How the Russos Fixed Iron Man | Video Essay

since 2008 I've had a love-hate relationship with iron man I loved him in Iron Man and Iron Man - I'm talking about him as a character here not the movie as a whole he was tolerable in the Avengers and from there he kind of drifted off my radar I didn't get excited about his third solo outing and I didn't care for him an age of Ultron in the intervening year directors Joe and Anthony Russo took the reigns of Captain America the Winter Soldier an utterly fantastic action thriller that works as a significant expansion of the MCU and is a great movie and its own right my Steve Rogers hype reached a fever pitch with the release of the Russo's second MCU feature Captain America Civil War but what I didn't count on is that they would give us the best iteration of Tony Stark since Jon Favreau's Iron Man for me the Russo sparked a renaissance for the character in the MCU culminating in this year's Avengers infinity war in a similar fashion to what they did with Captain America the Russos utilized a trifecta of character relationships to make Iron Man fresh and interesting again I want to point out I'm not discounting the excellent contributions of the writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely or even head honcho Kevin Feige they unequivocally helped make civil war and infinity war the great movies that they are but I think you can see a clear step up in quality once the Russo's come aboard the MCU versus the projects Markus and McFeely worked on pre Winter Soldier basically what I'm saying is that you can take two great writers and on the one hand you'd end up with an infinity war and on the other hand you can get a Thor the dark world the Russos guiding hand in the MCU is ever clearer and I think it's fair to focus on them as creators for the purposes of this video first let's kick things off of a little context as to why I feel the way I do or did about the character of Tony Stark so that I can better explain why his journey in civil war and infinity war was so satisfying when Iron Man first came out in 2008 I was 12 and I was obsessed with him even when Iron Man 2 came out our new deep deep deep down I was disappointed I still enjoyed it damn it because how could you not like Tony Stark he's funny he's witty he's got answer for everything his Iron Man armor is badass his rapport with Jarvis is great Iron Man was my favorite Avenger and then Captain America came along I've been an apologist for Captain America the First Avenger since it came out the movie can get a bad rap at times and I can see why people might not like it all that much it can veer on the wrong side of cheesy all too easily and I feel like the Indiana Jones vibe they were going for what with the Nazis I'm sorry Hydra mixed up in a battle for control of a magical object is half-baked and fails to live up to its top-line potential but Chris Evans at the center of this movie just ties it all together for me he's so incredibly likable his cap is inspiring touching and so full of heart that I find him impossible not to love in this movie as the MCU went on past this I found myself more and more drifting towards Steve over Tony not just because I was discovering the star-spangled man but planned for the first time but because Ironman kind of started to suck in my opinion now I should clarify that the Avengers is a feat of filmmaking and it still holds up as being a well paced well put together team-up romp but sometimes I think the characterization is a little off it's a problem I like to call Whedon isms it's where Whedon emphasizes certain personality quirks and traits inherent to a character so they can feel unique and stand out in an ensemble environment so Thor goes from being a guy you can have a conversation with to speaking full-blown my first Shakespeare throne would assume to have care how you speak and why you phone calls at war Captain America turns into a thundering dumbass who constantly reminds everyone that he was born in the 1940s I think the only character that really benefited from a wedding is Bruce Banner I like how much more intense and somber and jittery he is the moment where he sees these guards on the Helicarrier and his instinct to hide immediately kicks in despite the fact that he is allowed to be there that's a great moment but yeah Tony's Whedon ism's Tony turns into a massive douchebag I know he could be difficult anyway that's part of who he is as I said Whedon takes that quark and runs with it a bit too much he could be a bit of an ass to people in the first two movies but he was never bullish you might have missed a couple things you know doing time as a capsicum or ignorants attack attack why the hell would he be like that I'd get that he doesn't play well with others but the way he speaks to people still feels incongruent to the character this is the man that was spooked by the fact that he was allowing people to come to harm to the point where he dedicated the rest of his life to righting that wrong he creates a megalomaniacal killer AI and this is his reaction why is he trying to kill us you think this is funny no it's probably not right this is very it feels like he's going out of his way to be a douche bag plus you really see Tony struggle in his initial appearances whereas in the Whedon outings he's way way way overpowered he never gets beaten to a pulp even against characters like the Hulk we're not been cooler to see the Hulk tear apart the Hulkbuster armor until only Tony was left exposed and only then does banner snap out of the scarlet witch's spell when he realizes he was this close to killing his best friend no I digress he dismantles Ultron like he's made of taffy on the other hand Captain America faces