have already faced the consequences of their actions, while you have not since Afghanistan."

As Vision faded back through the wall he concluded, "And realize how immature and childish a middle-aged man--and his avatars--can appear."

Chapter Text

Tony doesn't bother to learn anything about a situation. He decides he knows what's best and acts. (It's ironic that this is what prop-Tony folks accuse Steve of, because Steve usually lets people know what he's going to do. And he often has consulted with and gotten support from a team to do it.)

In Iron Man 1, Tony has built an incredibly destructive missile that he WANTS to be fired. (Tony seems to be rather bloodthirsty. Remember the Instant Kill Mode in Peter's suit was ready to deploy based not on someone's actions, but on their prison record?) In this case, Tony's never bothered to check how his weapons are being used. Tony assumes that his missiles are only fired on terrorists living alone in caves. He doesn't care that more often, the terrorists are living in cities and villages surrounded by innocent people going about their daily lives (like Gulmira in this very film).

Tony squinted behind his sunglasses and stared at the group of military brass waiting for his demo. He'd already made them wait for hours as he partied, but he'd let them wait a moment more. Because he is Tony Stark.

Then he said, "Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries' Freedom Line. It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology. They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how Dad did it. That's how America does it. And it's worked out pretty well so far. Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain, and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves."

As the missiles launched behind him, he continued, "For your consideration, the Jericho."

He grinned as he heard the missiles explode. He didn't bother to watch, just let the breeze created by the missile ruffle his hair and suit.

He then walked over to open a cooler and pull out a bottle of alocohol. He said, "I'll be throwing one of these in with every purchase of 500 million or more. To peace!"

After Afghanistan and the creation of Iron Man, Tony decided to go to the party Stark industries was throwing. He forced Pepper to dance with him despite her worries at looking like she was sleeping with the boss. As he went to the bar to get them both a drink, that blonde reporter he'd banged got in his face.

The blonde chick said, "Wow. Tony Stark."

Tony turned and replied, "Oh, hey."

The blonde said, "Fancy seeing you here."

Tony tried to guess his one-night-stand's name, which he didn't bother to remember. He said, "Carrie."

The blonde said, "Christine."

Tony repeated, "Carrie."

The blonde corrected him again by saying, "Christine."

Tony pretended he cared as he said, "That's right."

Christine ignored his attitude and said, "You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight. Can I at least get a reaction from you?"

Tony replied, "Panic. I would say panic is my reaction."

Christine looked annoyed as she said, "'Cause I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity."

Tony waved it off and said, "Yeah. They just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you."

Christine looked disgusted as she said, "I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker."

Tony was getting annoyed as he replied, "I was out of town for a couple months, in case you didn't hear."

Christine asked, "Is this what you call accountability? It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?"

She showed him photos of...a crater. PIeces of bodies strewn among the rubble and lying in the streets. Blood everywhere. There was nothing left of the town but a smoking hole.

Tony felt sick. He swallowed and asked, "When were these taken?"

Christine replied, " Yesterday."

She seemed shaken herself as she said, "That's YOUR missile. That's the Jericho. THAT'S what it does. I heard you quoted as saying the U.S. should 'find an excuse to let one of these babies off the chain'. Well they did--YOUR kidnapping. Some of your kidnappers were living in Gulmira. Now there's no Gulmira. There are lots of comments in the administration about miscommunication and rogue officers, but bottom line is that the Jericho got its first combat deployment. And it's definitely made an impression."

Tony was desperate to not be held responsible for this. He said, "I didn't approve any shipment."

Christine said, "Well, your company did."

She paused and continued, "And you designed the Jericho to be a weapon of devastation. Congratulations, you succeeded. They're already calling what's left of Gulmira Starkville."

Tony said nothing as he watched the reporter walk away. He drank both martinis, sat down on a stool, and thought about the man who had saved his life. And the town the man loved that no longer existed, thanks to Tony only caring about designing the weapons, and never caring about how--or against whom--they would be used.

Chapter Text

Wow, Iron Man 3's look back at 29-year-old Tony is a revelation. This is 8 years into being CEO of Stark Industries, and at almost 30 years old Tony Stark shows how much disdain he has for other people and how little he cares about responsibility. The opening flashback has multiple parts, but this snippet looks at how Tony doesn't bother to pause his party mode when asked to give a speech.

Note: In this AU universe, Maya realizes that maybe Tony Stark isn't the one to discuss things with.

-1999, Bern, Switzerland, New Years Eve Party.-

Happy Hogan said to the pretty young woman named Maya, "Half hour till the ball drops."

Tony walked up and said, "Hey, do you want--"

But he was interrupted by another, drunker guest saying, "Tony Stark? Great speech, man!"

Hogan moved the man away from his boss and said, "I got you, pal."

Tony blinked and said, "I gave a speech? How was it?"

In a rare moment of honesty, Hogan said, "Pitiful."

Maya shrugged and added, "Unintelligible."

Tony asked, "Really?"

When Maya nodded, Tony said, "It's my favorite kind, a winning combo."

Maya didn't particularly like what that said about Tony's drunken state--and lack of respect for his hosts and audience. But she went along and asked, "Where are we going?"

Tony smirked and replied, "Uh, to town on each other, probably back in your room. Cause I also wanna see your research."

Maya frowned and said, "Okay, you can see my research, but that's...I'm not gonna show you my 'town'."

Ho Yinsen approached and said, "Mr. Stark--Ho Yinsen."

Tony said, "Oh, I finally met a man called 'Ho'."

Maya frowned as Yinsen looked embarrassed even as he chuckled to play along.

Tony turned to her and said, "Come here."

Ho Yinsen ignored the further disrespect and said, "I would like to introduce you to our guest, Dr. Wu."

As they move toward the doctor, Tony said, "Oh, this guy."

Ho Yinsen indicated the billionaire to Wu, saying, "Mr. Stark."

Tony greeted the surgeon with an offhand, "Hey. You're a heart doctor. She's going to need a cardiologist after I..." Tony turned and tooted his party horn as he started to walk away.

Ho Yinsen looked even more embarrassed as he said, "Perhaps another time."

Maya considered the situation and stood her ground. She said, "I think I'm going to pass."

Ho Yinsen and Dr. Wu looked curious as Tony spun back to her and said, "You're dumping ME?"

Maya looked at the other two men, then Hogan standing by, then at Tony himself. She said, "Yeah, I don't think I want you near my research after all. You couldn't even bother to sober up long enough to give your speech. You accepted the invitation to come here and had months to prepare something. Instead of sharing your knowledge with all of the people who took time out of their New Year's Eve plans to listen to you, you went on a drunken ramble that only made sense to people even more wasted."

She let some of the disgust on her face show as she said, "What I'm working on, it could help a lot of people. It's also dangerous in careless hands. And you don't seem to care about anything except your next drink or next hook-up."

Tony looked annoyed for a moment, then said, "Looks like I dodged a bullet--you're a total buzzkill. Don't worry, I'll find somebody else to bang as the ball drops."

As Tony and Hogan walked away, Maya turned to the two doctors and said, "Thank you for helping me avoid a big mistake. Maybe we can watch the ball drop together?"

Maya would never know, but she set off a chain of events to making this universe a better place. It took her several extra years to perfect Extremis, but she eventually created a stable form that helped accident and war victims around the world. When she and Killian met, Killian hadn't met Tony Stark or been embittered by Tony Stark's mistreatment of him, so his company AIM became a medical technology powerhouse with no criminal ties.

She kept contact with Dr. Wu and Ho Yinsen, and they eventually joined AIM as research consultants as they continued their medical careers. Ho Yinsen's family was not in Gulmira when it was attacked, so he didn't lose his wife and children.

This did not work out so well for Tony, who died from the shrapnel of his own weapons in Afghanistan. Obadiah Stane miscalculated, however, because Tony's death caused scrutiny of all of the Stark Industries holdings. Stane's illegal weapons sales were exposed and he and his accomplices were arrested. Because Tony died without drafting a formal will, a scrawled, dated, and signed note in Tony's desk drawer was taken as his dying declaration and his stated wishes were carried out. The note said, "Ms. Virginia 'Pepper' Potts is a godsend. She deserves everything."

Pepper Potts became a multi-billionaire overnight.

And in a strange twist of fate, there was still an Iron Man fighting the Chitauri with the other Avengers. The death of Howard Stark's son made Anton Vanko realize he needed to do better by his own son. So he urged Ivan to get away and start a new life in America. Ivan and his pet bird landed at the revamped SI, where he convinced Pepper to let him work on his father's original arc reactor project. The Iron Man suit was designed as a search-and-rescue device for extreme conditions rather than a weapon. But it still packed enough punch for Ivan to take on Loki and the Chitauri, and of course carry the nuke into the wormhole.

The world was saved, and would be spared Ultron, the Accords, the Vulture, the Snap, and Mysterio. All because Maya Hansen made a different call.

Chapter Text

Obadiah Stane had it right: Tony CLAIMS he's all about peace, but all he ever does is make weapons of war and destruction. First for whoever would pay for them (like Ulysses Klaue), then for himself. And the pattern continued throughout Tony's entire run in the MCU, and even beyond it.

Peter sat on a park bench and stared at the eyeglasses in his hand. He held the power to spy on anyone, anywhere, and to kill them with a single command.

He shuddered as he remembered how close he came to killing one of his own classmates. When he talked to May about it, she'd been horrified--not only with how close Peter came to dying (and killing), but also how anyone would think a teenager should have life-or-death responsibilities like this.

May was great. She'd listened to him, talked it over with him, hugged him tight, and then sent Peter to wait in the park as she made some phone calls.

Suddenly Pepper Potts-Stark was standing by the bench. She said, "Hi there, Peter."

Peter shifted as he looked around. He could now see Morgan on the swings. She was laughing as she was pushed higher by a silver-haired man. Peter asked, "Did May call you?"

Pepper laughed and said, "She called a couple people. We were all pretty upset. Not with you, but with how you ended up with this dumped in your lap."

Peter looked at her and said, "And you're upset with Tony, aren't you?"

Pepper replied, "Yes, but the worst part is I'm not surprised."

She looked toward where Morgan and the surprisingly energetic old man were now on the jungle gym. Then she said, "I sometimes think back to when this all started. You know, I had worked for Tony for 10 years before Iron Man happened. And I remember how Tony waved away anything he wasn't interested in--he didn't want to be bored with petty details like regulations or his responsibilities as a CEO. He considered himself too smart to waste his time on things like that."

Peter wanted to ask what Pepper was getting at, but he just waited.

Eventually Pepper shifted on the bench to face Peter. She said, "Obadiah Stane was a bad man, but he was right about Tony. Even in his last moments, Obadiah was right. I can still remember him saying 'How ironic, Tony! Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!' And now Tony's done it again."

Peter swallowed and lifted the glasses. He said, "You mean EDITH, right?"

Pepper nodded and said, "Peter, you already know how wrong this weapon is, don't you? No one should be able to spy on people, or send a satellite full of weapons after them."

Peter looked across the park as he said, "For just a moment, I thought we were all dead on that bus. And I thought I was the one who would deserve it, for misusing a power that shouldn't belong to anyone."

He looked over at Pepper and placed the glasses in her hands. He said, "I'm sorry that this caused so much trouble, but I think I'm even sorrier that Tony built it."

Then Peter asked, "What are you going to do with it?"

Pepper didn't try to put on the glasses. Instead she gestured for her daughter and the old man to approach.

Peter was surprised when Pepper immediately handed the glasses over to the old man.

Pepper said, "Peter wants to know our plans for EDITH."

As the old man stepped closer, Peter thought he looked vaguely familiar. Then the man said, "Well Queens, EDITH is a pretty awful weapon. So we're going to get some folks to check it out to make sure no one can steal or hack it. Then we're going to figure out the safest way to deploy it so it's actually pointing at threats from space, not people here on Earth. Or we'll destroy it."

Peter couldn't believe Captain America was alive and OLD. He had a million questions, but he just nodded instead.

Then Steve put his still-strong hand on Peter's shoulder and said, "Thanks for letting your aunt know about this. It can't have been easy, but you did the right thing."

As Peter smiled and made room for Morgan and Steve to sit, Peter thought that it wasn't hard at all to reject Tony Stark's legacy of death.

Chapter Text

This is one of the scenes that make me lose all respect for people who prop Tony. Tony has known for weeks or months about the palladium poisoning. He chooses not to tell anyone or seek help, which is simply more proof he's the dumbest "genius" in the MCU. But that's his call. What's NOT okay is him getting drunk, putting on the Iron Man suit and firing at party-goers. Prop-Tony folks always excuse Tony by saying "he's depressed that he's dying." It's the same as saying if you get bad news it's okay to get drunk and drive your sports car into a crowded parking lot. It's not okay if anyone else does it, and it's not okay that Tony does the equivalent. Even more, this scene shows that Tony doesn't really respect Rhodey. Because Tony decides to beat up the guy who's stood by him all this time and is now simply trying to prevent Tony's stupidity from turning into someone else's tragedy.
Note: I previously looked at this scenario with Rhodey staying instead of flying off with the War Machine suit. This one goes a little differently.

Rhodey hoped no one had been injured or killed while he was putting on the extra Iron Man suit. When he landed in the living room, he said to the crowd, "I’m only gonna say this once. Get out."

Then he frowned and said to Tony, "You don’t deserve to wear one of these. Shut it down!"

Tony ignored Rhodey and addressed the DJ, "Goldstein."

The DJ replied, "Yes, Mr Stark?"

Tony laughed and said, "Give me a phat beat to beat my buddy’s ass to."

Rhodey winced at the disrespect Tony was showing, but he focused on the mission. He grabbed Tony and said, "I told you to shut it down."

Tony shook Rhodey off and ordered, "Now, put that thing back where you found it before someone gets hurt."

Rhodey tossed items at Tony to try to get the drop on him. Instead, Tony threw a set of weights at Rhodey and said, "Sorry, pal, but Iron Man doesn’t have a sidekick."

Rhodey realized that drunk or not, that was probably how Tony saw Rhodey. It didn't say much for their friendship. Rhodey swung and hit the Iron Man armor with a pipe as he said, "Sidekick this. Had enough?"

As the fight continued, causing more and more damage and endangering the crowd, Rhodey realized that Tony was not going to stand down.

Tony fired at Rhodey and snarled, "You want it? Take it!"

Rhodey slowly stood and said, "Put your hand down."

Tony sneered at Rhodey and asked, "You think you got what it takes to wear that suit?"

Even after all of the violence and insults, Rhodey tried one last time to make Tony see reason. He said, "We don’t have to do this, Tony."

Tony ignored him and said, "You wanna be the War Machine, take your shot."

Rhodey said, "Put it down!"

Tony replied, "You gonna take a shot?"

Rhodey repeated, "Put it down!"

Tony shouted, "No!"

Rhodey tried to sound like the cops who should be arresting Iron Man after all of this reckless endangerment. He ordered, "Drop it Tony!"

Tony instead fired at Rhodey and shouted, "Take it!"

As both of them go down, Rhodey realized he wouldn't be able to outfight Iron Man. He just didn't have the experience yet with the equipment. So he took off hoping that Tony would finally calm down.

As Rhodey fled, he realized that he'd seen a side of Tony that Rhodey didn't like to acknowledge. When it came down to it, Tony didn't treat his friends like friends. Whenever they didn't behave the way Tony wanted, they turned into only employees, people to be made fun of and dismissed.

Rhodey would have to think long and hard whether being forced to be Tony's babysitter was worth it.

A signal crackled to life in the suit. A woman's voice said, "This is Agent Natasha Romanov of Shield. You know me as Natalie Rushman, Tony Stark's new hire."

Romanov continued, "We think that this was Stark's roundabout way of giving you a suit."

Rhodey shook his head and said, "I don't care if it was. If Tony wanted me to have a suit, he could have just given me a damn suit, not put people in danger to show off."

Romanov said, "Colonel Rhodes, we'd like you to bring your suit to one of our labs. We need to find a way to neutralize Tony Stark before he actually hurts someone."

Rhodey frowned and replied, "I was heading for Edwards Air Force base."

Romanov replied, "We can give you clearance without going through the control tower. We'll meet you there."

Rhodey considered the right thing to do. He knew that however much HE had valued Tony's friendship, Tony had gone too far this time. Rhodey nodded as he said, "Affirmative."

In this universe, Rhodey's suit wasn't hacked by Vanko, so there was no chaos at the Expo. He also realized that Tony's illness didn't excuse his actions, and that Tony had to face the consequences.

So Tony had a very different meeting with Nick Fury and Natasha in the donut shop, because Rhodey was there as well.

After Nick and Natasha laid out the situation for Tony, Rhodey lifted the device the Shield tech guys had come up with and pointed it at Tony.

Rhodey said, "I'm sorry it came to this, Tony, but you don't leave me any choice."

The pieces of the suit deactivated and detached while leaving the arc reactor alone.

Tony stared in shock as Natasha calmly started picking up the pieces and putting them into a case, which she handed to Rhodey.

As Rhodey took it and turned to leave, he said to Tony, "You'll get this back after you convince me and the others that you're worthy of it."

Rhodey wasn't sure that would ever happen, or if he'd ever want to be Tony's friend again.

But he hoped so.

Chapter Text

I find it interesting that Tony Stark never acknowledged how very wrong he was to involve Peter in the Civil War. How dare he go anywhere near a 14-year-old boy? It's inexcusable. Tony lied to Aunt May about why he wanted to see Peter (and that Peter initiated contact). Then Tony locked himself with Peter in Peter's bedroom, badgered Peter into joining Tony in Germany, and resorted to blackmail when that didn't work. Tony never explained what Peter was doing in Germany or anything about the Accords or the restrictions Peter would be facing if he became subject to them. (Tony also violated the Accords by not making Peter sign them and Tony bringing his personal child soldier across international lines without registration, permission, and approval according the very Accords Tony tried to force on everyone else.) And then of course Tony dumped Peter like trash when Tony was done with him.

What if Peter wasn't just another MCU pawn to prop Tony and was allowed to realize how poorly he'd been treated?

It was two months since the battle in Germany and Peter hadn't heard from Mister Stark. He texted and called every day trying to make a connection with the tech genius or SOMEONE, but there was only silence from Mister Stark and annoyed dismissals from Mister Happy.

Peter sat on his bed and reviewed the raw footage of the video he'd made of his experiences. In the video, Peter said, "No one has actually told me why I’m in Berlin or what I’m doing. Something about Captain America going crazy."

He winced. How dumb had Peter been? Captain America hadn't been crazy at all, just anxious about some danger to the world. PETER is the one who must have been crazy, to agree to go to another country just because Tony Stark said so.

Peter shook his head. That wasn't quite what happened. Peter had said No...until Mister Stark had mentioned talking to Aunt May. Then Peter had done whatever he was told.

He looked back down at his screen at his recording of the last time he saw Mister Stark.

Mister Stark looked over in the car taking Peter home and said, "What are you doing, a little video diary?"

Peter flushed in embarrassment again as on the screen he replied, "Yeah."

Mister Stark said, "It’s all right. I’d probably do the same."

Mister Happy offscreen said, "I told him not to do it. He was filming everything."

Mister Stark shrugged and said, "It’s okay."

Peter frowned as Mister Happy said, "I’m gonna wipe the chip." As if ANYONE had the right to just erase Peter's stuff. His frown deepened as he realized that maybe Mister Stark could actually DO that. And if he could...that was not good.

On the screen, Mister Stark said, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. You know what? We should actually... We should make an alibi video for your aunt anyway. You ready?"

At the time Peter thought how cool it was that Mister Stark was helping Peter out, but now Peter wasn't so sure.

Peter cringed again as he heard Mister Stark say, "Hey, May. How you doing? What are you wearing? Something skimpy, I hope." Nothing could make Mister Stark saying that to Peter's AUNT okay. It was really creepy.

Mister Stark restarted by saying, "Hey, May. My gosh, uh, I wanted to tell you what an incredible job your nephew did this weekend at the Stark internship retreat. Everyone was impressed."

