Tony Stark/Iron Man is the Worst Superhero Ever

Is Iron Man a superhero?

Of course he is. Tony Stark might not have any traditional superpowers, but his brilliance and inventiveness could be considered just as important as super-strength or flight. His own mind, in fact, gave him those abilities via the Iron Man armor he invented.

That same mind, though, has also conjured up conceit, hubris, betrayal, and countless other traits that have offset the "hero" part of the armored superhero. Iron Man has saved the day, the world, and the very universe many times over, but in between those applause-worthy accolades, Tony Stark has committed some notably less-than-heroic acts. Some of them were even decidedly villainous.

So, is Tony Stark a superhero? Yes, he is - but not a very good one.

Tony's Saved Lives – Starting with His

Tony's altruism could be questioned as far back to the days just preceding the advent of Iron Man. In Stan Lee and Don Heck's origin story, Tony didn't create the Iron Man armor to foremost fight tyranny and injustice – he created it to save his own life. The do-gooding came shortly thereafter, but make no mistake – he invented the armor to save his own hide first.

There's nothing wrong with that, of course – there are few who wouldn't act to save themselves, given the chance. But Iron Man's origin contrasts those of the superheroes who preceded him. The Fantastic Four, Hulk, Spider-Man, and Thor all got their powers through accidental means, but the only thing the accident that Tony suffered did was nearly kill him. The bomb that exploded near Tony was merely the catalyst that lead to Iron Man's creation, rather than the direct cause.

All the aforementioned heroes went on to save lives – in Tony's case, the first life he saved was his own. Perfectly understandable, but it just doesn't seem quite as heroic, somehow.

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Tony's early brilliance was often focused on one of his company's less-altruistic endeavors: weapons. In all fairness, at Tony's direction, Stark Industries eventually got out of the weapon manufacturing business.

The irony, though, is that Tony's very life-saving armor eventually morphed into nothing short of a one-man arsenal. Relatively harmless repulsor rays and uni-beams have given way to incarnations of the armor that could probably overtake the entire armies of some nations. For a guy who directed his company to lay off weapon making, Tony sure still makes a lot of them himself.

One of Iron Man's foes certainly saw the offensive potential of the armor, and billionaire industrialist Justin Hammer made sure to get his hands on it for that reason. This, of course, kicked off the events of David Michelinie and Mark Bright's "Armor Wars" some three decades ago. In that arc, Tony went full-on vigilante, going after anyone he suspected of using armor based on his designs – whether they actually have or not. This leads him to run afoul of many parties, including S.H.I.E.L.D., the Soviet Union, and even his own government.

So, Tony essentially allowed his tech to fall into the wrong hands and become weaponized, and then ignoring any kind of due process, unilaterally decided to take down anyone he believed had it. His carelessness across the board belied his known heroic history at that point.

Covertly Calling the Shots

"Known" being the key word in Tony's superhero resume. Retconned into Marvel Comics continuity over a decade ago was the formation of the clandestine superhero group known as the Illuminati, with Iron Man as a founding member. The notion of a charter member of The Avengers secretly meeting with others behind his teammates' backs is troubling enough, but the consequences of some of the group's more suspect activities is even worse.

One of those activities was a confrontational visit to the Skrull home world, warning the shapeshifting alien race to steer clear of Earth. The encounter ended up enabling the events of Secret Invasion, created by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven, where the Skrulls used information gleaned from the Illuminati to plan their planetary infiltration. The invasion would not have been possible had Tony not been part of this instigative move.

Tony's not alone in getting his hands dirty with this one, but being even partially responsible for an extraterrestrial invasion isn't something any rightful superhero would want on their record. Even if he did ultimately help defeat the invaders.

By the way, the Illuminati was also responsible for banishing The Hulk into space, which later led to a very pissed off Hulk finding his way back to Earth and the ensuing catastrophic events of World War Hulk. Thanks a lot, Tony.

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Tony was a central figure in Marvel's first Civil War event, also by Bendis and McNiven. In that storyline, the U.S. Government mandated registration of all superheroes, with Iron Man supporting the Superhero Registration Act.

This put him in a role that made him seen nothing less than authoritarian, and was even cast in a villainous light after what the storyline did to one-time allies such as Spider-Man and Captain America. Ultimately, the act proved too divisive and eventually failed. Tony was on the wrong side of history on this one.

In Bendis and David Marquez' Civil War II, Tony took a more freedom-loving stance regarding the fate of the newly discovered precognitive Inhuman Ulysses. While Carol Danvers wanted to use the young Inhuman to purportedly prevent future crimes and disasters, Tony found the idea of acting on unproven visions to be irresponsible and potentially deadly. While he was arguably on the right side this time, he made a polarizing move by kidnapping Ulysses. This led both him and Carol staffing up with allies for a now-unavoidable conflict, meaning that he now had played a key role in not one but two superhero civil wars.

Crossing Over to Outright Evil

And then, there's what's probably Tony Stark's most infamous episode in Marvel Comics history. In 1995's Avengers event "The Crossing," it was revealed Tony had secretly been working for the Avengers' longstanding time-travelling villain, Kang the Conqueror. This contrived revelation led to Tony murdering two of his fellow Avengers. The subsequent "Heroes Reborn" initiative fortunately paved right over this sorry affair, which thankfully hasn't been referenced since.

More recently, Tony underwent a change as a result of Marvel's Axis event. While not necessarily turned into an outright villain, the so-called Superior Iron Man was certainly transformed into one of Marvel's biggest douchebags. His heightened egotism and recklessness took another continuity reboot to fix, this time in the form of the far-reaching Secret Wars.

He might be the Marvel Universe most brilliant businessman, a founding member of Earth's mightiest heroes, and one of the company's better-known characters. But in terms of being a flat-out superhero, with such a checkered history, Tony Stark also has to be one of its worst.