Ultron out of his debt and gets on with it anyway in a match from Captain thanks partner that's a freakin superhero when Tony is this efficient and you never truly see him get served any humble pie it starts to make him difficult to root for the nuke scene is probably his best moment in both Whedon movies because it does do what I'm getting at but it's still not quite as impactful as watching overnight stain forcibly pull out his arc reactor and watching him crawl across his garage moments away from cardiac arrest so I guess my main gripe with Avengers Tony is that he never seems to get his comeuppance and he's an asshat to people which would maybe make you think I'm going to praise Shane Black's Ironman 3 right well yes and no if you've seen my MCU ranking video then you know that I do like Iron Man 3 but it's not without its problems it's one of those goods not great movies you know Tony does eat that all-important humble pie in the movie as we see him cope with panic attacks and night terrors following the events of his near-death experience in the Avengers it's a nice setup but it ends up going nowhere and Tony kind of just snaps out of it which feels inauthentic to the medical condition and the characters journey it's a real shame I get the feeling shame black wanted to make a shame black movie rather than an Iron Man movie I haven't fun time watching it but I do often stop to wonder whether it's because it evokes Kiss Kiss Bang Bang rather than Iron Man I'm not going to get into the Mandarin twist too much here other than to say that I like it a lot in concept but it fails for me due to one key reason if you're going to pull the rug out from under the audience and reveal the cool and interesting villain is a facade that's cool but the villain behind the facade they need to be really really well done whereas Kilian in Iron Man 3 is an afterthought with a poorly thought-out backstory and a wafer-thin motivation for doing what he's doing this time tomorrow I'll have the West's most powerful leader in one the world's most feared terrorists in the other alone war on terror what why you literally have an army of Pyro's you already have the most powerful paramilitary group on the planet more importantly how does Killian really challenge Tony in a meaningful way he kidnaps his girlfriend but what does he offer as a diametrically opposed baddie the Obadiah Stane and Vanko didn't already cover thematically again it's a missed opportunity plus I think it's the first MCU movie that really missed its chance to kill a character off if pepper had perished in the climax of the movie it would have given Tony the kind of emotional baggage he hadn't experienced since his origin story it could have raised the stakes again in the MCU by taking away the person its flagship character cares for the most pepper doesn't have anything to do in literally every subsequent appearance - if that helps my point in short I wasn't a massive fan of Tony's characterization in the Avengers Iron Man 3 and age of Ultron whilst Steve just went from strength to strength and none more so than in Captain America the Winter Soldier before we get started does anyone want to get out when Joan Anthony Russo were hired there was a general feeling of trepidation amongst fans after all these guys had only previously been noticed for some TV will be a great TV and you me and Dupree so it's more than a little surprising and refreshing to see them now in action are like the Winter Soldier with such flying colors red white and blue colors you could take pretty much all of my cripes with tony across the movies I've mentioned and you'll find the Russos did all of that stuff right Steve actually loses things like Peggy her mind gone and her body failing her he lose his shield perhaps the only beacon of stability in his modern life and crucially his trust in authority he's challenged by ideologically and physically to his limits one key way I think the Russos make this movie so damn good is through the trifecta of supporting characters that play off of cap and push his story for words they are Black Widow Falcon and Bucky Black Widow broadens his view of the world she forces him to reconsider the black and white morality of his forties era persona and encourages him to try and reinsert himself into the present day in a meaningful way the falcon gives him a genuine new best friend who can fill the void that Bucky left they have shared experiences of soldiering and his charismatic wits plays off well against caps no-nonsense temperament Bucky gives him an unrelenting Terminator style antagonist who stands a real chance of killing him hand to hand was also providing a harrowing window into his past this trifecta of characters make Steve feel like a fully rounded person and helps him to explore a whole gamut of emotions in a fresh way in other words he got Roo sold Russo did is a term in the Oxford English Dictionary which refers to a character in the MCU which was struggling to be interesting being taken under the direction of John Anthony Russo to become a great character it's a very technical definition the most clear and obvious ruse owing outside of cap is of course Thor but that's lotmore clearly stated and it's been covered a bunch already Iron Man was ruse owed to a similar degree in both Civil War and infinity war and he is bolstered by a similar trifecta of characters the first of which being cap himself the driving force of Stephen Tony's relationship of course revolves around the sokovia accords a new law which will force all enhanced individuals to answer to the United Nations and if they don't agree to it they will be forced to retire Tony is convinced to support the Accords due to a run-in with one Miriam Spencer