At that moment, Peter felt so proud of himself, that Mister Stark was impressed with him. But after the rest of that conversation and the two months of silence, Peter realized that Mister Stark had just been stringing Peter along. Peter heard himself ask, "I can keep the suit?"

Peter had been so excited when he heard Mister Stark say, "Yes, we were just talking about it." Now he looked across the bed at the suit and felt...nothing.

Well, not exactly nothing. Stupid, a fool, disappointed. On the screen he watched Mister Stark getting ready to ghost out of Peter's life. Mister Stark said, "Do me a favor, though. Happy’s kind of your point guy on this. Don’t stress him out. Don’t do anything stupid. I’ve seen his cardiogram. All right?"

Mister Stark continued with the only "advice" Peter's "mentor" ever gave Peter, "Don’t do anything I would do, and definitely don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. There’s a... There’s a little grey area in there, and that’s where you operate."

Peter felt so much older than the stupid kid in the car as the Peter on the screen asked, "Wait, does that mean that I’m an Avenger?"

Of course Mister Stark blew him off with a No, so Peter asked, "So when’s, when’s our next... When’s our next “retreat,” you know? Like..."

Mister Stark asked, "What, next mission?"

Peter watched his stupider self reply, "Yeah, the mission. The missions."

Then he watched the beginning of the blow off as Mister Stark said, "We’ll call you."

Stupid Peter asked, "Do you have my numbers?"

Peter really should have known something was up when Mister Stark said, "No, I mean, we’ll call you. Like, someone will call you."

Peter stopped the replay there. He could remember the awkward moment when he thought he was getting a hug and Mister Stark was just pushing Peter out the door. And out of Mister Stark's life. Because NO ONE had called. Not Mister Happy or anyone else from Mister Stark's team. And definitely not Mister Stark himself. It had taken Peter two months to figure out that he'd been used by Mister Stark and then dumped when Mister Stark no longer needed him.

He sighed and leaned back. Things would have been so different if Captain America had asked for Peter's help. He didn't think Captain America would have hidden what was going on to get Peter on his side, and he would never have just dumped Peter back on his doorstep without even a Thank You. Then again, Peter couldn't imagine Captain America dragging a kid into a superhero fight. Cap just didn't seem the type...because Cap was a hero and a good guy. It was only now that Peter realized that maybe Mister Stark...wasn't.

But what should Peter do about it? He looked over again at the suit, then around his room. It had all started here, because Peter didn't want Aunt May to know about Spider-Man. Peter thought maybe that was his first mistake, trusting Mister Stark but not Aunt May. Aunt May always wanted the best for Peter, while Mister Stark only wanted to use Peter.

Peter nodded to himself and stood up. He put the screen down and walked out of his bedroom, calling, "May? You got a minute? There's something I gotta tell you."

Tony Stark looked up from his designs when Happy walked into the room. Happy didn't look happy. Happy was carrying a package that he set down on the lab table. Happy said, "Sorry Boss."

Tony frowned but opened the package. Inside lay the spider suit, along with a note that said, "I would NEVER have allowed you to set one foot into my home if I'd known you were the kind of man to exploit a child, then abandon him. NEVER come near or contact Peter again, or you'll find out exactly what should happen to pieces of crap like you."

The letter wasn't signed and there was no return address, but Tony could practically feel May Parker's glare all the way from Queens.

As Tony opened a drawer to shove the suit and package (and letter he would never look at again) inside, Tony realized that at least this time, a young man didn't need to die for Tony to be forced to face the wrongs he had done.

Maybe this time Tony would actually listen and look at himself and his own actions instead of blaming everyone else around him.

But of course he didn't. Tony just shrugged and went back to his equations.

Chapter Text

I've read that for Civil War, the Russos cut Team Cap's scenes and dialogue (especially where they explained how wrong the Accords were) until the test audiences split 50-50 on Team Cap or Team Iron Man. So basically they had to remove a ton of evidence that Tony was completely wrong and a hypocrite in every scene of the film to fool people into supporting him. What if Team Cap were able to point out what a hypocrite Tony was and how Vision was mistaken?

Things were tense as Sam and Rhodey led the discussion. Only Steve sat quietly reading the Accords they'd been handed three days before ratification.

Rhodey said, "Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have."

Sam scoffed and replied, "So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?"

Rhodey shook his head and said, "A 117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, 'No, that's cool. We got it'."

Sam asked, "How long are you going to play both sides?"

Vision straightened and said, "I have an equation."

Sam commented, "Oh, this will clear it up."

Vision said, "In the 8 years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate."

Steve frowned and asked, "Are you saying it's our fault?"

Vision replied, "I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict...breeds catastrophe. Oversight...oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."

Rhodey said, "Boom."

Steve shook his head and said, "Vision, the Accords are not oversight. The Accords are control."

He pointed at the book in his lap and said, "If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own."

Tony said, "If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty."

Wanda said, "You're saying they'll come for me."

Vision said, "We would protect you."

Steve leaned forward and said, "Vision, don't you see how wrong that threat is? It's not oversight, it's extortion. And absolute control."

Steve looked directly at Tony and said, "I can't believe you're trying to get us to sign this. When I came out of the ice, I saw the recordings of the Senate inquiry about Iron Man."

He looked up and said, "Friday, please show us the coverage, starting from Stern asking about weapons."

Everyone watched as Senator Stern appeared and asked the Tony Stark lounging on the screen, "Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?"

On the screen, Tony replied, "I do not."

Stern asked, "You do not?"

Tony confirmed, "I do not. Well, it depends on how you define the word weapon."

Stern said, "The Iron Man weapon."

Tony said, "My device does not fit that description."

Stern asked, "Well...How would you describe it?"

Tony snarked, "I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Senator."

Stern ignored him and contined, "As?"

Tony answered, "It’s a high-tech prosthesis. That is...That is...That’s actually the most apt description I can make of it."

Stern disagreed by saying, "It’s a weapon. It’s a weapon, Mr Stark."

Tony deflected by saying, "Please, if your priority was actually the well-being of the American citizen---"

Stern interrupted by saying, "My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America."

Tony shook his head and said, "Well, you can forget it. I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending or what state you’re in. You can’t have it."

Steve said, "That's enough, Friday, thank you."

As everyone pondered what they saw and heard, Steve said, "Tony, back then you claimed that turning over the Iron Man SUIT to the government was indentured servitude or prostitution. Now you want us to turn OURSELVES over to the government. So are you now going to turn over the Iron Man suit if that's what the panel demands? And are you going to try and explain how the government demanding we give up our right to choose is suddenly NOT indentured servitude or forced prostitution?"

Tony turned his back on them and said nothing.

Vision looked troubled as he said, "I did not factor this data into my equation. I do not...I do not think I can support the Accords."

Sam looked at Rhodey and said, "That senator guy was Hydra and no one knew it. You really going to tell me that some guys on a panel should get to tell us to sit down and NOT save the world?"

Rhodey looked at the image frozen on the screen and then shook his head.

Natasha nodded and then stood up. She said, "At first I thought we should agree, to keep one hand on the wheel. But that's not the right play."

She gestured at the screen and said, "We can use this - Hydra being everywhere, the indentured servitude angle - and make our case to the public why NONE of the Avengers will be signing."

Everyone looked at Tony as Natasha asked, "Am I right, Tony? None of us will be signing?"

Tony slowly turned around and looked at his younger self on the screen. Then he nodded.

Suddenly Steve's phone vibrated. He looked at the screen and saw the message about Peggy Carter's death.

He couldn't hold in his grief - he needed to be alone. He got up, dropped the copy of the Accords on the table, and left, saying, "I have to go."

The others gathered around as Natasha picked up the Accords and said, "We only have three days before ratification - let's get to work."

Chapter Text

This is the film that when Tony sees a woman standing by a vehicle, he asks if she comes with the car.

Looking back at Tony's behavior in the Iron Man films, it's clear that he doesn't really respect women. But I also realized he abuses his power pretty consistently. He mistreats everyone, even his friends, and expects everyone to indulge him, no matter how stupid his ideas. Tony tries to force himself on Pepper in this film, and pretty much treats Natalie/Natasha as something for him to ogle. Pepper has to remind him to behave by mentioning LAWSUITS, because Tony does not behave properly without some kind of tangible benefit to himself. It really makes me wonder if all those Maxim models he mentioned sleeping with in Iron Man 1 WANTED to be another notch on his belt, or if they did it because they were EXPECTED TO.

Pepper walked into the gym and said, "The notary’s here! Can you please come sign the transfer paperwork?"

Tony ignored her request and said, "I’m on happy time."

Then he hit Happy in the face with his elbow as he said, "Sorry."

Happy frowned and asked, "What the hell was that?"

Tony replied, "It’s called mixed martial arts. It’s been around for three weeks."

Happy replied, "It’s called dirty boxing, there’s nothing new about it."

Both men focused on the red-headed woman who walked in.

Pepper rolled her eyes and focused on getting the job done. She said, "I promise this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company."

She appreciated that at least the notary was behaving professionally as the woman said, "I need you to initial each box."

Pepper watched Happy very lightly tap Tony on the back of the head as Happy said, "Lesson one. Never take your eye off--"

She winced as Tony kicked Happy into a corner of the ring.

Tony approached the edge of the ring and said, "That’s it. I’m done. What’s your name, lady?"

The notary looked unimpressed as she replied, "Rushman. Natalie Rushman."

Tony eyed Rushman again as he said, "Front and center. Come into the church."

Pepper couldn't believe Tony was asking the woman to get into a boxing ring. She said, "No. You’re seriously not gonna ask--"

Tony said, "If it pleases the court, which it does."

Pepper frowned as Rushman turned to her and said, "It’s no problem."

Pepper felt embarrassment wash over her as she explained, "I’m sorry. He’s very eccentric."

Pepper went to find a seat as Tony talked to Happy.

Tony asked, "Can you give her a lesson?"

Pepper winced as Happy replied, "No problem."

She knew that Happy wasn't aware of it, but Tony was setting up his longtime friend to look like a fool. Again.

Tony stepped out of the ring, sat next to Pepper, and asked, "Who is she?"

Pepper replied, "She is from Legal. And she is potentially a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that."

She knew she had to make it about what Tony would lose. She'd long given up expecting him to be respectful of women simply because it was the right thing to do. She shook her head and wondered again just what she saw in Tony Stark.

Tony didn't help matters when he said, "I need a new assistant, Boss."

Pepper replied, "Yes, and I’ve got three excellent potential candidates. They’re lined up and ready to meet you."

Tony said, "I don’t have time to meet. I need someone now. I feel like it’s her."

Pepper gritted her teeth and answered, "No, it’s not."

She could see Rushman and Happy talking as Tony suddenly asked Rushman, "How do I spell your name, Natalie?"

Rushman replied, "R-U-S-H-M-A-N."

Pepper asked, "What, are you going to Google her now?"

Tony smirked and said, "I thought I was ogling her."

He brought up her file and said, "Wow. Very, very impressive individual."

Pepper frowned and said, "You’re so predictable, you know that?"

Tony ignored the comment and said, "She’s fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin. Who speaks Latin?"

Pepper replied, "No one speaks Latin. It’s a dead language. You can read Latin or you can write Latin, but you can’t speak Latin."

The moment Pepper saw the lingerie shot of Rushman on the computer, she knew that Tony would force Stark Industries to hire Rushman to be his assistant, regardless of the time Pepper had wasted finding actual suitable candidates.

Her suspicion was confirmed when Tony said, "Did you model in Tokyo? Because she modeled in Tokyo."

Then he continued, "I need her. She’s got everything that I need."

Pepper's concerns about Happy were confirmed when Rushman casually flipped him in the ring. He looked actually in pain.

Tony didn't seem to care as he said, "That’s what I’m talking about."

Pepper ignored the further conversation between Rushman and Tony, focusing instead on the paperwork FINALLY getting done. She asked, "So, how are we doing?"

Tony replied, "Great. Just wrapping up here. Hey. You’re the boss."

Pepper wished that were really true when it came to Tony's inappropriate behavior with employees.

As Rushman left, Tony eyed her assets and said, "I want one."

Pepper WANTED Tony to give a lecture on respecting people who were in your employ and the power you held over them, but she knew it would be useless. She replied, "No."

Unfortunately, she knew that would be useless too.

After all of the excitement ended, Pepper found herself in one of the kitchens, sipping a very expensive wine with Coulson and Rush--Romanov.

Pepper asked, "So you were really here to evaluate Tony?"

Coulson nodded and said, "Our boss wanted a look at how Tony behaved away from the cameras and the crowds."

Pepper tilted her head and asked, "And what was the verdict?"

Romanov replied, "I told the truth. Stark exhibits compulsive behavior with self-destructive tendencies, along with textbook narcissism."

She shrugged and continued, "We could really use Iron Man. But Tony Stark? Not recommended."

Pepper sighed and said, "I can't say I disagree - with any of it."

Coulson said, "We'll be throwing him a bone. Consulting or something."

Pepper nodded and said, "I appreciate it. If Tony gets upset, he's likely to take it out on the staff, and they've got enough trouble dealing with him on a good day."

He nodded and raised his glass. Then Coulson said, "To you, for continuing to put up with Stark."

Rushman smirked and said, "And to us, for being able to get away from him."

They all laughed, clinked glasses, and drank.

Chapter Text

It's interesting to me that so many prop-Tony writers claim that Tony had a redemption arc and the most character development. Because to me, Tony seemed on a constant loop: Do whatever he wants without thinking, make a mess that causes other people suffering, then go back to his privileged life. He started out making WMDs with no concern who they would kill, and with EDITH he ended the same way. The funny thing is, Tony himself acknowledges it in Iron Man 2, and he never changed. TONY wanted to use the scepter without telling the team. Tony retires again and again. He does NOTHING to help the world between Civil War and Infinity War, or between Infinity War and Endgame. And he will only bring back the Snapped on terms that leave millions or billions dead as collateral damage.

Note: In Spider-Man: Far From Home, one of the characters points out that phones have had no updates in 5 years.

Happy smiled as he paid for another graffiti mural of Tony Stark. He almost had Europe completely covered. He would use his inheritance to plaster the world with shrines to his former boss. It was the least he could do for Morgan.

His smile faded as he saw another "Eat the Rich" article pop up on his Tony Stark feed, this time about how if the survivors of the Snap had donated even 1% of their multi-billions, the last 5 years would have been very different. Tony was called out for his stinginess, along with how he didn't even bother to look at ways of improving consumer technology in the 5 years he wasn't being Iron Man or anything else when he was living his luxury lifestyle in seclusion.

Happy switched back to his page of Tony Stark clips, looking for something other than "I am Iron Man" to have plastered on the next mural. He frowned as he listened to one after the other. None of them seemed particularly inspirational. And Happy cringed at hearing again how Tony spoke to people in general and even people he was supposed to actually like.

He had to admit some of the comments Tony made to Happy himself weren't all that nice sometimes, either.

As Morgan walked in, the next clip started running. Tony's voice said, "My bond is with the people. And I will serve this great nation at the pleasure of myself. If there’s one thing I’ve proven it’s that you can count on me to pleasure myself."

Morgan stopped and her head tilted as she thought. Happy said quietly to Friday, "Block Morgan from ever accessing that clip."

He also deleted the page of clips from his phone. Happy smiled at Morgan and asked, "What's up?"

Morgan slowly approached and asked, "Was that my daddy?"

Happy said, "Nah, kid, it was just something from a movie. I didn't like it so I deleted it."

Morgan frowned and said, "That man REALLY sounded like him...but that man did NOT sound like a hero."

She paused and then asked, "My daddy WAS a hero, right?"

Happy thought about the quote he just heard, and all of the other things he could recall. Maybe this last round of murals were enough. He pasted a smile on his face and said, "Sure, kid."

He hoped Morgan wouldn't learn just how particular Tony was about his "heroic efforts" until she was old enough to understand that even if YOU loved someone 3000, that didn't mean the rest of the world would, too.

Chapter Text

I don't understand how people hand-wave away how awful Tony is to people for no reason at all. Look at Endgame. Scott is legitimately upset about Tony's screw-up but doesn't call Tony names. No, TONY is the one who's a jackass to Scott. No one was allowed to call out Tony for his crap, but what if someone was allowed to acknowledge the insult?

Note: Pissant is an insult, specifically "a pejorative noun or adjective, indicating insignificance".

Steve turned to see Tony and Scott sitting in a bombed-out car.

Tony said, "Sorry, buddy. We got a problem."

Steve wanted to point out that he and Tony were not buddies and never really had been, but keeping the peace was part of the mission.

Scott scoffed and said, "Huh. Yeah, we do." He got out of the car to pace as Steve learned that they'd lost the Tesseract.

Steve frowned and asked, "Well, what are we gonna do now?"

Tony said, "You know what? Give me a break, Steve. I just got hit in the head with the Hulk."

Steve also didn't point out that this was only the second time in his memory that Tony bothered to call Steve by his actual name. He was trying to stay strong after realizing they may have lost their only chance to bring back the Snapped.

Scott seemed to be shaking as he said to Tony, "You said that we had one shot. This–this was our shot. We shot it. It's shot. Six stones or nothing. Six stones or nothing-–"

Tony seemed to shrug off Scott's upset as Tony said, "You're repeating yourself, you know that? You're repeating yourself."

Scott replied, "You're repeating yourself. You're repeating yourself. You know–-No."

Tony said, "Dude, come on."

Steve got the impression that Tony wanted Scott to just get over it. Steve considered pointing out that at least Scott didn't shoot unarmed people when he was upset, but still stayed silent.

Scott didn't get over it. He said, "You never wanted a time heist, you were never on board with the time heist–-"

Tony said, "I dropped the ball."

Steve thought that seemed to be the understatement of the multi-verse.

Scott said, "You ruined the time heist."

Tony asked, "Is that what I did?"

Scott said, "Yeah!"

Steve had a flashback to Tony laughing off the creation of Ultron. It was not a good memory. But he stayed on mission by asking, "Are there any other options with the Tesseract?"

Scott shook his head and answered, "No, no, no. There's no other options. There's no do-overs. We're not going anywhere else. We have one particle left. Each. That's it, all right? We use that–Bye, bye. You're not going home."

Steve could only reply, "Yeah, well if we don't try, then no one else is going home, either."

Tony said, "I got it. There's another way. To retake the Tesseract and acquire new particles. We'll stroll down memory lane. Military installation, Garden State."

Steve asked Tony, "When were they both there?"

Tony replied, "They were there at a–I've a vaguely exact idea."

Steve asked, "How vague?"

Scott asked, "What are you talking about? Where are we going?"

Ignoring Scott, Tony said, "I know for a fact they were there–"

Scott asked, "Who's they? What are we doing?"

Tony ignored Scott again and said, "And I know how I know."

Steve wished Tony would give the actual details, but at this point was used to the fact that Tony rarely treated his teammates as actual colleagues.

Scott asked for a third time, "Guys, what's up? What is it?"

Tony finally answered Scott, "Well, it looks like we're improvising."

Scott immediately snapped back into mission mode and said, "Right. What are we improvising?"

Tony gave the stone they had to Scott and said, "Scott, get this back to the compound."

Tony said to Steve, "Suit up."

Scott asked, "What's in New Jersey?"

Tony ignored Scott again and started giving coordinates. He said, "0-4,"

Steve had to focus on locking the new target in, because they had only one chance. He repeated, "0-4–"

Tony said, "Uhh, 0-7."

Steve repeated, "0-7."

Scott said, "Excuse me..."

Tony ignored Scott and said, "1-9-7-0."

Steve asked, "Are you sure?"

Scott said, "Cap. Captain. Steve, sorry, America. Rogers. Look, if you do this, and this doesn't work, you're not coming back."

Before Steve could reply, Tony said, "Thanks for the pep talk, pissant."

Then Tony turned to Steve and asked, "Do you trust me?"

Steve paused. He weighed the importance of the mission against what he really wanted to say. Finally he took a deep breath and turned to Scott. Steve said, "Scott, Tony and I have to do this. Two of us, because we need to get the Tesseract and get more Pym particles. But it doesn't sit right with me that Tony called you a pissant. That's what people used to call me, back in the day. Small and unimportant."

