Iron Man is one of the most beloved and well-known Marvel superheroes. Billions of people idolize and adore him. But did you know in the comics, Iron Man has been a better villain than he is a hero.
Creating The Illuminati
Tony Stark has an inherent God Complex. This personality flaw makes him think he is far superior to others. He has a habit of looking down on people and considering only the best of the best as his equals. This kind of thinking was what led tony to form and lead the Illuminati. The idea was to bring the greatest figures and minds from all walks of Marvel Comics to create a secret society that can manipulate events from behind the scenes. The purpose was to control world events and prevent future threats. But it was Tony Stark’s idea that led to the events of World War Hulk. We all know how that went down.
Trying To Sell His Iron Man Suit Technology
Tony Stark helped develop Stark Industries as a one of a king trillion dollar tech conglomerate. from software to electronics, Stark Industries was everywhere. But it’s primary revenue streams were from weapons sales. It was when he had that infamous accident where shrapnel from a Stark Tech weapon were embedded in his chest that he got to see the error in his ways. But did you know the weapon sales secretly continued despite Tony having a change of heart. Tony knew about it. In fact, he even wanted to sell the coveted Iron man armor tech to the highest bidder for a profit. That’s how low he is ready to go just to make money.
Cheated His Way Into Becoming The President
During the 2015 miniseries – Contest Of Champions, we saw a glimpse of a parallel world where Iron Man won the Civil War. He put every Captain America and anti-SRA hero in death collars and made them do suicide missions as the new Thunderbolts. He then became the Iron Patriot and became America’s new President. But many didn’t know that he cheated to get those things. All this time, Tony was using the Reality Stone to rewrite his defeats. He brought back Bill Foster to life after the Thor Clone killed him and then used the Reality Stone’s power to become President. The power of the stone corrupted Tony.
Built A Superhero Prison
During the early stages of Civil War, Tony and Reed Richards sat together to brainstorm hundreds of ideas to make the world a better place. Idea number 42 certainly did not fit that criterion. It was a design for making a prison to house superpowered criminals in a dimension called the negative Zone. The final nail on the coffin was when Tony started using the Negative Zone prison to incarcerate unregistered heroes and even his own former allies without government authorization. None of the heroes deserved that kind of treatment for just trying to do the right thing.
That Time He Became A Greedy Capitalist
One story arc saw the personalities of heroes and villains being inverted. Tony Stark, who was also a victim to this phenomenon, became an evil, greedy businessman. He repurposed to Extremis virus into a drug that he freely distributed to the people. The drug made them smarter, more beautiful, and slowed their ageing. Then Tony revealed that after the trial period was over, the people have to pay $99.99 a day or else they will die. While his morality being inverted was not his fault, when the spell was reversed, Tony used a shield to keep his personality from going back to normal. That was though, entirely his fault. It was only when Pepper revealed his schemes to the public that he got exposed.
Making Spider-Man Remove His Mask In Public
Tony was ready to do anything to gather support for the Superhuman Registration Act. He turned to Spider-Man for help. Since he had a good relationship with him, Tony convinced Peter to publicly remove his mask on national media. That decision became Spider-Man’s bane. His loved ones were put in danger and his career was ruined. It literally took Peter a deal with the devil to make things go back to how they were. Tony never offered to help him out while he was in trouble after revealing his identity.
Destroying Billions Of Worlds To Save One Earth
This may be an impossible choice to make. But then again, most people who become super-villains are faced with a similar situation. When events called “Incursions” where universes collide and destroy each other threatened our world, Tony and the Illuminati made the decision to destroy entire universes to save their own. Tony Stark’s hands are stained with genocide of entire universes. The ensuing events of Secret Wars only ended up making him look more like a villain.