whose grievance lies with the Avengers because of the destruction wrought in sokovia back in age of Ultron an altercation which resulted in her son's death who's going to avenge my son's dark he's dead if you look at this inciting problem compared to the one in Ultron Tony's attitude is markedly different rather than laughing and bragging about saving the worlds to bolster his point in front of the team instead of pondering the implications of creating a rogue murder prone AI in civil war Tony tries to take actual responsibility for his actions and makes a concerted effort to keep the team together when he says I'm trying to keep him I'm trying to keep you from tyranny Avengers important you can tell from the look on his face he doesn't want to do this he doesn't want to have to look at his friends behind bars as they stand there and resent him but then none of them had to look Charlie Spencer's mother in the eye either no one but the audience knows just how Tony feels which is also a neat trick to help us align with him and understand his emotional state it's like we're the only ones who tony has truly led in whether or not you agree with his stance on the issue of the sokovia accords the movie makes it clear that Tony at least has a point and is willing to step out of his comfort zone in order to keep the peace I remember reading the IGN review back in 2016 where they criticized Tony for being too morose in the movie but honestly how else would you want him to act after being told he effectively got an inner boy killed Steve pushes Tony's attitude in the movie the scene where they argue about wandering the Accords you can tell that Tony isn't being bullish or ignorant far from it is that how you see this this is protection its internment he's not a US citizen and they don't grant visas to weapons of mass destruction worse he's listening to Steve he respects him they both respect each other in a single scene we get Tony that is far more measured than in both the previous ensemble movies it feels like he's grown up Steve Rogers is forcing him to look at himself and become a better man which is not to say that civil war doesn't take stock to his lowest arguably most villainous point it's a moments that feels truly earned did you know I didn't know with him yes now in part due to the Russos excellent characterization of CAP we know how much of a big deal this is this is the man that is never supposed to lie the Russos even say as much in the commentary track for the Winter Soldier stating that they tried to make sure Steve Rogers always tells the truth this was probably so that when he does keep a secret it's because of something deeply important to him his best friend Bucky is cause enough for Steve to bend his morals and it's something that is very understandably shocking for Tony the one man he respected the leader of the Avengers the man his father trusted and yet he kept the secret from him that Bucky murdered his own parents yes I know he was under the control of Hydra but when we take this context into account the utter betrayal the shock of watching his parents beaten and chokes to death in front of him on a monitor of course stark snaps of course he goes after Bucky and of course he goes gunning for blood all of the beats to get to this point in Tony's story make perfect sense I really do believe that you might have actually straight up murdered Bucky and to show that side of the character is something I thought we'd never get to see when you look at something like the first Avengers film that moment where he cowers as he thinks that he could be murdered the fact that he's driven Steve to this and the fact that Tony for even a second believes that he might is what ruins their friendship a fundamental feeling of trust is gone and he doesn't even get to take the high ground in this situation Steve leaves the shield graciously what perfect shot this is pulling back to show just how truly alone and utterly defeated Tony Stark is he's lost pepper at this point his actions have indirectly caused his best friend to become crippled and he's lost favor with his entire team remember that humble pie I was talking about earlier there was missing in those Avengers films yeah well this is the [ __ ] whole pie aisle with [ __ ] cream on top it's the whole goddamn pie shop yo em they even managed to make Toni and Steve interesting by virtue of keeping them entirely apart for the duration of infinity war when the world is about to end and they need to find the missing vision of course Toni would look nowhere else than to Steve Rogers no matter how reluctant or stubborn he might be no matter what they've been through and then the Russos give us the ultimate tease by cutting the moment short in the best way possible now the stage is set for one hell of a satisfying reunion in Avengers 4 and I have no doubts the roosters are going to give us both Toni and Steve add their absolute a game Toni goes to redock place in civil war but the one shining light is his mentorship of Peter Parker aka spider-man okay so I know that in fairness a good portion of Stark and Peter's relationship occurs in homecoming so credit where credit is due to John watts and the team at Sony Pictures but it was the Russos who were tasked with bringing spider-man into the MCU when it was announced he would be joining the cast of civil war after a short-lived reboot that was by most accounts considered a failure bringing back spider-man a mere two years later in civil war was no easy task the Russos cleverly decided to pair this new iteration of the webslinger with stark as a recruit to the team that will be going on the hunt for caps outlawed heroes though stock confirms as such in homecoming you can tell in