He put a hand on Scott's shoulder and continued, "But you're not unimportant. You're the one who brought us this chance to rescue the Snapped. Without you, we'd have nothing. So thank you. And please know that we have to take this chance, because it's the only chance we have left."

Scott swallowed and nodded. He clapped his hand on Steve's arm and squeezed.

Steve turned back to Tony. He wanted to say, "I trust you know these coordinates," but knew there was still a chance Tony would leave in a huff. So instead Steve offered a hand to Tony and answered, "I do."

Chapter Text

This isn't as much about the line of dialogue, it's Tony's reaction to it. Steve hears something familiar (probably for the first time since he came out of the ice just two weeks ago), and perks up. What does Tony do? Rolls his eyes with a disgusted look. As someone online pointed out, that reaction is the essence of Tony Stark. There's no reason for it other than Tony's a jackass.

Clip

What if someone noticed?

Bruce wasn't sure how to react to Tony Stark's greeting.

Stark said, "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Bruce winced at the remark. He couldn't help but compare it to Captain Rogers' respectful greeting just a few hours before. But he looked away and answered, "Thanks."

He was relieved when Nick Fury started speaking to Stark, saying, "Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him."

Captain Rogers spoke from where he sat at the conference table. He said, "Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

Maybe it was the bright blue of the Captain America uniform, but Bruce was struck by how young Captain Rogers was. How awful for this soldier to have sacrificed his life and awakened in a world he didn't recognize. Alone in a strange place and time.

After the last few years of isolation, Bruce knew a little of what that felt like.

Fury answered Rogers, "I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

Bruce noticed Rogers perk up at Fury's statement, even as Thor said, "Monkeys? I do not understand."

The captain said, "I do! I understood that reference."

Bruce frowned as he watched Stark roll his eyes at the young soldier. Stark apparently thought the small talk was a waste of time. Or maybe Stark just had as little sympathy for the captain as Stark did for Bruce himself.

He suddenly felt a lot less enthusiastic about being stuck in a lab with the billionaire.

Stark said, "Shall we play, doctor?"

Bruce answered, "Let's play some."

But as they stepped out of the command center into a darkened hallway, Bruce grabbed Stark and shoved him against the wall. As he leaned close, he felt the green-tinged rage flicker at the edges of his vision. He said, "You better watch yourself, Stark."

Stark held very still as he said, "What the hell, green goblin?"

Bruce practically growled as he said, "It's been two minutes and I'm already tired of your crap. Show some respect--to me, to Rogers, to everybody else who has the guts to deal with whatever the hell Loki's plan is. Or just shut the hell up."

As he pushed off and turned to head to the lab, Bruce walked a little taller.

Putting Stark in his place made a big difference in this universe. Stark actually kept his mouth shut, so the scepter didn't get a chance to spark arguments among them. Loki's plan to use the Hulk as a distraction failed, so Loki remained in his cell and Barton and the others on the helicopter were freed from the scepter's control. Clint warned them of the dangers to New York.

With no delays in reaching Stark Tower, they were able to prevent the portal from being opened. And Bruce, having realized so early just how much of jerk Stark could be, had no interest in helping him use Loki's scepter to upload Ultron. That put this universe and his own life on a much smoother--and happier--path.

Chapter Text

It's kind of awful how no one is ever allowed to call Tony out on his crap behavior. Prop-Tony fics pretend the Avengers were SO MEAN to poor baby Tony in Age of Ultron, but what really happened were a few remarks and Thor lifting Tony for a few seconds. (NOT choking Tony, though. He could breathe fine.) Nick Fury had one moment when he could have pointed out how horrible Tony's choices were, but the MCU wouldn't give him the chance. What could Nick have said?

Note: This scene in the film reinforces that Tony was ALWAYS going to use the scepter to upload Ultron. And if you're planning to blame it on Wanda, I suggest you read this first.

Tony came out to the barn and looked at Barton's tractor. He said, "Hello, Deere. Tell me everything. What ails you?"

Nick Fury said, "Do me a favor. Try not to bring it to life."

Tony smirked and said, "Ah, Mrs. Barton, you little minx. I get it, Maria Hill called you, right? Was she ever not working for you?"

Fury ignored the question and said, "Artificial intelligence. You never even hesitated."

Tony blew him off by saying, "Look, it's been a really long day, like, Eugene O'Neill long, so how's about we skip to the part where you're useful?"

Fury replied, "Look me in the eye and tell me you're going to shut him down."

Tony said instead, "You're not the director of me."

Fury shrugged and said, "I'm not the director of anybody. I'm just an old man, who cares very much about you."

Tony replied, "And I'm the man who killed the Avengers. I saw it. I didn't tell the team, how could I? I saw them all dead, Nick. I felt it. The whole world, too. It's because of me. I wasn't ready. I didn't do all I could."

Fury pointed out, "The Maximoff girl, she's working you, Stark. Playing on your fear."

Tony insisted, "I wasn't tricked, I was shown. It wasn't a nightmare, it was my legacy. The end of the path I started us on."

Fury said, "You've come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony. War isn't one of them."

Tony said, "I watched my friends die. You'd think that'd be as bad as it gets, right? Nope. Wasn't the worst part."

Fury nodded and said, "The worst part is that you didn't."

Then he stood, walked right up to Tony, and said, "I care about you Tony, and you've had a rough day. But that doesn't change the fact that Ultron being out in the world is YOUR GODDAMN FAULT. YOU chose to keep everything from the team. YOU decided to use Loki's scepter to upload Ultron with NO safeguards, despite actual experiencing how messed up that piece of magic-tech-whatever made people. And YOUR program decided the world would be better as a ball of dust. "

Fury shook his head and continued, "I've seen some stupid-ass plans in my time, but yours takes all the idiot prizes. You know why? Because you actually thought you knew better than everybody. Even after 25 goddamn YEARS of stupid choices. So you better do something about all of the damage you are STILL causing."

Tony crossed his arms and said, "What makes you think I'm going to help you after that little rant?"

Fury turned away and said, "You're 45 years old, Tony. Grow the hell up."

Chapter Text

Wow, talk about not recognizing irony. Tony himself doesn't notice--or admit--that the person whose priorities are warped is the man who put unloading his guilt and getting back with his girlfriend above the well-being and civil rights of his teammates. What if someone had time to point that out?

Tony landed and snapped up his faceplate. He said, "Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird? Definitely weird."

Steve didn't appreciate the flippant remark when the world was in danger, but he kept his calm and said, "Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this."

Prince--now King--T'Challa stepped up and said, "Captain."

Steve nodded toward the Wakandan and replied, "Your Highness."

Tony said, "Anyway... Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?"

Steve said, "You're after the wrong guy."

Tony scoffed and said, "Your judgement is askew."

Steve cut Tony off by saying, "Really?"

He knew he had to delay Tony's team until the right moment, so Steve continued, "Really, I'm curious why you of all people say that, Tony. Let's look at my choices the last few days. I get handed a document that says the Avengers can't do a single thing to help anyone unless a bunch of bureaucrats give the okay first. Then I read a little further and that same document says that anyone who is enhanced gets registered and tracked, denied their basic rights, and locked up for an unlimited time without due process. I'm told that my choices are sign or retire. So I retire."

Steve frowned and said, "Then I find out that based on one blurry photo, a kill squad is sent after a POW who was tortured by Hydra for 70 years. And when I save that man from illegal execution..."

Steve glared at T'Challa, hoping the royal felt some sense of wrongdoing for his misguided attempts at revenge. He didn't acknowledge Vision floating closer, glad the android had moved away from the hangars that his own team were scouting.

Then Steve continued, "I see that POW denied legal representation. And I further see that the governments the Accords put in charge of all decisions have been easily infiltrated by someone who says he wants to see an empire fall."

Steve shook his head and said, "I also find out that this same criminal is on his way to set in motion a plan that could jeopardize the world. So I organize a team to stop that criminal and keep the world safe before it's too late."

He looked at Tony and asked, "So tell me, where and why do you think my judgement is askew? Because as far as I can tell, Tony, you're the one who's choosing to betray his friends and every enhanced being on the planet, just to get back with his girlfriend and not feel so guilty the next time he screws up and makes a Sokovia-sized mess."

Silence reigned as everyone looked at Tony for his answer.

Tony's mouth opened and closed a couple times like he wanted to say something but couldn't figure out what.

T'Challa took another step forward and removed his mask. He said, "Tell me more about this criminal."

Suddenly Clint's voice in Steve's ear told him they were ready to go. Because Steve had kept the focus on himself, the others were able to get aboard the quinjet and get it ready to launch without interference.

Steve said to group in front of him, "I'll be glad to fill you all in on the way, but we've got to get moving. There are five Winter Soldiers asleep in a Hydra base, and the guy who triggered Bucky is on his way to wake them up and unleash them on the world."

He and Scott had escape routes and contingency plans in place, but Steve hoped it wouldn't come to a fight.

T'Challa nodded and said, "I do not know what to believe--I will accompany you until I determine the truth of this matter."

Tony suddenly flipped up a hand to point a repulsor at both Steve and T'Challa. Tony said, "Nobody's going anywhere except into a cell."

Natasha also moved to Steve's side and said, "Stand down, Tony. We played this wrong."

Suddenly there was a yell from a few yards away. As everyone turned to look at some person dressed in red and blue dodging Redwing, the quinjet roared overhead.

Steve, T'Challa, and Natasha ran toward the open hatch. As Steve leapt for the opening, he saw red wreathe T'Challa and Natasha as Wanda brought the other two aboard.

Redwing darted in just the hatch slammed shut. Clint turned on the stealth mode and launched into the sky.

Everyone stood between T'Challa and Bucky as Scott leapt onto Steve's shoulder and said, "I think I'll stay in mini-mode for the moment, Cap. It's a little crowded in here."

Steve set down the shield, spread his hands, and said to T'Challa, "Bucky did not kill your father. I'll tell you everything I know."

But first he looked at Natasha and said, "Thanks for the support."

Natasha shrugged and said, "When you laid it out like that, it was an easy judgement call."

Zemo never stood a chance against this team. Neither did the Sokovia Accords, or Thanos and the Black Order. A brighter future was achieved.

Chapter Text

Whenever a prop-Tony writer claims that Tony's jackass personality is just a front for his deeply wounded soul, or that Tony was awful but he changed, I have to wonder what makes them think that. Because there's no evidence in the films. Here's Tony disrespecting Peter (who Tony dumps after he's done using Peter), May (who gets lied to AGAIN), and Happy, who is incredibly loyal to Tony. Happy didn't do right by Peter, but Happy doesn't deserve to be mocked BY Tony for doing jobs FOR Tony. Plus, the video clearly shows Tony was perfectly healthy as soon as he left Siberia, because I doubt Happy hung around Germany after the airport fight.

Happy kept his eyes on the road as he drove through the city. He heard rustling from the backseat, then Tony saying, "What are you doing, a little video diary?"

The kid replied, "Yeah, that's right."

Tony said, "I'd do the same thing."

Happy immediately said, "I told him not to. He was filming. I'm gonna wipe the chip."

Happy HATED his new job of babysitting. The kid was such a KID.

Tony replied, "Hey hey hey, you know what? We should make an alibi video for your aunt anyway. You ready?"

The kid said, "An alibi? Sure Okay."

Tony shifted and said, "We rolling? Get in the frame."

Then Tony got that smarmy tone that made Happy feel sorry for Pepper. Tony said, "Hey, May. How you doing? What are you wearing? Something skimpy, I hope." Then Tony laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh.

Then Tony said, "Peter, that's inappropriate. You can edit it."

Tony cleared his throat and said, "Three, two, one, Hey, May. My gosh, uh, I just wanted to tell you what an incredible job your nephew did...this weekend at the Stark internship retreat. Everyone was impressed."

A sudden honk and need to swerve had Happy shouting, "Come on, it's a freaking merge. I'm sorry."

Tony replied, "This is because you're not on Queens Boulevard."

Before Happy could reply, Tony continued, "See, Happy is hoping to get bumped to asset management. He was forehead of security, before that he was a driver."

Happy felt his face burn as he turned toward Tony and said, "That was a private conversation. I don't like joking about this. It was hard to talk about that."

Tony ignored Happy and said, "No seriously, was he snoring a bunch?"

Happy jerked the car over to the curb and said, "All right here we go, end of the line."

Tony laughed and said, "Can you give us a moment?"

Happy looked at Tony and asked, "You want me to leave the car?"

Tony ordered, "Grab Peter's case out of the trunk."

Happy did as he was told. When the kid was gone, Tony told Happy that the "asset" he would be managing for Tony was the kid.

Happy thought about how he had been with Tony from the beginning. Happy THOUGHT that he and Tony were friends, after so many years.

But he couldn't help remember how Tony had mocked Happy to this kid. And now when Happy thought about it, most of Tony's conversations to and about Happy went the same way.

Happy COULD have taken those hard feelings out on the kid. But instead he felt sorry for Peter, who kept calling and contacting Happy. It was so obvious the kid worshipped Tony.

So Happy stopped ignoring the kid. Instead he told Peter the truth: That Happy reported everything to Tony. Tony didn't bother to respond, either directly or through Happy.

Then Happy began to gently point out the right and wrong way of dealing with people. And how you needed to stand up for yourself.

He began to learn those lessons, too. So when he decided to go work for a boss and company that actually respected their employees, he made sure to give the kid his new number.

By then, Peter had learned that a fancy car or cool suit didn't matter as much as being there when someone needed you. So it was easy for Peter to make a different choice when the Black Order came. He convinced Dr. Strange not to trust Tony or Tony's crazy plan. It turned out much better for everyone.

Except for Tony, whose new chauffeur recorded Tony doing some pretty shady things and sold the footage to TMZ.

Chapter Text

I've touched on the irony of this line before, but this whole conversation is really classic Tony: Privileged, arrogant, and really unaware of irony.

Tony strutted into the room after turning on the Tower's arc reactor.

Jarvis said, "Sir, Agent Coulson of Shield is on the line."

Tony had no interest, so he said, "I'm not in. I'm actually out."

Jarvis said, "Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."

Tony still wasn't interested, so he said, "Close the line Jarvis. I got a date."

Pepper decided to stay out of it. She said, "Levels are holding steady...I think."

Tony shrugged and said, "Of course they are, I was directly involved. Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?"

Pepper knew it was easier to just stroke Tony's ego, so she said, "Well, I really wouldn't know now, would I?"

Tony replied, "What do you mean? All this came from you."

Pepper was too smart to fall for that one. She gestured at the arc reactor and said, "No. All this came from that."

Tony said, "Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself...twelve percent of the credit."

At first Pepper thought Tony was going to show some maturity. But then he undermined her accomplishment to prop himself. She asked, "Twelve percent?"

Tony dug the hole deeper by saying, "An argument can be made for fifteen."

Pepper repeated, "Twelve percent? For my baby?"

Tony shrugged and said, "Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you."

Pepper looked at him.

Tony said, "My private elevator..."

Pepper replied, "You mean OUR elevator?"

Tony continued, "...was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?"

As Pepper poured herself and Tony a glass of champagne she replied, "Not gonna be that subtle."

Tony said, "I'll tell you what. Next building's gonna say 'Potts' on the tower."

Pepper knew she deserved more than some flashy show that meant nothing, so she said, "On the lease."

Tony didn't confirm Pepper's statement. Instead he said, "Call your mom, can you bunk over?"

Jarvis interrupted by saying, "Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten."

Tony didn't acknowledge that his systems had been breached as Phil Coulson's voice came over the phone.

Phil said, "Stark, we need to talk."

Tony picked up his phone and said, "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message."

Phil ignored Tony's "humor." He said, "This is urgent."

Tony still couldn't be bothered. He said, "Then leave it urgently."

Phil walked out of the elevator.

Tony said to Pepper, "Security breach. That's on you."

Pepper realized she'd have to have someone else run system security, because clearly Tony wasn't up to the job.

Phil said, "Mr. Stark."

Pepper smiled and said, "Phil! Come in."

Tony apparently didn't even bother to get to know the people who saved his life. He said, "Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent."

Pepper ignored him and said to Phil, "Come on in, we're celebrating."

Tony still was focused on himself. He said, "Which is why he can't stay."

Phil offered a file to Tony and said, "We need you to look this over, soon as possible."

Tony ignored Phil and the file and said, "I don't like being handed things."

Pepper was impressed that she and Phil kept straight faces at that irony spoken by Tony, the man who was handed a successful company he never bothered to work on for decades.

She reached for the file and offered a glass of champagne as she said, "That's alright, because I love to be handed things. So, let's trade."

She took the file and gave it to Tony, then took her glass of champagne back from Phil. She said, "Thank you."

Tony still didn't get how important this was. He said, "Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday."

Phil replied, "This isn't a consultation."

Pepper asked, "Is this about The Avengers? Which I...I know nothing about."

Tony said, "The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify."

Pepper was well aware of that, but she said, "I didn't know that either."

Tony sulked and said, "Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others."

Pepper thought it was funny that Tony was so clueless. She said, "That I did know."

Phil said, "This isn't about personality profiles anymore."

Tony replied, "Whatever. Miss Potts, got a minute?"

Pepper walked over.

Tony said, "You know, I thought we were having a moment."

Pepper couldn't believe Tony was STILL focused on himself. She replied, "I was having twelve percent of a moment. This seems serious, Phil's pretty shaken."

Tony said, "How did you notice? Why is he Phil?"

Pepper wanted to say "Because I'm not a self-centered jerk," but instead looked at the data in Phil's file. She asked, "What is all of this?"

Tony didn't really answer as they looked at the images and information. He said, "This is, uh..."

Pepper at least realized how important this was. She said, "I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight."

Tony insisted, "Tomorrow."

Instead of rolling her eyes, Pepper said, "You've got homework. You've got a lot of homework."

Tony stayed focused on getting laid. He asked, "Well, what if I didn't?"

Pepper repeated, "If you didn't?"

Tony answered, "Yeah."

Pepper couldn't believe it, but it looked like she needed to stroke more than Tony's ego. She said, "You mean if you finished?"

When Tony nodded, Pepper whispered something she would NEVER do in his ear.

Tony said, "Square deal. It's the last date."

Pepper knew she wouldn't have to pay up. So she kissed Tony and said, "Work hard."

As Phil and Pepper entered the elevator, Pepper asked, "You hacked Stark Tower. How worried should I be?"

Phil replied, "Not just the Tower. I'll send you a report. It certainly raised awareness--I have a security review of Shield systems on the schedule for next week."

Pepper nodded. She said, "I'm sorry about what happened back there."

Phil shrugged and said, "I can't say I was surprised. There's a reason he was not recommended for the Avengers Initiative."

After a moment, Phil asked, "Is he really so...oblivious? He doesn't use that 'handed things' line on everyone, does he?"

Pepper nodded and said, "Yes, every time someone tries to give him ANYTHING. I keep waiting for someone to call him on it. But we all seem to realize it's easier to just let him talk and keep the peace."

Phil said, "Thanks for keeping him on target."

Pepper smiled and said, "I do what I can."

Chapter Text

It's such a shame that Peter Parker was forced to be Iron Man Jr. Peter had multiple opportunities to understand that Tony only paid lip service to doing what was right and taking responsibility. Instead, the Spider-Man films became Peter Parker defending not the little guy, but the multi-billionaire who was the catalyst for the creation of quite a few MCU villains.

Toomes drawing the parallel to his activities and Tony's could have been a great moment of realization for Peter. What if it was?

Note: Toomes/The Vulture is a criminal who made the wrong choices. Tony committed crimes as well, but never faced the consequences for them. What if instead of burying Peter, Toomes tried to really engage with him?

Peter snuck into Mr. Toomes' workshop. He said, "Hey! Surprised?"

Toomes replied, "Oh, hey, Pete. I didn’t hear you come in."

Peter tried to sound mature as he said, "It’s over. I’ve got you."

Toomes didn't seem too upset. He said, "You know, I gotta tell you, Pete, I really, really admire your grit. I see why Liz likes you. I do. When you first came to the house, I wasn’t sure. I thought, 'Really?' But I get it now."

