Is Iron Man in over his head?

[balok]

I was talking to a good friend on the phone today. He follows Iron Man and Marvel more closely than I, and he believes Iron Man is in over his head - that he's beset on all sides and he's having trouble figuring out what to do next.

I offer no opinion because I have not read enough with Iron Man in it to really understand why my friend says this.

I thought I'd toss it out there to see if some folks who read more Iron Man have opinions.

So what do you thing?

[The Night Phantom]

Balok, I think you’re a Doom-baiter.

Iron Man has certainly been showing up in quite a few Marvel comics lately, but I don’t read any of his regular comics (which I guess would be Iron Man itself, Mighty Avengers, and possibly The Order). In what I’ve read, I haven’t seen enough to confirm that Shellhead is being portrayed the way your friend describes; and not reading his core titles, I can’t really argue against it either.

However, it would seem like a plausible development—furthermore, a development that could make for interesting stories. We all know that Tony is an alcoholic, that continued sobriety is an ongoing challenge for an alcoholic, and that heavy pressure can sorely test that sobriety. Certainly a lot of weight is on Tony’s shoulders now. This situation was alluded to at the end of Civil War: Front Line.

Personally, I’m not interested in seeing Tony relapse into drinking. It’s been done, and I’d rather see something different. Alcoholics sometimes give into other addictions, but I’d prefer not to see that route either, unless perhaps it was an addiction that you can find only in a fantasy world (like the “total reality” VR addiction depicted in the old Marvel 2099 line, or [less Tony’s style] Willow Rosenberg’s addiction to magic spells in the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

While at least a nod to Tony’s alcoholism would be owed during a “pressure crisis”, my preference would be a storyline in which Tony has to profoundly reëxamine his life and go in a brand-new direction (at least, for a little while). One idea would be for him to decide that he needs to get away from everything and go on some sort of personal journey—but the only way he can get far enough away is to exile himself to outer space for a while. Storywise, we could get some soul-searching coupled with cosmic tales in the old Thor vein, which I think has never been the norm for Tony but could be an entertaining development for a while.

[Doctor Doom]

In ways, yes. He's trying to do fifty things at once and none of them are easy- oh, and he lost three extremely close friends in a few months (As in, to death). And half his old friends hate him.

Let's remember, he's in an insane amount. He has a massive job he never wanted, which he has just for the sake of others, he has to oversee one of the largest US government programs in history, he's been dealing with a massive terrorist wave of attacks which is almost unprecedented, plus he has to deal with Thor/The Hulk/Spider-Man/whoever every few weeks or whatever, PLUS he has to stop the New Avengers from all killing themselves, PLUS he has to lead the Mighty Avengers. Oh, and he's not entirely sure about the methods he's using to do this.

I think this qualifies.

I can't see him returning to alcoholism though, that ship sailed in the Civil War when he NEARLY had a drink, but was brought back at the last moment.

He's trying to do too many things, protect too many people, it's hard to priorioritise when everything is major, it's hard to plan when new massive threats pop up without warning or rhythm. And all of this is being addressed in Iron Man's own title at thei very moment along with the huge question of who is Tony Stark, who's behind the machine.

[balok]

I assume you're claiming Steve Rogers as one of the friends, although I think that was over by the time the Civil War ended. And I recall Happy Hogan was murdered around then, too. Who's number three?

If he is in over his head, and they elect not to revisit addiction, then I wonder if they plan to mine that for stories?

I think he IS displaying an addiction - to power. But others may disagree.

[Doctor Doom]

balok said:

I assume you're claiming Steve Rogers as one of the friends, although I think that was over by the time the Civil War ended. And I recall Happy Hogan was murdered around then, too. Who's number three?

Yup, Steve Rogers was one. I think deep down, Iron Man hoped they could be friends again- certainly he was incredibl;y distraught at his death, in a subsequent issue he referred to Cap as his "brother" when thinking of his death.

The third was his mentor figure, Sal someone-or-other, who was killed by the Extremis virus unleashed by Mandarin within a month or two of the war.

I think he IS displaying an addiction - to power. But others may disagree.

Eh. If that was the case, I fail to see why he turned down the Director of SHIELD gig at first and only ended up taking it to protect his friends' secret identities.