his first meeting with Peter that he's incredibly impressed of the teenager and sees himself in him Avengers Tony irresponsible jackass makes a killer AI and tries to unleash the Hulk for shits and giggles aboard the Helicarrier Russo's Tony does bring a child into lifestyle battle environment granted but he also makes sure that Spidey keeps himself away from any real trouble he's there to contain the rogue Avengers and nothing more Tony's relationship plays up the idea that he is constantly planning 10 steps ahead Peter is a worthy heir to the tech genius superheroes that Tony knows he will one day be unable to fill he sees Peter in many ways like his own father referred to him as his greatest creation they actually managed to do what the comics have tried for years and gave Tony a worthy successor it turns out the best way to do this isn't to create another Iron Man who's younger it's to use a hero that is a natural fit for Starks throne what's being different enough to fill out their own person and less of an afterthought their report only strengthens in infinity war I love how you can tell Peter worships the ground Tony walks on but crucially Tony knows this and even if you might not show it at times it's heartwarming to see him want the best for him plus the way they bicker back and forth is fantastic if anything it's kind of your father I'm here then there is of course Peter's dusting at the end of the movie it's hiring to see stark go to such lengths to keep Peter safe across three movies only to see him turn to dust before his very eyes anyway it makes this line and if you died like that all the better but of course there's one final character that the Russos use to make Tony great and that of course is the person responsible for tearing his surrogate son away from him tell me his name again fairness he's a plague Tony I love that as soon as he realizes this is the threat he's been waiting for ever since he nearly died defending New York he goes into overdrive it sure is I love all the little physicality the Russos add in like Tony stretching they've not even encountered anything to do with Thanos and he's stretching Tony is a laser focused throughout this film as soon as he hears the mad Titans name they do so much with this line I don't think you quite understand what's it's not here it's you who doesn't understand that Thanos has been inside my head for six years since he sent an army to New York and now he's back it ties together all of his behavior from the previous movies in a neat little package and it makes it feel like for one tony has met his match he's encountered an entity in the universe who can drive him to obsession give him PTSD and lead him to designing of the ultimate nanotech suits just in the hope of stopping him which by the way features the best suit up since the suitcase armored scene in Iron Man 2 [Music] that is pure unfiltered full fat milk on that note I should mention here that the Russos just know what they're doing with iron man as an action hero - there's that dope gauntlet watching Civil War the sweet hand-to-hand battle with cap and Bucky plus all the little enhancements to his nanotech suits such as his back the [ __ ] off hand cannon free let's do it you shoot my guy not blast him let's go anyway it's also key that he's saying this line to dr. strange probably one of the most powerful heroes Tony has ever encountered despite strangers considerable power you get the feeling that Tony is the only one who has the will to face Thanos because of course Tony Stark would think that his hubris and his heroism go hand in hand I think Iron Man has suffered from having good but not great villains because they tend to have all the right ingredients but they never end up actually leaving their mark on Tony the closest I would say is maybe Ultron but it's rather indirect in the sense that it's actually Miriam who really directly makes him feel the weight of his actions and even though Tony and Thanos have never met before infinity war it feels like they've both been drifting towards each other like well when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object the thing that got to me the most in the entire movie was just seeing Iron Man land in front of Thanos on Titan you know me I do sure it's cool to see after 10 years of this Cinematic Universe Thanos meeting Thor capped the rest of the Guardians but Iron Man Iron Man is the Godfather of the MCU he's been here since day one watching the character that started it all back in 2008 finally exchanged words of the mad Titan and faced him as the last man standing felt like the culmination of 19 movies and 10 years it makes the audience feel kind of how stark does having waited for this moment maybe even dreading it just as much as he has been the twelve-year-old in me that queued up to see Iron Man for the first time wept with joy is seeing that it was a perfect moment and I don't think I'll ever stop getting stupidly giddy seeing that happen then of course we get the best CGI one-on-one fight in the MCU and in a sobering sequence of events we see our hero get torn to shreds utterly outmatched giving everything he's got and it's still not enough sure everyone on the side of good fails in this movie but for me none fail quite like Tony Stark no one else devoted so much of their lives to the day that Thanos would snap his fingers and to see Tony Stark fail that made me remember why I love so much about this character thank you so much for watching our video if you'd like to see more from full-fat videos please don't forget to Like share and subscribe you can see our social media links down below if you want to follow 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Channel: undefined