Peter asked, "How could you do this to her?"

Toomes replied, "To her? I’m not doing anything to her, Pete. I’m doing this for her."

Peter said, " Huh, yeah."

Peter fired a web and pinned Toomes' hand to the desk.

Again, Toomes just sighed and said, "Peter, you’re young. You don’t understand how the world works."

Peter shot back, "Yeah, but I understand that selling weapons to criminals is wrong."

This made Toomes laugh. He asked, "How do you think your buddy Stark paid for that tower? Or any of his little toys?"

He waited for Peter to reply. Peter frowned and shrugged.

Toomes said, "Stark sold weapons for decades, Pete. Do you know how many people died because of Stark? All over the world? And when one of his bombs finally blew up in his face, he suddenly realized after 20 years in the business that his weapons killed whoever they hit, and that wasn't always the bad guys."

Toomes leaned against the desk and continued, "And the thing that really burns me, is that even then Stark didn't actually stop building them. Instead, he just turned the operation into a one-man show. Fired practically his whole staff, just like that. He kept all his gadgets for himself. Even Stark's best friend just got one cast-off suit like a bone for a loyal dog. Then Stark used his money and contacts to get a sweet deal cleaning up the mess STARK helped make. Putting the little guy out of business."

Peter frowned and said, "That doesn't make what you're doing right."

Toomes nodded and said, "That's correct. But it makes Stark wrong. What's he doing getting involved with a kid who isn't even out of high school? That's illegal too, you know. What would your aunt think about it?"

Peter looked away.

Toomes said, "Those people, Pete, those people up there, the rich and the powerful, they do whatever they want. Guys like us, like you and me, they don’t care about us. We build their roads and we fight all their wars and everything, but they don’t care about us. We have to pick up after them. We have to eat their table scraps. That’s how it is. I know you know what I’m talking about, Peter."

Peter asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

Toomes shrugged and said, "Because I want you to understand. And...I needed a little time to get her airborne."

As the Vulture suit suddenly attacked Peter, Toomes cut himself free. He said, "I’m sorry, Peter."

Peter asks, "What are you talking about? That thing hasn’t even touched me yet."

Toomes replied, "True. Then again, wasn’t really trying to."

When the building collapsed, Peter realized that Mr. Toomes carefully timed the pillars falling to trap Peter in a small room created by the debris. He wasn't hurt, but it would take him some time to figure a way out.

When everything was finished, Peter did some serious thinking about what Mr. Toomes had said. He looked into the history of Stark Industries and what Tony Stark had done and said in his decades as CEO. Peter also started looking more closely at the Sokovia Accords. And how Mr. Stark should never have taken Peter away from his home.

Everything Peter learned made him ashamed he'd been such a foolish kid, hero-worshipping Iron Man.

When Mr. Stark tried contacting Peter, Peter blocked all calls. He also realized that Mr. Stark's threat to tell Aunt May was blackmail. So Peter told May everything that happened, including the way Mr. Stark made Peter dig clothes out of the garbage after taking away the Spider-Man suit.

He didn't think Mr. Stark would bother trying to see Peter again. But part of him wanted to see Mr. Stark in the same room with Aunt May. Because Peter wanted to see her kick Mr. Stark's ass.

Chapter Text

It's so funny that prop-Tony folks claim Steve is arrogant, when their fave spouts gems like this one. The hearing about Tony's Iron Man armor also shows Tony hacking government facilities because he feels like it, and being a jackass as usual.

Senator Stern continued the hearing by saying, "I’m no expert in weapons. We have somebody here who is an expert on weapons. I’d now like to call Justin Hammer, our current primary weapons contractor."

Tony said, "Let the record reflect that I observed Mr Hammer entering the chamber, and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance."

Justin Hammer entered and said, "Absolutely. I’m no expert. I defer to you, Anthony. You’re the wonder boy. Senator, if I may. I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert? Your dad. Howard Stark. Really a father to us all, and to the military-industrial age. Let’s just be clear, he was no flower child. He was a lion. We all know why we’re here. In the last six months, Anthony Stark has created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet, he insists it’s a shield. He asks us to trust him as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, Anthony, I really do. I’d love to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house, but this ain’t Canada. You know, we live in a world of grave threats, threats that Mr Stark will not always be able to foresee. Thank you. God bless Iron Man. God bless America."

Rhodey also came in to testify. He was ordered to read from his own report on Iron Man. He said, "As he does not operate within any definable branch of government, Iron Man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and to her interests."

He continued, "I did however, go on to summarize that the benefits of Iron Man far outweigh three liabilities and that it would be in our interest...to fold Mr Stark...into the existing chain of command."

Tony announced, " I’m not a joiner, but I’ll consider Secretary of Defense, if you ask nice. We can amend the hours a little bit."

Rhodey then started to report on how other governments and companies are trying to copy the Iron Man armor. Tony hacked into the display to show suits that were not functional, making fun of them as he did so.

Tony then said, "Wow. Yeah, I’d say most countries, five, ten years away. Hammer Industries, twenty."

Hammer said, "I’d like to point out that that test pilot survived."

Stern said, "I think we’re done is the point that he’s making. I don’t think there’s any reason..."

Tony interrupted to say, "The point is, you’re welcome, I guess."

Stern asked, "For what?"

Tony replied, "Because I’m your nuclear deterrent. It’s working. We’re safe. America is secure. You want my property? You can’t have it. But I did you a big favor."

Tony then turned to face the crowd and announced, "I’ve successfully privatized world peace."

Then he said to Rhodey and Pepper, "What more do you want? I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns."

Pepper said, "No, you didn't. You didn't try to do anything but be a jackass to people because you felt like it."

Rhodey shook his head and said, "You decided to stop selling weapons and just make them for yourself. Why taunt Justin Hammer? The man looks up to you. And you're the one who left the U.S. with him as the only alternative source for equipment."

Tony said, "I'M the only equipment America needs."

A young woman stepped up to Tony, shoved a folded paper in his hands, and said, "You've been served."

Tony frowned at someone DARING to hand him something. He passed it off to Pepper.

Pepper opened the document and skimmed it. She said, "You're grounded."

Tony looked at her and said, "What?"

She passed the paper to Rhodey and said, "You are hereby informed that because you do not have clearance or a pilot's license, you are forbidden from operating any airborne vehicle in United States airspace. The penalties are pretty severe."

Rhodey nodded and said, "Yeah, if you want to test your armor, you have to do it at ground level. Unless you let an authorized pilot operate it."

Tony snatched the paper and said, "They think they can keep me after school for sassing the teacher? My lawyers will handle this."

Tony soon found out that he was in fact, grounded. His attitude also made Nick Fury and Phil Coulson reconsider approaching Tony. Natasha never went undercover to evaluate Tony and Shield never found out about Tony's palladium poisoning. Because Tony never reached out for help, his body reached irreversible toxic levels before he collapsed and Pepper found out what happened. He didn't make it.

On the plus side, because Vanko no longer had a target for his own weapons, he never used them on anyone. He ended up being the one recruited by Shield. Thor was the one who flew the nuke into the wormhole during the Battle of New York, and the team went for borscht instead of schwarma afterward.

Chapter Text

This quote really brings home how Tony will NOT sacrifice himself if he knows what happens ahead of time. Dr. Strange watched millions of futures and in only one did they win. Apparently it's the one where Tony isn't given a choice in the matter.

Stephen Strange stepped through the portal onto a battlefield he had never seen before. But he knew it all the same. Somehow the heroes who weren't snapped had found the one path that could bring them all to victory.

IF Strange did his part. He'd watched more than 14 million possibilities as he floated in the air on Titan. In so many of them, the heroes had reached this battle. The deciding battle for this universe.

And in only one they succeeded. Because in that one, Strange kept his mouth shut.

Time after time he'd assumed that Tony Stark would be a hero. Would do what was needed to stop Thanos. Even if it cost Stark his own life.

Except, Stark DIDN'T. Time after time Stark tried to find a loophole or cut a corner that would let them win AND let Stark survive.

Stark surviving meant disaster for everyone else. Every time.

As Strange continued to fight almost by instinct, he remembered five years ago...

Stark said, "Strange, we alright?"

The words brought Strange back from his glimpse into the futures to the moment on Titan.

Stark continued, "You’re back. You’re alright. Hi."

The Spider Child asked, "Hey, what was that?"

Strange replied, "I went forward in time to view alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict."

Peter Quill asked, "How many did you see?"

Strange answered, "14 million, six hundred, and five."

Stark asked, "How many did we win?"

Strange remembered all of the failures he'd seen, the repetition of Stark's arrogant assumption that HE knew best and knew he'd find a way to stop Thanos without a sacrifice. Until Strange kept Tony in the dark. So Strange answered, "One."

Strange could sense the possibility in the air. The potential for victory even as the battle raged on.

Suddenly Stark flew up to Strange and asked, "Doc. You said we win one in 14 million. Is this how it goes down?"

Here it was, THE moment. And the only choice Strange could make. Because he couldn't trust Tony Stark to do the right thing if he knew ahead of time what it would cost him. So Strange answered, "If I tell you what happens, it won’t happen."

Stark replied, "You'd better be right."

As Stark flew away, Strange KNEW he was. Because he didn't make the mistake he'd made 14 million, six hundred and four times before.

This time, Strange didn't trust Tony Stark to be a hero. Instead, he made sure that Stark had no choice except to Snap Thanos--and himself--to death.

And it worked, just as Strange had foreseen it.

Chapter Text

This is such a weird, petulant line. TONY chooses how he spends his time and money. He obviously has way too much of both. And he's so unaware of his privilege that he's pouting at not being the person who leads the team. The other thing is that this is in response to Maria Hill calling Tony "Boss." Maria's been with Stark Industries since the end of Winter Soldier, so either Tony is NEVER actually doing any work, or he's suddenly decided to be a brat. Either way, not a good look.

Maria Hill waited for the quinjet ramp to lower. As she saw Tony step out, she said, "Lab's all set up, boss."

Tony pointed at Steve and said, "Uh, actually, HE's the boss. I just pay for everything, and design everything and make everyone look cooler."

Maria looked at Steve and found him looking back. Then they shrugged and stepped away from Tony. When they were out of earshot, Steve asked, "Is being called Boss another of Tony's quirks? Like that weird thing about not allowing anyone to pass him anything?"

Maria replied, "I know! What's up with that? He had millions handed to him by his dad, along with all of Howard Stark's inventions and a whole company. Yet Tony won't let you give him a pen so he can sign the thing you've been chasing him down to resolve?"

Steve grinned and said, "Bet you're wishing you still had a Shield squad to spar with right now."

Maria grinned back. Then they discussed Strucker and the Maximoff twins.

As Steve stepped into the elevator, he said, "Maybe Tony's remark is his usual quirks. But maybe not. Can we keep an eye on him?"

Their vigilance paid off when Steve and Maria overheard Tony trying to get Bruce involved in uploading Ultron to the internet using Loki's scepter. They went to Thor, who immediately walked down to the lab, yanked the scepter out of the equipment, and used Mjolnir to pin the glowing part of the scepter to the floor.

Thor said to Bruce and Tony, "If either of you are worthy, I will not interfere with your plan."

Of course, neither Bruce nor Tony could move the hammer. And when the rest of the team found out about their plans, there was some serious discussion about what the hell Tony was thinking. And Ultron never got uploaded, so Sokovia was intact.

No one trusted Tony much after that, so the other Avengers stood together when Secretary Ross tried to push a different version of the Accords a few years later. It made for a much brighter future for everyone.

Chapter Text

It's really interesting to me that so many prop-Tony folks say "eat the rich," but then say Tony Stark is a responsible multi-billionaire. Except, there's no evidence Tony takes responsibility--most of his story is doing his own thing pretty much every chance he gets. So what if someone other than Mrs. Spencer got to have a little chat with Tony at MIT?

Note: There actually is a tech CEO who gave up the jet-set lifestyle to share the profits of his company with his employees.

Tony froze the re-creation of a memory and said, "That's how I wished it happened. Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing, or BARF. God, I gotta work on that acronym. An extremely costly method of hijacking the hippocampus to...clear traumatic memories. Huh."

He then turned off the hologram and said, "It doesn't change the fact that my parents never made it to the airport...or all the things I did to avoid processing my grief, but...Plus, 611 million dollars for my little therapeutic experiment? No one in the right mind would've ever funded it."

He continued, "Help me out, what's the MIT mission statement? "To generate, disseminate...and preserve knowledge. And work with others...to bring it to bear on the world's great challenges. Well, you are the others. And, quiet as it's kept...the challenges facing you are the greatest mankind's ever known. Plus, most of you are broke."

With a wave of his hand, Tony said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Rather, you were. As of this moment...every student has been made an equal recipient of the Inaugural September Foundation Grant. As in...all of your projects have just been approved and funded. No strings, no taxes...just re-frame the future! Starting now. Go break some eggs."

Tony was waiting for the elevator when he heard a slow clap. He turned to see an older woman walking toward him.

The woman said, "Congratulations. That's some scheme you've got going here."

Tony stiffened and said, "Thanks...I guess."

Lady Gray leaned against the wall and folded her arms. She said, "611 million. I bet you wrote the whole thing off--probably knocked your taxes down to single digits. You probably paid a lower rate than the admin who arranged your visit."

Tony frowned and said, "I don't spend my time crunching those kinds of numbers."

Gray Goose replied, "I bet you don't. Anyone that rich never bothers counting their pocket change."

Tony turned away from the elevator and asked, "Do you just hate the rich or is it me personally?"

The woman shrugged and said, "Both. But mainly because I dislike the reminder that you didn't turn out anything like Ma--anyone hoped."

She gestured back toward the auditorium and said, "That monstrosity is going to sit in a storeroom somewhere when you're done with it, isn't it? You didn't bother to get any medical clearances so the thing can't be used as therapy on anyone else. Same as your arc reactor is powering YOUR building, but no one else's."

Tony asked, "Look just what is your problem, Grandma?"

Gray Gal snorted and said, "You're not exactly a spring chicken, Stark. If I was your grandma I'd have become a parent while I was still in diapers."

She continued, "I just wanted to know if you ever actually think about all that blood money sitting in your accounts and your vaults. How many kids could you have helped feed, clothe, and educate with the millions you spent on your Vomit project? And you funded those students' projects, but you left them buried in all that student debt."

The woman leaned close to Tony and said, "I wonder what your mother would have REALLY thought about how you've spent your money. And how you've spent your life."

Tony pushed at the woman and said, "You don't know a thing about my mother."

The woman shook her head and said, "I know more than you. I know she was interested in helping the less fortunate. And that she was interested in art and music, and science and engineering that helped people. And that she would NEVER have thought a billionaire was a good thing to be."

Tony pressed her harder against the wall and asked, "WHO ARE YOU?"

The woman smiled and said, "Look at who your parents really were. Maybe you'll find out."

Because Mrs. Spencer missed her moment with Tony, the universe shifted to another track. Tony was so obsessed with finding the mystery woman that he blew off Thaddeus Ross, the Sokovia Accords, and even Zemo's attempts to contact him. As he looked at how his parents lived--surprisingly modest compared to Tony--and how they really spent their money, he came to realize just how little he was REALLY contributing to the world.

Eventually he found the mystery woman. In his mother's college diaries and scrapbooks. She was his mother's first love. The two had realized that they were getting attention from two millionaires. They decided to give up love for money, hoping to steer their husbands' profits to those who had to work their way up from the bottom.

Maria had done some good, but the mystery woman hit the jackpot. Her husband was persuaded to give up the yachts and multiple mansions to restructure his company. The profits went to the company, the community, and the employees, THEN to the VP suite and the CEO.

Tony recognized the company--he'd NEVER been able to poach a single employee from it, because they were so loyal.

With his eyes opened, Tony realized he didn't need multi-billions of personal wealth. So he also restructured his company and life to be the man his mother probably hoped he'd grow into.

Ironically, Tony saved himself and his reputation by this change. He didn't dismiss Quentin Beck and didn't steal the credit for Beck's work. With Tony out of the Accords discussion, Rhodey and Vision were persuaded to retire with the others until the Accords became "oversight with safeguards"--AND guaranteed rights for all persons, enhanced and unenhanced. They made a public statement, which made the U.N. delay and eventually abandon ratification. Zemo's plan fell apart and he was arrested for the murder of Theo Broussard. The book of triggers was destroyed while he was attempting to evade capture, so he never had time to learn them. Because Bucky was never triggered, no one ever found the other Winter Soldiers.

Tony never met the mystery woman again, but he often thanked her for putting his life on a better path.

Chapter Text

So many prop-Tony folks say Tony tried SO HARD in Civil War. It makes me laugh, because Tony didn't bother to listen to ANYONE. Look how quickly he ends the conversation at the Liepzig airport.

What if someone else noticed Tony's lack of effort?

Tony landed on the tarmac and said, "Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?"

Rhodey replied, "Definitely weird."

Steve said, "Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this."

T'Challa leapt into sight and said, "Captain."

Steve replied, "Your highness."

Tony said, "Anyway, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?"

Steve shook his head and said, "You're after the wrong guy."

Tony ignored the information and said, "Your judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday."

Steve wanted to argue that Bucky was trigger, but focused on the mission. He said, "And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't."

Natasha entered the conversation by saying, "Steve, you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?"

Tony decided he was done and said, "All right, I've run out of patience. Underoos!"

A web shoots out of nowhere and takes Steve's shield, while a second one binds his hands.

Steve tried to keep the frustration out of his voice as he said, "You're out of patience? After less than a MINUTE? And why are you wasting your time on me when the man who bombed Vienna is trying to reach five Winter Soldiers? Didn't you listen to ANYTHING I said?"

Surprisingly, it was the new king of Wakanda who responded. He stepped forward and asked, "What did you say about the bombing?"

Steve turned to T'Challa and said, "Bucky had nothing to do with it--he was in Romania the whole time. The psychiatrist who visited Bucky in the detention center triggered him into becoming the Winter Soldier. The doctor wanted the location of five other Winter Soldiers. I don't know the guy's exact plan, but he already killed 12 people and injured dozens more--and he said he wants to see an empire fall."

T'Challa nodded, then leapt into action. He grabbed Steve's shield from Spider-Man, ran to Steve, and slashed the webbing around Steve's wrists.
Tony pointed his glove at T'Challa and said, "What do you think you're doing, Pussycat?"

T'Challa voice turned into a growl as he said, "The captain is right. YOU are ignoring the real danger--and the opportunity to find the man who killed my father. I will not."

Steve got a message from Sam that Clint had to use his anti-phasing arrows on Vision again, but all of them were on the quinjet and ready for takeoff.

Steve heard from Scott that he'd moved to Steve's shoulder, just in case the cat guy didn't give up the shield. Steve quietly asked T'Challa, "Do you have a way out of here?"

T'Challa nodded and quietly replied, "Follow me." Then he threw two balls at Tony and Rhodey that caused their suits to immediately power down.

The soldier and the king took off running toward a spot on the field where it looked like nothing was there. When Steve heard a blast, he looked back to see Natasha shooting the web guy, then waving at them to go. He pointed toward the quinjet, which was cruising overhead. When Natasha stopped and put her arms out, Wanda lifted her into the jet.

T'Challa made a gesture that revealed a sleek black ship. As he dropped the entry ramp, he said, "Welcome aboard, Captain."

Scott grew to his regular size and asked, "Got room for one more?"

When they got to the bunker, Steve got Zemo to admit he orchestrated the bombing to get to the bunker. T'Challa slashed through the window to Zemo's bunker before Zemo got the chance to talk about the video tape.

Steve and Natasha were able to keep T'Challa from murdering Zemo in revenge. T'Challa offered sanctuary in Wakanda and a chance for Bucky's triggers to be removed.

Zemo stood trial in Wakanda, and was sentenced to life in prison there.

Team Cap (with T'Challa's support) worked behind the scenes to keep the world safe. Eventually Vision joined them when he found out that Tony ignored Steve's warning about the Winter Soldiers.

Rhodey was fortunately uninjured. At first he continued to support the Accords, but when he realized Thaddeus Ross only wanted to use them to hunt down enhanced people instead of keep the world safe, he also withdrew from the Accords. Tony was the only Avenger left.

Chapter Text

So many prop-Tony folks hand-wave away Tony's 20 years of negligence, but the scenes in Afghanistan really lay out how awful Tony and Stark Industries are.

Note: This is a collection of several conversations.

Tony woke up and saw the battery connected to his chest. He asked, "What the hell did you do to me?"

Some foreign guy replied, "What I did? What I did is to save your life. I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot left, and it's headed into your atrial septum. Here, want to see?"

He pulls out a bottle and shakes it, then tossed it to Tony as he said, "I have a souvenir. Take a look. I've seen many wounds like that in my village. We call them the walking dead because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."

A little while later, more foreign guys with guns came in. The guy who gave Tony the shrapnel started translating.

The leader said, "Welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America."

The leader demanded that Tony build a Jericho missile. When Tony refused, he was held underwater until he agreed.

Later, Tony asked his translator, "Who are these people?"

The foreign guy replied, "They are your loyal customers, sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings."

The leader confirmed it when he said, "The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology. It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four times the size of the Roman Empire. But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons rules these lands. And soon, it will be my turn."

The translator asked Tony, "Why do you do it? You could have built anything. You could have made the world a much better place. Instead you built weapons that turn men, women, and children into walking corpses."

Tony said, "I didn't know that would happen!"

The translator looked at Tony and said, "You didn't know bombs killed people?"

Tony said, "I didn't know they were killing women and children!"

The translator said, "Because you couldn't be bothered to check, it would seem."

Tony fooled his captors into thinking he was building a missile while he created the Iron Man armor. In this universe, Ho Yinsen fooled Tony into thinking he was helping Tony escape.

Instead, Yinsen attached a crude bomb to the back of Tony's armor as he urged Tony to leave. So Tony shot up the camp, then blew up. Yinsen died knowing that both the terrorists and the war profiteer were destroyed.

Chapter Text

I've touched on this before, but I wanted to revisit the fact that Tony literally did not care what was in the Sokovia Accords.

Note: Partially inspired by the ridiculous attitude Tony Stark exhibited in the latest installment of the series DDLover mentioned. The original really did have Tony spouting off this way. The amount of lies and hypocrisy in the prop-Tony writer's short piece was pretty astonishing. I can't tell if they are truly ignorant of the facts, or they can't bear to admit the film and their story showed Tony to be a criminal and a hypocrite.

In the original story, Tony went to the Raft just to bash the other characters. Same here. Also, Zemo was caught before he reached Siberia and Rhodey is uninjured.

Tony strutted in front of the cells. He said, "Remember what I told you --There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game."

He smirked and continued, "That's why I'm on the RIGHT side of the locked door."

Clint narrowed his eyes and asked, "Really, Tony? Thaddeus Ross is in charge of this. He hunted Bruce down like a dog. He probably already has a cell with Bruce's name on it. None of it even makes you pause?"

Tony shrugged and said, "I’m not working with Ross you stupid f***wit! I’m working with the Secretary of State! It’s an elected position. President Ellis will be out of office next year and Ross will go with him. Even if Ross DID get involved with the Accords, he’ll be out of office long before he has any impact on the types of evil decisions that you dumbasses want to attribute to him. It’s like you think Ross is some type of all-powerful god. Ross was only a threat to Bruce when he was an Active Duty General. He’s retired. End of problem. And I will NOT listen to whining from any of you. You were read your rights when you came in--remain silent."

The others stared at Tony, then looked at each other.

Sam leaned back against the wall and said, "What makes you assume we were read our rights? That's not canon, and also laughable because the actual film has a scene where Bucky Barnes is denied a lawyer."

Tony shifted and said, "Well YOU and your buddy Cap made sure NO ONE could finish reading the DRAFT of the Sokovia Accords before announcing they were some kind of evil plot instead of a traffic system for enhanced people crossing borders. Besides, they haven't been signed into law and now they've been postponed by Cap's crime spree and a bombing. You’re all here because you crossed into Germany illegally and then kept Barnes from being detained by what I lovingly refer to as Team Iron Man, after Barnes refused to turn himself into the alleged kill squad. You also destroyed an airport--causing millions in property damage. Those are all--you guessed it--CRIMES! You broke the law, you halfwits. And where did you get the crazy idea that I'D help out? I'm a multi-billionaire public figure. Think of the my image, think of my employees, think of the CHILDREN. I’m also much too smart.”

Scott said, "I think that last bit is the biggest lie that just spewed out of your mouth. Hank Pym was definitely right about you."

Clint frowned and said, "You really don't care what happens to anyone else, do you Tony? This whole Raft and especially the treatment of Wanda are inhumane and illegal."

Tony mocked Clint's concern by saying, “Yes, she looks so sad right now. Imagine how much worse it will be the NEXT time--after all, she was a Neo-Nazi terrorist before she went to Lagos and killed people there.”

Tony waved a hand and said, “Maybe she didn't do it on purpose, but her sordid little history with Hydra makes crossing borders and participating in missions terrorism. So the restrictions are to protect the guards from the Hydra Honey who is known for attacking folks who give her the eye, like Dr. Cho."

Tony finished up with, "If you do the crime, you do the time--she'll sit like that until I create some more restraints. And let's face it, if she didn't want to be humiliated, she shouldn't have broken the law again."

All of a sudden, everyone smiled.

The door opened and Cap, Natasha, and Rhodey walked in.

Vision phased through the wall and landed near the cells. He said, "I believe the most efficient way of dealing with your statements is to take them one point at a time. I will begin. Firstly, there was no call for insulting Clint because he made a point you did not want to acknowledge. Secondly, you would be working FOR Thaddeus Ross, not with him. The Accords state that the Avengers may not take ANY action without prior government approval. Thirdly, to suggest that it does not matter who holds an office is disingenuous at best. Many people have resigned in protest when their position would cause them to be associated with someone they found morally repugnant. Fourthly, there is ample evidence that it takes only minutes for someone granted power to abuse that power. We have already SEEN Secretary Ross abuse that power in ordering a kill squad on James Buchanan Barnes, this imprisonment without due process, and ignoring the actual threat of five Winter Soldiers. You also pretend that Ross is no longer a threat to Dr. Banner, but Dr. Banner himself disagrees."

Tony frowned and said, "You can't know that."

Vision replied, "As in the original story you were miraculously granted knowledge of Sharon Carter's actions years later, we know the events of Infinity War. Dr. Banner hid from view when Colonel Rhodes had a video call with Secretary Ross."

Rhodey shook his head and said, "I'm kind of embarrassed to admit I know you, Tony. Do you realize how dumb you sounded when you complained that no one had the opportunity to read the draft that YOU were insisting we all sign? YOU'RE the one who was trying to force the issue. Steve wanted everyone to make their own decisions. Plus you claimed Steve and Sam had drowned us all out to spout their opinions, while YOU were the one who kept shutting down conversations. And that whole bit about how the Accords were just about people crossing borders was REALLY embarrassing. The damn signing page says that the Avengers take NO action unless pre-approved. THAT has nothing to do with border crossings."

Scott nodded and said, "It's also incredibly stupid that you're acting as though the Accords were not put into effect, as though you hadn't noticed they were part of multiple films and series. And they were NEVER amended, which means YOU lied when you said they could be."

Natasha said, "It's also very telling that you call Steve's actions to prevent an INNOCENT man from being killed on sight a crime spree. You even hand-wave the fact that Barnes NEVER had a chance to turn himself in because the kill squad didn't give him a chance to. And Steve tried to tell you why neither Barnes nor anyone else on Team Cap could stand down--there were FIVE Winter Soldiers about to be unleashed. What was YOUR excuse for cutting Steve off and starting the fight?"

Clint said, "It's also incredibly hypocritical and/or stupid to blame Steve for the airport damage, when TEAM IRON MAN did the vast majority of the damage by destroying the control tower."

Vision nodded and said, "It is regrettable, but true. It is also a lie that you even bothered to consider your employees in this circumstance, given that you have NEVER cared about your company or employees before. Ms. Potts is the one who takes those things into consideration, not you. But it DOES seem as though you believe your wealth and power puts you above the law."

Steve shook his head and said, "Your comments about Wanda were not only incredibly callous, they are also hypocritical and untrue. You KNOW the twins thought they signed up for Shield--Strucker was still hiding in Shield when he recruited them, and kept them isolated. WE knew the base in Sokovia was Hydra, they didn't. And Brock Rumlow killed the citizens in Lagos. The Nigerians are well aware of that--THEY didn't sign the Accords."

Natasha said, "The most hypocritical thing you did was call Wanda out on attacking people, Tony. Did you already forget how you shot Sam while he was UNARMED? Because you were UPSET?"

Vision moved behind Tony and grabbed his arms. Rhodey put restraints that looked like boxing gloves fused together over Tony's hands. Then they put Tony in a cell.

Steve said, "Just as you said, Tony, people shouldn't do the crime if they can't do the time. You'll be doing time for child endangerment, extortion, kidnapping, human trafficking, assault, and Accords violations."

Wanda stepped up to Tony's cell, free of HER restraints. She said, "This form of confinement is to protect everyone from YOU. We also turned off your AI. If you didn't want to be in these humiliating circumstances, you shouldn't have blackmailed a teenager to be your child soldier."

Her eyes flickered red as she continued, "Don't you DARE go near him again."

Vision was letting the others out of their cells. He said, "That is assuming Tony ever leaves here. After all, the Sokovia Accords allow for unlimited confinement and deny due process and legal representation."

Steve said, "Of course we'll do our best to get them abolished or amended, but who knows how long that will take. But I'm not so sure things will be any better for you on the outside, Tony, after all this leaks. Don't worry though, Pepper already has a statement prepared--because SHE actually cares about the Stark Industries employees."

As the others filed out, Scott waved and said, "Enjoy your stay with the Secretary of State."

Chapter Text

This little film shows a lot of things about Tony: Coulson and Sitwell don't think much of him, Tony is duped AGAIN, and Tony and Ross had a pretty cozy relationship--Tony comments on Ross's focus on recreating the super soldier serum like he knows all about it, and Tony supplied the U.S. with weapons for DECADES. Some folks think it proves Tony was likely consulted by Ross about the Sokovia Accords before/while they were written. Which as a different story points out, makes Tony even worse for blindsiding his teammates.

Note: I don't think Sitwell was being written as part of Hydra at this point.

In the diner where he and Coulson decided to meet, Jasper Sitwell took a sip of coffee and said, "It didn't go well, did it?"

Coulson replied, "No, it did not."

Sitwell asked, "Did they reject the Initiative?"

Coulson snorted and said, "Of course not. They gave me the most idiotic, ill-conceived request imaginable. They want Blonsky on the team."

Sitwell asked in surprise, "The Abomination?"

Coulson reminded him, "They really don't like when you call him that."

Sitwell started, "But the Harlem Incident--"

Coulson said, "They're pinning that on Banner."

Sitwell asked, "On Banner?"

Coulson confirmed it by saying, "Not the guy you wanna make angry. They consider Blonsky a war hero. They want him exonerated, released and then added to the roster."

Sitwell said, "They think we have him."

Coulson asked, "What's your clearance level?"

Sitwell chuckled and said, "That's funny, it's level 6...like you."

Then he paused and asked, "Come on, there's a level 7?"

Coulson said, "Blonsky is in custody in General Ross' sector."

Sitwell asked, "Does director Fury even want Blonsky?"

Coulson replied, "Of course not, but he can't ignore an explicit directive from the World Security Council...so we have to make sure he doesn't have to."

Sitwell scoffed and asked, "How the hell are we gonna do that?"

Coulson replied, "I have no idea, but we have to send a liaison to the General within 24 hours."

Sitwell said, "So, on the Council's order, we have to send one of our people down to General Ross to ask for Blonsky, who we don't even want."

Coulson confirmed, "Exactly."

After thinking for a minute, Sitwell said, "I got it. We send a patsy to sabotage the debrief."

Coulson asked, "A patsy?"

Sitwell nodded and said, "Yeah, someone to screw it up. Someone so inept the General Ross will refuse to release Blonsky."

He continued, "I can do it. I do a great patsy."

Coulson confirmed, "Yes you do. Your patsy is legendary. In fact, when I think of the world patsy--"

Sitwell interrupted by saying, "All right."

Coulson explained, "Well I'm thinking, for this we need a slightly different skill set. If we want the general to refuse this request, then we have to sent someone who will truly annoy him. Someone arrogant and abrasive, with an utter disdain for authority, someone who will offend the general to his very core--"

Sitwell said, "You're talking about the Consul--"

Coulson interrupted by saying, "No I'm not."

Sitwell pointed out, "You just described him to a T."

Coulson insisted, "I'm telling you right now, stop it. I'm not calling the Consultant."

In a bar, Tony swaggered up to Thaddeus Ross and said, "The smell of stale beer and defeat. You know I hate to say I told you so, General, but that Super soldier program was put on ice for a reason. I've always felt the hardware was much more reliable."

Ross pulled a cigar from his mouth and said, "Stark."

Tony said, "General."

Ross smirked and said, "You always wear such nice suits."

Tony replied, "Touche. I hear you have an unusual problem."

Ross leaned back and said, "You should talk."

Tony said, "You should listen."

Sitwell sat down in Coulson's diner booth and asked, "So. Any word?"

Coulson nodded and said, "Mission accomplished. The Abomination will remain in his cage for now. Apparently the Consultant outdid himself. Ross got so mad he tried to have him removed from the bar."

Sitwell asked, "How did that go over?"

Coulson replied, "Stark bought the place. It's scheduled for demolition on Thursday."

Both men were satisfied at getting Stark to do what they wanted--even if Stark didn't know it.

Chapter Text

There are some folks who think Tony knew exactly how awful Project Insight was and still helped to create it. Far From Home definitely supports that theory, and the notion that Tony was the ONLY one who needed to be put in check.

Peter put on the glasses and read the note that went with them. It said For the next Tony Stark, I trust you. Say EDITH.

So Peter did.

Suddenly a computer voice said, "Hello, Peter. I am EDITH, Tony Stark's augmented-reality security and defense system."

Peter asked, "So he made you for me?"

EDITH replied, " No, but you have access to all of Tony's protocols."

Peter Parker, "Cool."

EDITH continued, "Would you like to see what I can do? EDITH stands for Even Dead, I'm the Hero. Tony loved his acronyms."

Peter said, "Yeah, he did."

EDITH reported, "I have access to the entire Stark Global Security network, including multiple defense satellites, as well as back doors to all major telecommunication networks."

Peter's eyes widened when he realized he could see EVERYTHING that EVERYONE was doing on their phones.

Peter asked, "Is MJ texting? No. Don't look at it. Don't look at it. That's--that's wrong. That's wrong."

Peter took off the glasses and sat back in shock. He thought about what EDITH said, about having back doors. And he SAW exactly what EDITH could do.

He looked at the glasses and back at his classmates. All going about their lives, not realizing Peter was spying on them.

For no reason, other than he could.

Peter frowned as he realized that Mr. Stark had to have been doing the same thing when he was testing the EDITH system.

And defense satellites...what the hell?

Peter put the glasses on said quietly, "Stand down. Shut off."

EDITH said, "Disabling will prevent access to surveillance and targeting systems."

Peter said firmly, "Do it."

EDITH said, "Shutting down. Say EDITH again to re-initiate."

Peter took off the glasses and made sure they were securely put away.

He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he knew one thing: Tony Stark was not as much of a hero as Peter had thought.

Chapter Text

After Civil War, there were a LOT of prop-Tony folks claiming Tony knew where everyone was. This quote shows Tony didn't even know where his own teammate (and "son") was. It also shows that Sam was right: The Accords forced enhanced people to have tracking devices. And that Dr. Strange is NOT a Tony Stark fanboy. And it's obvious that Tony should have pulled the phone out as soon as Wong finished describing the stones. It really is Tony's fault his "son" Vision didn't have fair warning about the danger he was in.

Note: Set in an AU where the conversation in Strange's house isn't interrupted by an attack.

In the Sanctum Sanctorum, Wong explained about the Infinity Stones. He said, "From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom! The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurdling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

Doctor Strange added, "Space. Reality. Power. Soul. Mind. And Time."

As he said the last stone, he showed the Time Stone resting in the Eye of Agamotto.

Tony said, "Tell me his name again."

Bruce replied, "Thanos. He’s a plague, Tony. He invades planets, he takes what he wants, he wipes out half the population. He sent Loki! The attack on New York, that’s him!"

Instead of recognizing the danger and pulling out the phone, Tony said, "This is him--what’s our timeline?"

Bruce said, "No telling. He has the Power and Space Stones, that already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe! If he gets his hands on all six Stones, Tony..."

Doctor Strange said, "He can destroy life on a scale hither to undreamt of."

Tony leaned against a cauldron and asked, "Did you seriously just say 'hither to undreamt of'?"

Doctor Strange asked, "Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?"

Tony asked, "Is that what this is?"

Dr. Strange's cloak hit Tony on the arm for the disrespect.

Tony said, "I’m going to allow that. If Thanos needs all six, why don’t we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?"

Doctor Strange replied, "No can do."

Wong said, "We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone. With our lives."

Tony shrugged and said, "And I swore off dairy, but then, Ben & Jerry’s named a flavor after me, so..."

Doctor Strange said, "Stark Raving Hazelnuts."

Tony said, "It’s not bad."

Doctor Strange pointed out, "A bit chalky."

Wong said, "A Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge is our favorite."

Bruce asked, "That’s a thing?"

Annoyed that Tony's flavor wasn't their favorite, Tony said, "Whatever. Point is: Things change."

Doctor Strange replied, "Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change. This Stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos."

Tony said, "And still conversely, it may also be his best chance against us."

Doctor Strange said, "Well, if we don’t do our jobs."

Tony asked snidely, "What is your job exactly, besides making balloon animals?"

Doctor Strange replied, "Protecting your reality, douchebag."

Bruce said, "Okay, guys, can we quick table this discussion right now? The fact is that we have the Stone. We know where it is. Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone, and we have to find him now."

Tony said, "Yeah, that’s the thing."

Bruce asked, "What do you mean?"

Tony answered, "Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder. He’s offline."

Bruce looked shocked. He said, "What?! Tony, you lost another super bot?"

Tony protested, "I didn’t lose him. He’s more than that. He’s evolving."

Doctor Strange asked, "Who could find Vision, then?"

Tony said, "Shit. Probably Steve Rogers."

Doctor Strange sighed and said, "Oh, great."

Instead of pulling out the phone AGAIN, Tony said, "Maybe. But..."

Bruce said, "Call him."

Tony fingered the phone, but didn't pull it out. He said, "It’s not that easy. God, we haven’t caught up in a spell, have we?"

Bruce frowned and said, "No."

Tony said, "The Avengers broke up. We’re toast."

Bruce asked, "Broke up? Like a band? Like The Beatles?"

Tony said, "Cap and I fell out hard. We’re not on speaking terms."

Wong said, "Not surprising, considering the Sokovia Accords and all."

Bruce looked at Wong and asked, "Accords? What are you talking about?"

Dr. Strange said, "The U.N. sprung them on the world a few years ago. Literally the 'Framework for the Registration and Deployment of Enhanced Individuals'."

Bruce felt a chill run down his spine.

Wong said, "Practically, they say enhanced people have to be registered and tracked."

Bruce said, "As in Vision's transponder..."

Wong nodded, then continued, "They also say the Avengers can't act unless the U.N. gives them prior permission."

Dr. Strange gave a small smile and said, "Captain America and most of the Avengers refused to sign."

Wong said, "The Black Widow signed, but she dropped out of sight soon after. Maybe she didn't like taking orders from the Secretary of State--Thaddeus Ross."

Bruce's fists clenched at the name. He asked, "You're saying THADDEUS ROSS is in control of enhanced people?"

Wong and Dr. Strange nodded.

Bruce turned to look at Tony and asked, "Who else signed?"