Views: 2,662,198

Rating: 4.716404 out of 5

Keywords: video, essay, entertainment, tony stark, fixed, fixing, analysis, criticism, review, breakdown, MCU, Marvel, age of ultron, infinity war, thanos, redeemed, writing, film, structure, character arc, plot, summary, iron man, captain america, russo, russo brothers, hulk, avengers, phase 4, phase 3, avengers 4, character, development, marvel cinematic universe, screenwriting, film criticism, winter soldier, iron man 3, spiderman

Id: RlEFpTVAVo0

Length: 26min 21sec (1581 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 18 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/LeonJ98]

I don't think the Russo's "saved" him, they just naturally progressed his character into the next stage. Tony did have to deal with the repercussions of his actions under Whedon's writing as well. Tony had to deal with the loss of Coulson, he hadn't dealt with real loss since Yinsen, which quite strongly effected him as can be seen when he went after Loki, he also had to deal with the idea that he wasn't an island and I think this contributed towards his PTSD and existential crises in IM3. In AoU he was back at his peak (along with the rest of the Avengers); he was dealing with his personal demons, he was back with Pepper and he was fighting the good fight and by that point winning all the battles, then Wanda shows him his greatest fear, then he fights Hulk in Africa and then the Sokovia incident happens, due to the quick succession of events he didn't have time to process it all and post AoU his life started to unravel, Pepper and him took a break, the impact of Ultron and Sokovia hit him and his place with the Avengers changed, he couldn't feel the gratification he once got while part of the team and then Civil War happens, in a strange way now Cap and the secret Avengers have gone under the radar it's a massive weight of his shoulders, he can be almost "normal" with the only hero issue being Spiderman, him and Pepper are good again, Rhodey is getting better and his world is just about balanced and then Infinity War happens. The Russo's development couldn't have happened without Whedon's development, whose development couldn't have happened without Favreau and Black's developments. To build up someone's work you shouldn't need to bring down someone else's.

[u/D0ctorD00m]

I disagree with his initial points. I think Tony’s flaws is what makes him human.