Tony avoided Bruce's betrayed expression as he said, "Rhodey. And me. We needed to be put in check!"

Wong said, "They're in check all right--neither one of them has done a damn thing since they signed."

Bruce said to Tony, "I can't believe you're working with Ross. You KNOW what he's like and what he's done."

Tony backed away and said, "He's the one in charge. You have to understand, Brucie-Bear. It was either this or lose Pepper. Or Iron Man. I couldn't."

As Bruce continued to step forward, Tony continued to retreat. When he got close to Dr. Strange, the cloak slipped forward and pulled the flip-phone out of Tony's pocket.

The cloak stretched to hand it to Bruce.

Bruce opened the phone and saw Steve's name. He looked disgusted at Tony as he turned away and pressed the button.

When Steve answered, Bruce said, "Steve--you have to get to Vision NOW. Or we could lose EVERYTHING."

Steve and his team kept Vision safe, while Bruce's rage at Tony's betrayal brought the Hulk out during the attack on Dr. Strange. Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian didn't stand a chance.

After the two were dead, Tony said, "We have to take the fight to Thanos."

Bruce glared at Tony and said, "I'm not going ANYWHERE with you."

Wong and Dr. Strange looked at each other. Dr. Strange said, "Thanks for the assist, but I don't see any reason to put myself or the Time Stone in more danger."

He looked at the web-guy who showed up to help and said, "Uh, I don't know you--"

The web-guy squeaked, "I'm Spider..."

Then he cleared his throat and said in a deeper voice, "I'm Spider-Man."

Bruce nodded and said, "Spider-Man, hi. What's your call?"

Tony said, "He doesn't get a choice in the matter."

Wong asked, "Why?"

Tony didn't answer that. Instead he said, "We have to go. We can't let Thanos come to Earth."

Bruce frowned and said, "All the heroes I know are still alive are here. I don't think we can afford to split up--this is too important."

Spider-Man said, "Yeah, that makes sense."

He looked at Tony and said, "Mr. Stark, I'm staying here."

Tony looked disgusted with all of them as he said, "Fine. Good riddance."

Then he blasted off to Maw's ship.

The Guardians were smarter in this universe. When they realized that Thanos's forces were gathered on Earth and that they only had themselves and Iron Man, they decided to join the fight there. Tony protested, so they said he could hitch a ride with them or stay and face Thanos alone. Tony sulked all the way back to Earth and refused to join the others. When Pepper found out, she dumped Tony for good.

The other heroes gathered in Wakanda. They were able to take down Thanos and his forces.

When it was over, Thor, Rhodey, T'Challa, Natasha, Vision, and Spider-Man all officially renounced the Sokovia Accords. With all of the heroes of the world retired except Iron Man, the Accords were soon abolished. Discussions WITH the heroes began on some form of oversight with safeguards, which is exactly what Steve Rogers asked for in the first place.

Tony decided to retire rather than be part of the new organization. He chose to isolate himself and spent the rest of his life angry at how he'd been ABANDONED and BETRAYED because no one would do what he said.

Ben & Jerry's introduced new flavors in honor of the heroes of Wakanda. They--and the Hulk flavor--became best-sellers.

The company pulled the Iron Man flavor when people stopped buying it. No one noticed (except Tony).

Chapter Text

Along with Thaddeus Ross in Civil War, Senator Atwood in the Falcon and the Winter Soldier shows that Steve was right to distrust letting others have control of the Avengers and other enhanced people. (Note that Steve was okay with oversight with safeguards, which the Accords did NOT offer.)

Note: I haven't seen the series, so I'm not sure how the arrest of Atwood was portrayed by the media. Also references how the Marvel TV series revealed how the Accords stripped people of their rights.

Bucky was never comfortable in Dr. Raynor's office. He HAD to be there--he wasn't sure if Dr. Raynor was being forced as well, or if she had volunteered to help the former Winter Soldier deal with his...everything.

She asked him about nightmares and he ignored the question. When she asked again, he said no.

Dr. Raynor replied, "We've been doing this long enough that I can tell when you're lying. Well, you seem a little off today. Did something happen recently?"

Bucky lied several times, but finally admitted, "I crossed a name off my list of amends yesterday. Don't worry--I used all your three rules."

He continued, "Senator Atwood. She was a HYDRA pawn for years. Helped her get into office when I was the Winter Soldier. After HYDRA disbanded, she continued to abuse the power I gave her."

The bug Bucky planted in Atwood's car picked up her conversation. The senator said, "Make this go away. If Congressman Lockhart wants to speak up, silence him--for good."

Bucky wasn't sure telling the therapist did any good. Or even crossing a name off the list. But he resented the suggestion that he wasn't doing enough to be "a part of the world." So he turned on the news. And changed the course of history.

Because when he saw the news about Atwood's arrest, it did NOT mention her history. It barely mentioned her attempt to have her fellow legislator murdered. That made him realize exactly why Steve, Sam, and the others didn't sign the Sokovia Accords. Because there WERE still Hydra and other corrupt people in the world governments. And saying THEY got to control enahanced people...it was wrong.

Bucky decided that if he was going to be part of the world, then he was going to do something about this problem in it.

Bucky used his stealth training to secretly contact Sam. When Sam heard about what happened--and saw how people were still supporting the Sokovia Accords without knowing EXACTLY who they were giving power to--Sam also realized something had to be done.

So the two of them went on a road trip to see Scott Lang. He put them in touch with his crew. Luis, Kurt, and Dave started an anonymous campaign against the Sokovia Accords, using all of the information Sam and Bucky had on how the Accords ACTUALLY worked and exactly who the Accords put in charge.

Soon other people came forward with stories of friends and family hauled off to the Raft and never seen again. Hydra or Hydra-adjacent members of the governments around the world were exposed, along with Thaddeus Ross for his abuses of power. Rhodey, the last official Avenger, formally renounced the Accords, which were abolished.

The furor over the Sokovia Accords changed everything. Sam and Bucky still took their journeys to understanding and acceptance, but there wasn't all of the blood and death involved. Zemo stayed firmly in prison. Sharon Carter was exposed as a Skrull. And the retrospectives on Tony Stark now had an additional chapter about how he was on the wrong side of the debate over the Sokovia Accords--and history.

Chapter Text

It's kind of funny that Tony was actually telling the truth in Iron Man 1. Overall, his selfishness and recklessness cost more people their lives than he saved. Too bad someone wasn't able to point that out and steer Tony in a better direction.

Rhodey finished his briefing of the cover story Tony had agreed to for the armor. He finished by saying, "And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement. He will not be taking any questions. Thank you."

Tony stepped up to the podium and said, "Been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time. There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop--"

Christine Everhart said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared despite the fact that--"

Tony interrupted her to say, "I know that it's confusing. It is one thing to question the official story and another thing entirely to make wild accusations or insinuate that I'm a superhero--"

This time Christine interrupted Tony to point out, "I never said you were a superhero."

Tony looked at her and asked, "You didn't?"

Christine confirmed that she hadn't.

Tony said, "Well, good, because that would be outlandish and fantastic. I'm just not the hero type, clearly, with this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public--"

Rhodey murmured, "Just stick to the cards."

Tony replied to Rhodey, "Yeah, ok. Yeah."

But then he said to the crowd, "The truth is--I am Iron Man."

Christine replied, "We guessed that. The question is, should you be?"

As a murmur rose in the room, Tony leaned on the podium and said, "Excuse me?"

Christine leaned back and said, "You said it yourself: Based on your history, you are NOT the hero type. Your character defects and mistakes are a big part of the news cycle. Why would anyone put you in what is essentially a flying tank--or ALLOW you to operate one in any country's airspace, if you're putting yourself in one?"

Tony sensed the mood in the room was turning against him. He quickly said, "We're done here."

Chapter Text

It's incredible to me that Tony is so clueless about how much he betrayed Bruce by signing on to work for Thaddeus Ross, endorsing a document that would strip Bruce of his rights. Even Natasha seemed surprised at Tony's cluelessness. Also note how Tony sucks up to Ross.

In the command center, Secretary Ross said, "I don't suppose you have any idea where they are."

Tony replied, "We will. GSG-9's got the borders covered. Recon's flying 24/7. They'll get a hit. We'll handle it."

Ross scoffed and replied, "You don't get it, Stark. It's not yours to handle. It's clear you can't be objective. I'm putting Special Ops on this."

Natasha asked, "What happens when the shooting starts? What, do you kill Steve Rogers?"

Ross said, "If we're provoked. Barnes would've been eliminated in Romania if it wasn't for Rogers. There are dead people who would be alive now. Feel free to check my math."

Tony said, "All due respect, you're not going to solve this with boys in bullets, Ross. You gotta let us bring them in."

Ross asked, "How would that end any differently from the last time?"

Tony answered, "Because this time, I won't be wearing loafers and a silk shirt. 72 hours, guaranteed."

Ross said as he was leaving, "36 hours. Barnes. Rogers. Wilson."

Tony called after him, "Thank you, sir."

Then he asked, "My left arm is numb, is that normal?"

Natasha asked, "You all right?"

Tony replied, "Always. 36 hours, geez."

Natasha said, "We're seriously understaffed."

Tony said, "Oh, yeah. It'd be great if we had a Hulk right about now. Any shot?"

Natasha said, "You really think he'd be on our side?"

Tony replied, "No."

Natasha frowned and said, "Seriously, what do you think Bruce would say if he knew we were working with Thaddeus Ross. What would Bruce say about the Sokovia Accords?"

Tony shrugged and said, "Doesn't matter. We had to sign. THEY have to sign. You said it yourself, we have to stick together. It doesn't matter how."

Natasha shook her head and said, "I'm not sure this is the right call."

Tony stood up and said, "Well you'd better make up your mind before I get back with reinforcements."

In this universe, Natasha thought better of staying on a team taking orders from Thaddeus Ross. So she didn't recruit T'Challa, and she took out Peter before the fighting began.

Team Cap got away with no problems. T'Challa secretly followed, so he learned he was wrong about Bucky Barnes being the bomber. He offered the team sanctuary in Wakanda. Vision eventually joined them, so he was safe when the Black Order arrived.

And the Hulk had no problem coming out when Bruce found out exactly how Tony had betrayed him...

Chapter Text

I don't know who pointed this out, but Tony truly is a hypocrite all his life. Here in Age of Ultron, he's demanding they "own their actions" and "take a stand." Yet Tony NEVER acknowledged that Ultron was his genocidal program, which he uploaded without permission. What if Bruce pointed that out?

Note: Set in an AU where Bruce didn't leave Earth.

Tony finished his little speech about Charlie Spencer and how he was for oversight no matter what form it took, even the rights-violating Sokovia Accords.

Before anyone could speak, someone said, "So Tony, you were spouting crap a few years ago and you're still at it. I wish I could say I was surprised."

Everyone turned to see Bruce step from the shadows. He met each person's eyes, Vision first and Natasha last. He pointed at the Accords book and said, "I can't believe you're even CONSIDERING signing that thing."

Tony crossed his arms and said, "You've been out of the loop, Jolly Green. Making people think you were off the planet. So what gives you the right--"

Bruce interrupted to say, "I have the same right as YOU do, Mr. I Retired Before the Dust Even Settled on Sokovia."

Steve asked, "Bruce, what are you trying to say?"

Bruce replied, "That Tony is a liar. Don't believe him. I have proof."

Natasha said, "Okay...let's see it."

Bruce put a phone on the table. It projected Tony's lab at the Tower. Bruce and Tony were talking.

In the recording, Bruce said, "I can work on tissue degeneration, if you can fry whatever operational system Cho implanted."

Tony said, "Yeah, about that."

Bruce looked at Tony and said, "No."

Tony said, "You have to trust me."

Bruce shook his head and replied, "Kinda don't."

Tony said, "Our ally? The guy protecting the military's nuclear codes? I found him."

In the recording, Jarvis said, "Hello, Dr. Banner."

Tony said, "Ultron didn't go after Jarvis cause he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do. So Jarvis went underground. Okay? Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there, until I pieced him together."

Bruce gestured to the cradle and asked, "So, you want me to help you put Jarvis into this thing?"

Tony said, "No, of course not! I want to help you put Jarvis in this thing."

When Bruce shook his head, Tony continued, "We're out of my field here. You know bio-organics better than anyone."

Bruce asked, "And you just assume that JARVIS' operational matrix can beat Ultron's?"

Tony said, "JARVIS has been beating him from inside without knowing it. This is the opportunity, we can create Ultron's perfect self, without the homicidal glitches he thinks are his winning personality. We have to."

Jarvis said, "I believe it's worth a go."

Bruce said, "No, I'm in a loop! I'm caught in a time loop, this is exactly where it all went wrong."

Tony shrugged and said, "I know, I know. I know what everyone's going to say, but they're already saying it. We're mad scientists. We're monsters, buddy. You gotta own it. Make a stand. It's not a loop. It's the end of the line."

As the recording ended, Bruce said, "You know what's funny, Tony? You said everyone would call us monsters and mad scientists, and that we should own it and make a stand."

He crossed his arms and continued, "But nobody called us anything. Nobody knows Ultron was YOUR program and that YOUR personality matrix turned it genocidal. Because you DIDN'T own it and you DIDN'T take a stand."

Bruce shrugged and said, "I didn't either. But I'M not preaching to the people we lied to and telling them they need to sign away their rights because of a document WE caused."

Tony said, "What about Lagos?"

Bruce gestured and said, "Lagos was a psycho setting off a bomb that couldn't be stopped. SOKOVIA was your ego and my stupidity. So if you want ANYONE to sign the Sokovia Accords, own what you did. Admit YOU'RE the monster behind Ultron. Take a stand or sit down and shut up."

The rest of the group looked at Tony.

Tony sat down and shut up.

The Avengers rejected the Sokovia Accords that day. Rather than ratify a document that would cause every hero to retire, the United Nations representatives took a step back and never ratified the Sokovia Accords. There was no bombing.

Tony kicked the heroes out of the compound. Steve used some of his back pay to get them a more modest but cozier place closer to the city. Rhodey told Tony he would still be his friend even if Rhodey was still going to join his team on missions. Tony said it was him or them. Rhodey shook his head and said he hoped Tony would grow up someday and to call Rhodey when he did.

Zemo still tried to send the recording of the Winter Soldier's assassination of the Starks, but Vision made it--and the book with the triggers--disappear while providing the evidence that got Zemo arrested for murdering Karpov. When Bucky came in on his own, Wanda worked with him to defuse the triggers.

The other thing that Vision made disappear was Bruce's trail, so he could stay undisturbed at Cap's estate. Team Cap kept Dr. Strange from being kidnapped, so the Time Stone stayed on Earth.

Odin didn't die in this universe, so Thor, Loki, and the Asgardians were full strength when Thanos came. The Avengers and Dr. Strange destroyed Thanos and his minions on Asgard. There would be a lot of cleanup, but the universe was safe.

Chapter Text

This scene demonstrates how little respect Tony has for everyone but himself. Tony didn't care what kind of international incident it would cause or how he almost cost a pilot his life. All Tony cared about was that he was "upset" and wanted to lash out. This scene actually made me respect Rhodey less, because despite Tony's severe violations, Rhodey covers up Tony's crimes. What if he didn't?

In the command center, a captain said, "Captain: What the hell was that? Were we cleared to go in there?"

An analyst replied, "No sir, they were using human shields. We never got the green light."

The major said, "Put me through to State. They're going to be all over this."

The analysts said quickly, "Get those monitors up! We got a bogey! Wasn't Air Force!"

The major asked, "We got the CIA on the line?"

The captain nodded and said, "I've got Langley on the line. They want to know if it's us."

The analysts continued to provide information. They said, "No, it definitely is not us, sir! It wasn't Navy. Wasn't Marines."

The major shouted, "I need answers! Can I please get eyes on target?"

One of the analysts replied, "Negative, negative. Cannot identify."

The major ordered, "Get me Colonel Rhodes from weapons development down here now!"

When Rhodey entered, the major said, "We ran an ID check and cross-referenced with all known databases. We have nothing."

Rhodey asked, "Any high-altitude surveillance in the region?"

The captain replied, "We got an AWAC and a Global Hawk in the area."

Rhodey said, "So, this thing just appeared out of nowhere? How come it didn't show up on the radar?"

One of the analysts replied, "Got a minimal radar cross-section, sir."

Rhodey frowned and asked, "Is it stealth?"

The analyst shook his head and said, "No, sir, it's tiny. We think it's an unmanned aerial vehicle."

The major asked, "Colonel, what are we dealing with here?"

Rhodey had a horrible suspicion. He said, "Let me make a call."

Rhodey wasn't sure how to react when Tony answered the phone and said, "Hello?"

Rhodey asked, "Tony?"

Tony asked, "Who's this?"

Rhodey wondered at Tony's reaction, but said, "It's Rhodes."

Tony said, "Sorry, hello?"

Rhodey said louder, "I said it's Rhodes."

Tony said, "Speak up, please."

Rhodey asked, "What in the hell is that noise?"

Tony replied, "Oh, yeah, I'm driving with the top down."

Rhodey said, "Yeah, well, I need your help right now."

Tony said snarkily, "It's funny how that works, huh?"

Rhodey ignored it and said, "Yeah. Speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive."

Tony said, "Well, that's a hot spot. Sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you, huh?"

Rhodey asked suspiciously, "Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?"

Tony replied, "I'm not, I was just jogging in the canyon."

Rhodey pointed out, "I thought you were driving."

Tony said, "Right, I was driving to the canyon, where I'm going to jog."

Rhodey asked, "You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?"

Tony replied, "Nope!"

Rhodey heard the analyst say, "Bogey spotted! Whiplash, come in hot."

Rhodey said to Tony, "Okay, good, because I'm staring at one right now, and it's about to be blown to kingdom come."

Tony said, "That's my exit."

In the command center, Rhodey heard the pilot say, "Ballroom, this is Whiplash One. I've got the bogey in my sights."

Rhodey asked, "Whiplash One, what is it?"

The pilot replied, "I've got no idea."

The major asked, "You have radio contact?"

The pilot said, "Non-responsive, sir."

The major said, "Then you are clear to engage."

The pilot shouted, "That bogey just went supersonic. I got a lock!"

Rhodey tensed as the pilot said, "Wait a second. Bogey deployed flares!"

The analyst said, "That thing just jumped off the radar, sir."

Another analyst confirmed, "The sat visual has been lost."

The first pilot said, "No way that's a UAV."

Rhodey still wasn't sure how to react when he answered his phone. He heard Tony say, "Hi, Rhodey, it's me."

Rhodey replied, "It's who?"

Tony said, "I'm sorry, it is me. You asked. What you were asking about is me."

Rhodey frowned and said, "No, see, this isn't a game. You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. You understand that?"

Tony said, "This is not a piece of equipment. I'm in it. It's a suit. It's me!"

The major asked, "Rhodes, you got anything for me?"

Suddenly one of the pilots saw the Iron Man armor clinging to the other jet's underside. When the pilot tried to shake off Tony, the jet was destroyed. The pilot's chute wouldn't open.

Rhodey felt a sense of dread as the remaining pilot said, "Sir, I've got a visual on the bogey."

The major ordered, "Whiplash Two, reengage. If you get a clear shot, you take it."

Rhodey said, "Major, we don't even know what we're shooting at. Call off the Raptors."

The major looked at Rhodey as if he was crazy. He pointed out, "That thing just took out an F-22 inside a legal no fly zone! Whiplash Two, if you have a clear shot, take it!"

Rhodey felt the relief shared by everyone in the room as Tony pulled the handle to get the pilot's chute to open. But he couldn't shake how far Tony had gone over the line this time.

Rhodey asked, "Tony, you still there?"

Tony replied, "Hey, thanks."

Rhodey said, "You almost killed that man. Who was just doing his job, protecting his country's interests from an invader in a designated no-fly zone. What the hell were you thinking?""

Tony said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa there, flyboy. It's a happy ending, right?"

Rhodey shook his head and said, "Is that really what you think? This is an international incident. What am I supposed to tell the press?"

Rhodey could hear Tony's shrug as Tony said, "Training exercise. Isn't that the usual BS?"

As Tony hung up, Rhodey made some decisions. He wasn't going to lie and say good pilots had 'accidents' and he wasn't going to lie about what Tony did in Gulmira.

If an international committee found Tony's actions justified--and they could--Tony would have a clear record. If he didn't...he'd face the consequences of his actions.

When Tony landed on his roof, he found a welcoming committee carrying handcuffs. Tony ordered Jarvis to destroy all records of his work and put Pepper in charge of everything before he was hauled away.

Chapter Text

All the prop-Tony writers bleated for years about how Tony was paying everyone so it was wrong for them to "betray" him. (It's more prop-Tony hypocrisy. I sincerely doubt any of these writers allow the head of their company to dictate their life or voting choices because the company provides them with an income.) Now we have evidence Tony never actually paid anyone a dime.

Note: We're going off script. :)

The banker sifted through the forms in front of him. Sam shared a glance with his sister Sarah as they waited for a response.

The banker said, "You know what I always wondered? How do you guys make a living? I mean, your financials are all over the place. Is there some kind of fund for heroes? Or did Stark pay you when he was around? My condolences, by the way.”

Sam wanted to say the second time he'd met Tony Stark, Stark had shot Sam while Sam was unarmed and coming to provide medical aid to a downed Rhodey. Instead he replied, “Thank you, but no, it doesn't really work like that. There's a tremendous amount of goodwill and because of that people are inclined to help, which applies to the business.”

After a few more minutes of conversation, the banker admitted he wasn't allowed to approve the loan under the post-Snap rules. But he did have a few suggestions...

This universe didn't have any Iron Man murals. But they did have lots of Black Widow ones.

Instead, there was a new insult: "Well isn't that so Tony Stark of you." It meant you only SAID you were following the rules and you only PRETENDED to be doing the right thing, but in fact you were just as selfish and reckless as the day you started.

Sam's tell-all book--which included interviews with Steve, Bruce, Clint, Maria, and others who were there all along--made him a best-selling author and made sure he'd never need to ask for a loan again. Because Sam was NOT like Tony, he actually did use a good portion of his profits to give loans to those who otherwise wouldn't get them. Which was so Sam Wilson of him.

Chapter Text

Tony revealed himself in Endgame to be a fascist, a hypocrite, and selfish on a cosmic scale. What if someone pointed out how Steve is NOT the one who hid for years after Civil War doing nothing, and how ironic Tony is calling the OTHERS tired old mules.

Note: Tony doesn't get to faint and avoid the consequences of his stupidity here. I'll be covering the rest of RDJ's "brilliant" monologue in other chapters.

After Tony Stark finished blaming everyone else for what Carol thought was Stark's own stupidity, he turned to Carol and said, "We need you. You're new blood. Bunch of tired old mules!"

Carol lifted an eyebrow, then watched as Stark turned to Steve Rogers and said, "I got nothing for you, Cap! I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liar."

SHE would have punched Stark in the face, but apparently Rogers had more patience with withered idiots.

Then Stark ripped a device off his chest and shoved it at Rogers, saying, "Here, take this. You find him, and you put that on. You hide."

Stark tried to do a heel-turn, but wobbled it and Rhodes caught his arm.

Carol had enough. She walked up to Stark and said, "I remember hearing about you back in the day. Playboy billionaire who didn't give a damn who used his weapons or the damage they did. Looks like you didn't get any smarter."

Before Stark could say anything, she continued, "Why are you calling THEM tired old mules? YOU'RE the stubborn mule who took off in a spaceship with the Time Stone and took it right to Thanos."

She gestured toward Romanov and said, "She filled me in on the last few years. THEY were keeping the world safe while YOU were sitting on your ass. YOU were the one who was hiding. Until you screwed up the universe and now WE'RE going to be stuck cleaning up your mess."

Romanov muttered, "Not for the first time."

Stark's jaw kept flapping open, but nothing came out.

Rhodes pulled Stark away and said, "Come on. Bruce will give you a sedative."

Carol dusted her hands and said, "Now that's settled, I've got to be on my way."

Romanov asked, "Where are you going?"

Carol replied, "To kill Thanos."

Chapter Text

Tony actually pushes himself on people pretty regularly. It would have been nice if Pepper put her foot down right at the beginning.

Pepper saw Tony and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Tony replied, "Just avoiding government agents."

Pepper looked around and asked, "Are you by yourself?"

Considering Tony's usual behavior, she was surprised.

Tony replied, "Yes. Where did you get that dress?"

Pepper shrugged and said, "Oh, it was a birthday present."

Tony said, "That's great."

Pepper admitted, "From you, actually."

Tony said, "Well, I got great taste."

Pepper, "Yes."

Tony asked, "You want to dance?"

Pepper moved back and said, "Oh, no."

Tony ignored her answer and grabbed her hand. He said, "All right, come on."

As she was pulled to the dance floor, Pepper repeated, "Thank you. No."

Tony ignored her again and started dancing with her. He asked, "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

Pepper didn't roll her eyes as she replied, "No. No. I always forget to wear deodorant and dance with my boss in front of everyone that I work with in a dress with no back."

Tony said, "You look great and you smell great."

Pepper was very aware of the eyes on them as she said, "Oh, God."

Tony said, "But I could fire you if that would take the edge off."

Pepper thought that was kind of an insult, that she'd rather be unemployed if it meant she could dance with Tony. She said, "I actually don't think that you could tie your shoes without me."

Tony said, "I'd make it a week."

Pepper doubted that. She asked, "Really? What's your Social Security number?"

Tony replied, "Five."

She wasn't sure whether to believe him. She asked, "Five?"

He replied, "Right."

Pepper said, "Right. You're missing just a couple of digits there."

Tony said, "The other eight? So, I got you for the other eight."

After a few moments he asked, "How about a little air?"

Pepper said, "Yes, I need some air. That was totally weird."

Tony waved it off by saying, "Totally harmless."

Pepper said, "It was totally not harmless, by the way."

Tony again ignored her concern. He said, "We're dancing. No one's even watching."

Pepper insisted, "Everybody who I work with... No, you know why?"

Tony said, "I think you lost objectivity. I think they just... People... We just danced."

Pepper was losing patience. She said, "No, it was not just a dance. You don't understand because you're you. And everybody knows exactly who you are and how you are with girls and all of that, which is completely fine. But, you know, then me, you're my boss, and I'm dancing with you."

Tony refused to listen. He said, "I don't think it was taken that way."

Pepper said, "Because it makes me look like the one who's trying to..."

Tony said, "I just think you're overstating it."

Pepper gritted her teeth and said, "You know, and we're here, and then I'm wearing this ridiculous dress, and then we were dancing like that and..."

She took a deep breath and said, "And I would prefer it if you treated me with more respect."

Tony leaned back. He looked insulted as he said, "Excuse me?"

Pepper said, "I told you that I did NOT want to dance. You ignored me. You ignore everyone who says something you don't want to hear."

She stepped away from Tony and said, "I'll see you at work on Monday."

In this universe, Pepper got out of the relationship the moment Tony's recklessness caused an Iron Man suit to almost shoot her in her own bed. She was nowhere around to be kidnapped and injected with Extremis.

Without Pepper cleaning up Tony's many mistakes, he was held accountable for his actions and ended up not surviving his encounter with Aldrich Killian. Bad for Tony, but better for the universe.

Chapter Text

You know, it's bad enough that Tony kept the arc reactor for himself. But apparently he had the equivalent of the Star Trek replicators, and kept THAT for himself as well. What if instead of having May make a stupid comment about a tanning bed, she really got to react to this sign of Tony's self-centeredness?

Otto Octavius was unimpressed at his surroundings. He said, "So this is your plan, Peter? Mmm? No lab, no facilities, just performing miracles in a condominium? What, you're gonna cook up some cures, some frozen burritos in a microwave?"

Norman Osborn remarked from where he was working on Tony Stark's Dum-E robot, "I could go for a burrito."

Otto said, "He's gonna kill us all."

Peter shrugged and said, "Well, let's hope not. You're up first, Doc."

As he went next door, Otto shouted after him, "What? Hey, I told you. I don't need fixing. I don't need fixing! Especially by a teenager using scraps from a bachelor's junk drawer."

Peter walked into his room and revealed a device with the Stark Industries logo on it.

Osborn asked, "What the hell is that?"

Peter replied, "It's a fabricator."

He pressed a button and it turned into a mini-lab.

Peter said, "It can analyze, design, construct...basically anything."

May shook her head and said, "I know Stark kept all his billions for himself. Iron Man never showed his face for five years no matter what tragedies occurred. But now you're telling me that with all of the supply problems people experienced during the Snap, Stark had this sitting around and did NOTHING to help?"

Peter frowned and said, "Um, maybe? I just know I have this one."

May said, "We need to talk about this later."

Somehow that little shift in timing made a big difference in this universe. The villains' plans failed, May lived, and Peter was still known as Spider-Man. But he was also as the person who convinced Pepper Potts that even though Tony hoarded all his resources for himself, his widow and daughter didn't have to do the same.

And THAT got J. Johnah Jameson (and the world) off Peter's back.

Chapter Text

It's incredibly ironic that Tony slams Clint and the others for breaking the law, after TONY broke a lot more laws in turning Peter into a child soldier. And then right after, Tony exposes Clint' family to Thaddeus Ross before breaking even MORE laws.

What if someone pointed that out?

On the Raft, Barton looked Tony up and down and said, "Criminals, Tony. Think that's the word you're looking for. Right? That didn't used to mean me. Or Sam, or Wanda. But here we are."

Tony puffed up and said, "Because you broke the law."

Barton crossed his arms and said, "Yeah."

He leaned against the wall of his cell and continued, "And so did you."

Tony gulped and stepped back. He watched Falcon and the other guy move as close as they could to listen.

Barton smirked and said, "You really thought nobody would figure it out?"

Tony said, "Shut up." He was all too aware of Ross listening to every word.

Barton shrugged and said, "I'm sure you'll enjoy the accommodations here as much as we do."

Tony spun on his heel and left. As he was heading for his helicopter, Ross called out, "I'll be in touch."

In this universe, Steve and Bucky captured Zemo and Zemo never managed to expose the Winter Soldier's past. T'Challa reached out to Steve after learning Zemo was the one who killed his father, so Bucky still got help with his triggers and a shiny new arm, but didn't go into cryo.

Natasha figured out where the others had been taken and she and Steve got them out of the Raft.

Tony was hyper-aware that if Ross found out about Spider-Man he'd have something to hold over Tony, so Tony cut all ties with Peter. Peter was much better off.

The most important change was that NOBODY trusted Tony, so Vision monitored Tony even after he left to be with Wanda. So Vision found out in plenty of time that he was a target. He had the full power of the Mind Stone combined with Wanda's powers to take Thanos out even before Thor arrived.

Chapter Text

It's funny. So many people claim Tony changed in Iron Man 1. But not really. He still made WMDs up until the day he died, and he still didn't care who they harmed. And he never stopped making money as a war profiteer, one way or another.

Tony didn't know where he was, just a gray space with no horizon.

Suddenly a stern-faced man appeared and said, "So at least one universe is finally free of you."

Tony said, "What the hell?"

The man said, "Not yet. First you must understand why your fate is sealed."

The man gestured and suddenly they were somehow inside an SUV full of soldiers in the desert. Tony cringed at what he knew was coming.

The Tony Stark seated in the SUV said, "I feel like you're driving me to a court-martial. This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're going to pull over and snuff me. What, you're not allowed to talk? Hey, Forrest!"

Forrest said, "We can talk, sir."

PastTony said, "Oh, I see. So it's personal?"

The driver said, "No, you intimidate them."

PastTony said, "Good God, you're a woman. I honestly--I couldn't have called that. I mean, I'd apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first."

The driver replied, "I'm an airman."

PastTony, "Well you have, actually, excellent bone structure, there. I'm kind of having a hard time not looking at you now. Is that weird? Come on, it's okay, laugh."

One of the other soldiers said, "Sir, I have a question to ask. Is it true you went 12 for 12 with last year's Maxim cover models?"

Past Tony said, "That is an excellent question. Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately, the Christmas cover was twins. Anything else?"

Another soldier asked if it was okay to take a picture with him.

Past Tony said, "Yes. It's very cool. I don't want to see this on your MySpace page."

When the soldier put his fingers in a peace sign, Past Tony said, "Please, no gang signs. No, throw it up. I'm kidding. Yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job with peace."

The man turned to Tony and said, "This is great irony, because it was never peace you brought to your universe. Instead it was destruction, through your selfishness, carelessness, and recklessness. You wanted peace for YOURSELF, and did not care who else must pay the price for it. So many lives snuffed out forever because you wanted your peaceful life by the lakeside."

The man said, "It is fitting that there will be no peace--or rest--for you."

He gestured and the gray fog rolled away. In its place was a field that stretched as far as the eye could see. And piles of corpses everywhere you looked.

The man said, "These are your victims. Your fate is to destroy their bodies in death as you did their lives."

As the man disappeared, Tony found Iron Man gauntlets on his hands. He had a strange compulsion to drag a corpse from the first pile, then slowly dissolve the body in the beam until it was gone. Now he knew how Sisyphus felt.

Chapter Text

Tony is incredibly dismissive of everyone in Homecoming. Here, he hand-waves the Vulture as not important enough for the Avengers to deal with. Given the amount of destruction the Vulture suit was capable of...

Peter explained the Vulture situation to Iron Man, saying, "And then he just, he just, like, swooped down like a monster and he picked me up and, uh, he took me up, like, a thousand feet and just dropped me. How’d you find me? Did you put a tracker in my suit or something?"

Mr. Stark replied, "I put everything in your suit. Including this heater."

Peter was shocked that his suit dried instantly. He said, "Whew, that’s better. Thanks."

Then he shivered, because the suit might be dry but he was still recovering.

Mr. Stark asked, "What were you thinking?"

Peter replied, "The guy with the wings is obviously the source of the weapons. I gotta take him down."

Tony said, "Take him down now, huh? Steady, Crockett, there are people who handle this sort of thing."

Peter asked, "The Avengers?"

Mr. Stark dismissed the idea by saying, "No, no, no. This is a little below their pay grade."

Peter said, "Anyway, Mr. Stark, you didn’t have to come all the way out here. I had that. I was fine."

Mr. Stark said, "Oh, I’m not here. Thank God this place has Wi-Fi or you would be toast right now. Thank Ganesh while you’re at it."

From the reference, Peter guessed Mr. Stark was actually in India.

It made Peter wonder who was keeping an eye on things locally. Now that he thought about it, NONE of the remaining Avengers had been seen doing anything since Liepzig.

Mr. Stark said, "Look, forget the flying vulture guy, please."

Peter asked, "Why?"

Mr. Stark, "Why? Because I said so!"

Peter sat straighter and said, "That's not good enough."

Mr. Stark sounded angry when he said, "Listen, kid--"

Peter said, "You didn't consider me a kid when you told me to attack Captain America."

Mr. Stark replied, "If Cap wanted to take you down, he would have. He was going easy on you."

Peter said, "Is that what you were counting on? That Captain America and his team wouldn't hurt me? Well they weren't the ones who hurt Colonel Rhodes."

He stood up and said, "I wish I knew where Captain America was, because I bet HE wouldn't think a man in an armored suit stealing and hurting people would be below HIS pay grade."

Peter webbed the Iron Man armor to ground it. As he webbed away, he realized Mr. Stark didn't say whether there was a tracker in the suit or not.

If there was, it would be gone soon. Peter hoped it was that easy to dump Iron Man himself.

Chapter Text

I find it funny how prop-Tony folks excuse Tony taking an underage Peter to Germany to be Tony's child soldier. Excuses range from "Tony had to have cleared it with Ross or someone" to "Tony was desperate for help" to "Aunt May knew Tony was taking Peter to Germany." That last one is incredibly stupid. Peter doesn't have a passport--how could he be leaving the country legally? Not to mention Aunt May doesn't like Tony and would never have permitted it--especially if Tony had told her the real way he planned to exploit Peter. She actually should have been allowed to put it together--a New York hero at an international conference the same time Peter was at the retreat? And wouldn't Stark BE at a Stark internship retreat, if only for the photo op?

What if Peter wised up while in the limo?

Mr. Stark must have seen Peter working on his phone, because he asked, "What are you doing, a little video diary?"

Peter ducked his head and answered, "Yeah."

Mr. Stark shrugged and said, "It’s all right. I’d probably do the same."

Up front, Happy grumbled, "I told him not to do it. He was filming everything."

Mr. Stark said, "It’s okay."

Happy continued, "I’m gonna wipe the chip."

Mr. Stark sat up and said, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. You know what? We should actually...we should make an alibi video for your aunt anyway. You ready?"

He took off his sunglasses to prepare.

Peter replied, "Yeah, hold on."

Mr. Stark asked, "We rolling?"

Peter replied, "An alibi? Sure."

He frowned a little as he thought about lying even more to May than he already did as the Friendly NEIGHBORHOOD Spider-Man.

Mr. Stark said, "Get in the frame."

Peter moved and said, "Okay."

Mr. Stark leered and said, "Hey, May. How you doing? What are you wearing? Something skimpy, I hope."

Peter's frowned deepened as Tony smirked and patted Peter's shoulder.

Mr. Stark said, "Peter, that’s inappropriate. All right, let’s start over. You can edit it."

Peter only replied, "Mm-hmm."

Mr. Stark said, "Three, two, one. Hey, May. My gosh, uh, I wanted to tell you what an incredible job your nephew did this weekend at the Stark internship retreat. Everyone was impressed."

Peter shook his head and asked, "By what? What am I going to say when May asks me what I did at the retreat?"

Mr. Stark leaned back and shrugged. He answered, "Whatever--make something up."

Peter moved away from Mr. Stark. He said, "Mr. Stark, I don't understand what I was actually doing in Germany. Captain America didn't seem crazy at all--he seemed focused. And the others were willing to get captured to let him and the other guy get away, so whatever it was must have been important."

Mr. Stark looked a little angry as he snapped, "Zip it, kid. You don't know what you're talking about."

Peter nodded and said, "EXACTLY. Why DON'T I know? What didn't you tell me?"

Mr. Stark gave a kind of sickly smile. He said, "Hey hey hey, let's not lose our cool, here. You hit your head harder than we thought? 'Cause you're not the same Peter Parker I met a few days ago."

Peter thought about how he'd get home if Mr. Stark dumped him now. He shrugged and said, "Sorry, Mr. Stark. I get a little excited sometimes."

Mr. Stark clapped him on the shoulder and said, "No problem. Now let's talk about asset management. Happy, here, he wants to move up from Forehead of Security..."

When Peter finally got dropped off, he sat on the stoop for a little while, thinking about right and wrong and lies and truth.

So when Aunt May asked about the retreat and what Peter had gotten up to, he told her--and showed her the unedited video he'd taken of the whole trip.

It turned out Aunt May was kind of a badass when it came to protecting Peter. She put serious mama-bear energy into restoring enhanced rights and abolishing the Sokovia Accords--and holding Tony Stark accountable. When Ned found the tracker in Peter's suit--and Peter discovered the instant-kill mode--she used words about Mr. Stark that Peter didn't even know May KNEW.

Pepper Potts later made the announcement that Mr. Stark would be spending all of his time at the Avengers Compound and was retired from public life.

May told Peter it was a nice way of saying permanent house arrest.

Peter wondered if Mr. Stark was now wearing the tracker.

Chapter Text

This isn't about Tony directly, but it is an example of how Civil War didn't allow Team Cap to make their points, because this would have been a perfect opening for Steve to point out 1) how Hydra had infiltrated the government, 2) how Ross is NOT someone to look up to because he has a medal, and 3) control is not oversight.

Note: Steve received his medal in The First Avenger. He didn't show up for the ceremony because of the war. It's the scene where Stan Lee says, "I thought he'd be taller." Set in an AU where there's more time for debate before Steve is called away.

The team hadn't gotten very far in their discussion when Rhodey looked at Sam and said, "Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have."

Steve looked up and said, "I have one."

In the suddenly quiet room, Steve shifted to look over at the men and asked, "Does that mean my opinion is worth more than yours, Rhodey?"

Steve shook his head and put down the Accords. He continued, "I don't think so. Alexander Pierce was offered a Nobel Peace Prize, and he turned out to be Hydra. The World Security Council tried to nuke New York. And Ross may have a Medal of Honor, but he also hunted Bruce like an animal and called both Bruce and Thor weapons. That's what the Sokovia Accords want to do, register and control human beings like we're nothing more than weapons in an arsenal."

Sam nodded and said, "Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That book there, it says that you can be locked up with no lawyer and no limit to how long you can be held. Just because somebody like Ross decides you're a threat."

Wanda said quietly, "Not for something you DID, but for being what you are."

Rhodey looked troubled.

Vision said, "I have an equation."

Sam snorted and said, "Oh, this will clear it up."

Vision continued, "In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate."

Steve frowned and asked, "Are you saying it's our fault?"

Vision replied, "I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict...breeds catastrophe. Oversight...oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."

Steve shook his head and said, "There's two things wrong with your statement, Vision. Correlation is NOT causation. Especially when most of the threats we faced preceded us. Hydra existed before I got the serum. The Chitauri were already hunting for the Tesseract."

Sam nodded and said, "Rumlow was already a piece of crap who was after a bioweapon."

Vision looked thoughtful, then asked Steve, "What is the second thing?"

Steve picked up the book again and said, "You seem to be suggesting that the Sokovia Accords equal oversight, but there's nothing about oversight in this document. It's all about control. We can't act unless or until the United Nations panel gives permission. Plus the lack of due process or habeas corpus--that's punishment for stepping out of line, not oversight."

Vision frowned and said, "I must reconsider."

Natasha said, "I may need to rethink this as well. I thought maybe we should sign to keep a hand on the wheel and keep the team together. But what already happened to Bruce...if he came back, this would be even worse."

Tony leapt off the couch he was sprawled on and said, "No! There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys."

Natasha looked straight at Tony and asked, "You mean like secretly using alien technology to upload your personal genocidal AI?"

Tony glared and replied, "Yes."

Steve said, "You're right, Tony, that we need to decide. And Vision, you're right that oversight is something that should be considered. But there would have to be safeguards, and the Sokovia Accords don't have a single one."

He stood and said, "According to Ross, our only choices are sign or retire. I won't sign, so I guess I'm retired."

One by one, the others nodded. Except for Tony, who stomped off muttering about traitors and betrayal.

The team crafted a press release outlining why they would not be signing the Sokovia Accords and suggesting alternatives--including actually having the team participate in creating new guidelines and seeking public feedback rather than the United Nations working in secret.

With no one except Tony willing to sign, the ratification was postponed. Zemo didn't have a chance to force Bucky out into the open, so Bucky had time to approach Steve when he was ready.

Natasha started keeping closer tabs on Tony. When she saw the plans for Edith, she leaked evidence of how Tony was the creator of the Ultron AI. When Zemo saw that, he changed his focus from destroying the Avengers to destroying Tony Stark.

He succeeded, but ended up being caught by the Avengers and sent to jail.

Without the Accords, this Earth was united and ready when the Black Order came, so Thanos was easily defeated.

Chapter Text

Wow, talk about irony. Tony's body count is higher than most MCU villains', especially if you count all the deaths in the wake of the Snap he insisted be kept for his own personal paradise. Prop-Tony folks claim that Tony changed in Iron Man 1, but he really didn't. He may have stopped selling weapons, but never stopped making them. (And never put safeguards or security on them, except for that easily hackable protocol on Peter's suit.) Tony also never gave the arc reactor to the world, just himself. So he really was a selfish bastard until the day he died.

At the press conference after Afghanistan, Tony was fielding questions from reporters.

One man shouted, "What happened over there?"

Tony replied, "I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be."

He paused and continued, "What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well."

Obadiah Stane approached Tony and said, "Tony, we're a weapons manufacturer."

Tony said, "Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy."

Obadiah shrugged and replied, "That's what we do. We're iron mongers. We make weapons."

Tony said, "It's my name on the side of the building."

Obadiah frowned and said, "And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos."

Tony shook his head and said, "Not based on what I saw. We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else."

Obadiah asked, "Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?"

Tony said, "I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology."

After a few more minutes of conversation, Tony walked down a corridor. Suddenly he was yanked into a room. A guy dressed like Mandrake the Magician--but with a kind of cool beard--pressed Tony to the wall and said, "I should kill you right now."

Tony gulped, but tried to play it cool. He asked, "Any particular reason?"

The man said, "The universe would be better off."

Tony frowned and said, "How?"

The guy replied, "You CLAIM you want to do good. You CLAIM the arc reactor technology is what you want to focus on. But those are just lies you're telling yourself. You'll tell even worse lies to justify your selfishness. What YOU want and what YOU need are more important than the whole universe."

Tony sneered and said, "Just go back to whatever asylum you escaped from."

The man gestured and suddenly Tony was seeing a fast-forward film of a life--his life. He stops selling weapons but keeps making them without bothering with safety protocols. He miniaturizes the arc reactor, but keeps it for himself. Tony does a couple of good deeds, but he also sees the enormous amount of damage he does and the pain, suffering, and death people experience because Tony makes some incredibly bad choices and refuses to admit that he's wrong.

When his future self dies, Tony is jerked back to the room and the guy. Tony asks, "What the hell was that?"

The man replied, "One possible future. Where you didn't bother to think of anyone but yourself and everyone else paid the price. Where a pile of bodies IS your legacy."

Then the man leaned in and said, "Do better this time--or I WILL end you."

Then the guy gestured again. A giant glowing circle appeared. The guy stepped into it and disappeared.

Wong watched Stephen exit the portal and asked, "So how did it go?"

Strange nodded and said, "This Stark manages to pull his head out of his ass. It's a much better world."

Wong said, "Only how many million more to go?"

Strange shrugged and said, "However many it takes."

As the two men walked toward the kitchen, Wong said, "At least you didn't get any blood on the cape this time."

Chapter Text

I've noticed that a lot of the prop-Tony folks make a big deal about the 117 countries who voted for the Sokovia Accords. They claim Steve “spat in the face” of those countries and “ignored the will of the people” for not signing. But how is that the case? Steve didn’t try to prevent the enactment of the Sokovia Accords by those 117 countries. All Steve ever did was refuse to sign them and explain why. He gave very good reasons, and asked serious questions about what happens when the Avengers disagree with the United Nations panel. (Note that Tony never answered him.)

Steve’s purpose was to save as many lives as possible and to keep the power to choose and accept responsibility for his own actions. Tony's purpose was to have someone else to blame when things went wrong, and to be both Iron Man and Pepper's boyfriend. Considering that Tony signed the Accords and then violated them multiple times, which character actually “spat in the face” of the 117 countries?

Rhodey threw up his hands and said, ”A hundred and seventeen countries want to sign this, 117, and you’re just like, ‘No, that’s cool, we got it’.”

Steve leaned forward and said, “Rhodey, that 117 countries want to sign doesn’t change the fact that I don’t agree with WHAT they want to sign.”

Vision seemed reluctant to say, “One hundred-seventeen countries is barely 60 percent of the United Nations. It can hardly be viewed as a mandate.”

Natasha said, “It’s also very suspicious that the world only heard about the Sokovia Accords three days before ratification. All these policy decisions made in secret? All of the EVENT coordination done in secret? Why hide your plans unless you don’t want to give someone time to counteract them?”

Tony jumped up and said, “You have to sign! Are you saying you’re better than 117 countries? You can’t just ignore the will of the people!”

Wanda said, “I can only speak for Sokovia. But I KNOW if there was a representative of Sokovia signing the Accords, it would NOT be the people who made the decision.”

Sam nodded and said, “A lot of the places that are signing are known for their human-rights violations. So I’m not surprised they’re willing to strip rights from people.”

Steve said, “And they’re trying to turn people into weapons. That sounds like a Hydra plan, and we know that Hydra wasn’t only in the United States.”

Rhodey sighed and said, “I have to admit, this is sounding less and less like something I want to do.”

Tony said, “We can change it--we can change everything. AFTER we sign.”

Rhodey gave Tony the side-eye and said, “You do know that’s not how contracts work, right?”

Chapter Text

The brief conversation between Jennifer and Bruce at Bruce's bar confirmed Tony's behavior in the five years of the Snap. Tony did NOT spend his time helping deal with the consequences of the Snap. (Even though Tony played a big part in making it happen by taking the Time Stone to Titan.) Tony did NOT use his wealth or technology to make the world a better place. He just bought a private island for his buddy Bruce and a private lake for himself. And Tony did NOT admit his mistakes, even to himself. Instead, he again pushed the blame on someone else. What if Jennifer pointed that out?

Jennifer Walters, now known as She-Hulk, looked around the Hulk-scale room. She said, "You built this bar, by hand? That's impressive."

Bruce nodded and replied, "Yeah, me and Tony. Well, Tony mostly drank. Just sat around, like, complaining about Steve."

Jennifer said, "Oh, Steve."

Bruce shrugged and said, "It was a good time during a hard time."

Jennifer bit her lip, then said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but...that's it? Half the population of EVERY person and animal gone in a snap, and Tony Stark sat around a bar and complained about Steve Rogers? Instead of, you know, HELPING?"

Bruce sighed and looked at the beach. He said, "I try not to think about that. In Wakanda, all those people turning to dust. And then the reports--planes crashing, cars crashing, looting..."

He looked at his cousin and spread his hands as he continued, "I couldn't handle it. Maybe if I'd been able to Hulk out when Thanos showed up, things would have been different. So I...checked out for a while."

Jennifer gestured at Bruce and said, "And spent a lot of months turning into...Bruce 3.0. I get that."

She put her drink down and said, "But I don't get Stark. He had--still had--BILLIONS. And arc reactors and robots and the most powerful computers on the planet. And all he did was get drunk off his ass. And spend his time complaining about a hero who DIDN'T have the bright idea to take an Infinity Stone to the maniac who wanted that stone. HOW does that make sense?"

Bruce ran a hand down his face and said, "It doesn't. Any more than Tony and me lying to Thor and the rest of the team so we could use Loki's scepter behind their backs to upload Ultron."

He picked up his drink, took a sip, and continued, "And I miss the guy, but that--that's Tony in a nutshell. Cause the problem, leave somebody else to deal with the mess."

Jennifer lifted her drink and said, "I was going to toast to your good time during hard times, but I think I'd rather toast to the heroes who helped everyone keep going during those hard times."

She looked at Bruce and said, "Especially Natasha Romanov, who did her best to hold the world together when everything fell apart."

Bruce gave a small, sad smile and gently touched his glass to hers.

Chapter Text

Tony admitted he didn't care about accountability or oversight, he just wanted to keep being Iron Man and get back Pepper. Steve should have been allowed to call Tony out on his selfishness right there.

Steve watched warily as Tony pulled something out of his jacket pocket.

Tony said, "Hey, you wanna see something cool? I pulled something from Dad's archives. Felt timely."

He showed off a box with two pens and continued, "FDR signed the Lend-Lease bill with these in 1941. Provided support to the Allies when they needed it most."

Steve didn't roll his eyes. Instead he simply said, "Some would say it brought our country closer to war."

Tony frowned, then said, "See? If not for these, you wouldn't be here. I'm trying to...what do you call it? That's an olive branch. Is that what you call it?"

Steve didn't want to point out that the real comparison to the Accords was NOT the Lend-Lease bill. Instead, he looked around and said, "Is Pepper here? I didn't see her."

He wondered if Pepper even knew about the contents of the Sokovia Accords. It didn't seem like any of the company lawyers had bothered to read the document before Tony signed.

Tony shifted and said, "We're kinda...well, not kinda..."

Steve asked, "Pregnant?"

Tony scoffed and said, "No. Definitely not. We're taking a break. It's nobody's fault."

Steve had a good idea whose fault it was, but he replied, "I'm so sorry, Tony. I didn't know."

After a moment, Tony said, "A few years ago, I almost lost her, so I trashed all my suits. Then, we had to mop up HYDRA...and then Ultron. My fault. And then, and then, and then, I never stopped. Because the truth is I don't wanna stop. I don't wanna lose her. I thought maybe the Accords could split the difference. "

Steve sat in stunned shock.

Tony stood up and paced as he continued, "In her defense, I'm a handful. Yet, Dad was a pain in the ass, but he and Mom always made it work."

Steve stood up slowly as he said, "So you signed the Accords to get Pepper back? No wonder you don't care what form oversight takes. Did you even READ the Sokovia Accords before you signed them?"

Tony turned to Steve and frowned. He waved a hand and said, "It doesn't matter what they say NOW. These things always get amended. But first we have to put out the PR fire. You need to get with the program."

Steve frowned and said, "So YOU can get your love life back on track."

Tony spat, "So YOU can get your psycho buddy into an American psychiatric hospital instead of a Wakandan prison. And get yourself and Wanda reinstated."

Steve asked, "Wanda? What about Wanda?"

Tony shrugged it off and said, "She's fine. She's confined to the compound, currently. Vision's keeping her company. It's a 100 acres with a lap pool. It's got a screening room. There's worse ways to protect people."

Steve gave him a sharp look and said, "Protection? Is that how you see this? This is protection? It's internment, Tony."

Tony shot back, "She's not a US citizen. And they don't grant visas to weapons of mass destruction."

Steve straightened and said, "That does not give YOU or anyone else the right to confine her without due process."

He turned to leave.

Tony said, "GIVE ME A BREAK! I'm doing what has to be done...to stave off something worse."

Steve turned back and said coldly, "No, you're doing what you think has to be done to get your girlfriend back. At least be honest about it."

Steve went to find Natasha and shared with her the information about Tony's motives and Wanda's internment.

Later, during the trip to Leipzig, she told Rhodey and Vision. So the three of them immediately knew something was off when Spider-Man showed up at the airport. They demanded answers from Tony then and there. As soon as they found out about Peter's age and how he'd been roped into Tony's plans, they took him out of the situation.

And they didn't let Tony end the conversation with Steve after 30 seconds. They quickly understood the danger of the Winter Soldiers. Natasha and Vision joined Team Cap for the trip.

Rhodey stayed behind to make sure Peter got home safely. Then Rhodey told Tony exactly what he thought of Tony for using the Accords for his own selfish reasons and involving CHILDREN in battles in FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

When T'Challa learned later about Zemo killing his father, he was grateful he didn't murder an innocent man in his rage. He withdrew from the Accords and asked Shuri to find a way to reach out to Team Cap.

Shuri also decided to help along the anti-Accords movement, which managed to get the Accords repealed in plenty of time for Vision and Dr. Strange to be kept safe from the Black Order.

Nobody agreed with Tony's plan to take the Time Stone off-planet, so Thanos was defeated in the Battle of Wakanda and the universe saved from Tony's selfishness and stupidity.

Chapter Text

The next time someone claims Tony Stark cared about the world (or the universe), ask them why his fabricator technology was never used in the five years of the Snap. Tony built what is basically Star Trek's replicator technology, and kept it to himself in the midst of worldwide devastation. (Possibly only using it to build his personal Project Insight.)

Peter felt REALLY lucky he had some Stark tech waiting for him in Happy's apartment. Of course, the villains he was trying to help didn't know that. Neither did May.

Doctor Ock said, "So this is your plan, Peter? No lab, no facilities, just performing miracles in a condominium? What, you're gonna cook up some cures, some frozen burritos in a microwave?"

Green Goblin looked up from where he was messing with one of Stark's bots and said, "I could go for a burrito."

Ock shook his head and said, "He's gonna kill us all."

Peter shrugged and said, "Well, let's hope not. You're up first, Doc."

As he walks into the room, he can hear Doc Ock yelling.

Doc Ock said, "What? Hey, I told you. I don't need fixing. I don't need fixing! Especially by a teenager using scraps from a bachelor's junk drawer."

Electro shook his head and commented, "No, no, no, no. He got something back there. I can feel it. Weird energy..."

Peter ignored them as he uncovered Stark's device.

The Goblin frowned and asked, "What the hell is that?"

Peter replied, "It's a fabricator."

He pressed a button to set up the device, then continued, "It can analyze, design, construct... basically anything."

The Goblin frowned and said, "Wait, you're saying this thing can produce ANYTHING?"

Peter looked over his shoulder and said, "Well, almost everything, I guess. It's pretty sophisticated."

May moved toward it and asked, "And Stark had this, all those years?"

Peter frowned and said, "I don't know how long ago he actually made it, but maybe...?"

May frowned as she came to stand by Peter. She said, "I've read about the last five years. They were AWFUL. Shortages of so many things, people dying because there wasn't enough. And Stark didn't use this to help ANYONE?"

Peter bit his lip, realizing exactly what May was asking. He answered slowly, "I guess...I guess he didn't."

The Goblin shook his head and said, "Why the hell not? Isn't this guy supposed to be a hero?"

May said, "Stark died during the battle to bring the snapped people back. Other heroes did too, but he's the only one with murals and monuments everywhere. Even though it was because of him everything is even more devastated."

She shrugged and continued, "Some people care about the big gesture, but ignore the years of selfishness that came before it."

Peter swallowed and thought about what it meant, withholding this life-saving technology. Then he shook his head and straightened--he'd have to think about it later. He said, "So, the chip in the back of Doc's neck was designed to protect his brain from the AI system that's controlling these tentacles..."

Later, Peter regretted the loss of the fabricator and all it could have meant for humanity. But he was glad to at least be rid of the "Iron Man Jr." label. No way he wanted to be like Stark.

Chapter Text

Apparently Tony is echoing the sentiment of UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who in 1938 appeased the Third Reich and then was surprised that Germany invaded Poland a year later. He ignored all signs that his course of action was seriously mistaken because he wanted peace--regardless of the cost to the rest of the world.

Rewatching Age of Ultron, you realize that Tony was truly stupid in plugging unknown alien tech into the internet. Bruce should never have agreed. So what if Bruce actually paid attention?

Tony pointed at the image of the scepter's operations and said, "I want to apply this to the Ultron program. But JARVIS can't download a data schematic this dense. We can only do it while we have the scepter here, that's three days, give me three days."

Bruce frowned and said, "So you're going for artificial intelligence and you don't want to tell the team."

Tony nodded and emphatically said, "Right. That's right, you know why, because we don't have time for a city hall debate. I don't want to hear the man was not meant to meddle medley. I see a suit of armor around the world."

Bruce replied, "Sounds like a cold world, Tony."

Tony said, "I've seen colder. This one, this very vulnerable blue one? It needs Ultron."

He paused, then continued, "Peace in our time. Imagine that."

Bruce froze as something pinged in the back of his brain. He suddenly remembered Steve talking about how angry he'd been about the Nazis. And how Steve and his mom had sat by the radio and KNOWN it would be bad when they heard Great Britain just caved to Hitler.

He even remembered Steve quoting that prime minister.

Bruce said quietly, “My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time.”

With a shiver, Bruce stepped back from the worktable. What the hell was he THINKING?

He didn't even bother to look at Tony as he started for the door. Instead, he said over his shoulder, "I'm going to get the team. What we're doing here, it's huge. We need to talk about this."

Suddenly he was pulled back by Tony, who was scowling.

Tony said, "No, we DON'T. I just said there's no time. We have to do this NOW, while the scepter is here."

Bruce frowned and said, "The scepter will still be here an hour from now."

Something about the way Tony's eyes narrowed as he glanced at his gauntlets made Bruce stand taller and let a little of the Other Guy show through. He growled, "Let. Go."

When Tony backed off, Bruce walked over, grabbed the scepter, and said, "It IS time for a city hall debate. I'm ready to hear the man isn't meant to meddle medley. It makes more sense than anything you've said."

Bruce tensed as he walked out of the room. Half expecting to be shot in the back.

And THAT thought made him realize just how crazy the both of them had been acting.

The Avengers were supposed to be a team. Bruce would never know how he'd saved the universe by making sure they acted like one.