One of Marvel's most beloved superheroes, Tony Stark's Iron Man, also happens to be one of its most complex. Very few heroes carry with them the type of history, personality, and ego as Tony Stark. As a result, most of the time Stark spent fighting as the armored Avenger was anything but easy.

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While becoming Iron Man certainly saved Tony Stark's life in many aspects, it also proved to be his greatest downfall countless times. From the physical damage he suffered defeating enemies to the mental and emotional trauma that comes with being a superhero, there's more than enough evidence to prove that being Iron Man often ruined the life of Tony Stark.

10 His Prior Life

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When Stark announced himself as Iron Man, he wasn't exactly a poster child for strong morals and certainly not for humility or altruism. However, that's not to say that he didn't live a great life. As the head of Stark Industries, he had tremendous wealth and was living the dream of any rich, egotistical bachelor.

As much as becoming Iron Man helped him break out of his wildly self-absorbed tendencies, it also forced him to completely abandon the life he had prior to creating his first suit of armor. Surely, he was better off for it, but it's still worth noting that Iron Man forced Tony Stark to essentially throw out the life he had previously lived.

9 Slowly Killing Him

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Considered the godfather of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tony Stark had Marvel fans rejoicing when he created his first suit of armor in the original Iron Man film. It didn't take long, however, for the MCU to completely take the air out of Iron Man's tires. In the follow-up film, Tony Stark deals with another slew of health problems as a result of wearing the Iron Man suit.

Obviously, the genius of Tony Stark was fairly easily able to re-discover the element that would save his life and allow him to continue to be Iron Man. Regardless, it didn't take long for the MCU's Tony Stark to feel the physical effects of being Iron Man.

8 A Frequent Waste of Money

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Money has obviously never been an issue for Tony Stark. Since the day he was born, he was fairly well off from the work of his father, eventually maintaining that wealth over the course of his early adult life. His wealth, however, didn't exactly see any benefit from him becoming Iron Man.

The personal expenses of Tony Stark's suits and other luxuries seemed like they'd be enough of a hit on his bank account. Then consider the fact that he was essentially the lone financier for the Avengers. Between the gear and equipment, transportation, and housing of his fellow Avengers, Tony Stark had to be losing more money than he was making. As great as being a superhero sounds, it comes at a cost for some.

7 Endangering Loved Ones

Tony Stark Pepper Potts

Announcing his true identity shortly after creating the Iron man armor, Tony Stark really never gave himself the luxury of anonymity. That meant that there was essentially no chance of concealing and protecting those closest to him.

RELATED: 10 Times Iron Man Refused To Learn From His Mistakes

Endangering your loved ones is sort of a typical part of the superhero gig, and it was something that constantly plagued Tony Stark in both the comics and MCU films. As somewhat of a lone wolf in a sense, he doesn't really have very many people extremely close to him, so the one's that were found themselves in far more consistent danger than your average superhero's acquaintance.

6 Ruining His Relationship

Tony Stark Talks To Pepper Potts

Whether you're discussing his rich comic history or decade-plus of on-screen action, Tony Stark's relationship with Pepper Potts is frequently considered one of Marvel's best romances. As you might imagine for a couple that consists of a selfish, undisciplined superhero and the civilian woman that just so happens to run his company, things weren't always smooth sailing for the two.

That obviously became a point of emphasis in the MCU, with their relationship seeing some fracture around the time of Captain America: Civil War. As Tony Stark lays out for Steve Rogers, their split is essentially a direct result of his inability to choose between a life of domestic bliss and security or that of Iron Man. It surely can't be easy to maintain a stable relationship while also fighting intergalactic, interdimensional, and advanced intelligent beings, and for Pepper Potts, as Stark puts it himself, he's a handful.

5 His Moral Code

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With his massive ego often doing the decision making, Tony Stark's moral compass as a hero can be pretty easily skewed. Unlike Captain America or even someone like Spider-Man, Iron Man doesn't exactly have some kind of moral code that he lives by, making him one of the more unpredictable and uncontrollable Avengers.

That lack of restraint has made it nearly impossible for Tony Stark to establish any kind of consistent morality in his heroics, both against some of his greatest villains and in the several battles against his own teammates. Maybe he lacked that virtuousness before he officially suited up, but there's no question that being a superhero led to some serious ethical dilemmas.

4 Years of Physical Trauma

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At times, superheroes seem impervious to pain, seamlessly rolling with the punches and getting back up no matter how hard the hit. While that's fine and simple for the super soldiers, gods, and monsters of the Marvel Universe, Tony Stark is nothing but a man in a can. Over the years, he's obviously made adjustments within his suits to try and reduce damage, but that's never completely rid him of the physical strain that comes with being Iron Man.

It's much easier to understand the physical pain that comes with his avenging in the MCU, but physical trauma has been a common undoing of Tony Stark in both the films as well as the comics.

3 Destroyed His Mental Health

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On top of years of physical damage, being Iron Man has caused Tony Stark grave emotional and mental strain as well. There are countless things that contribute to the decline of his mental health, whether it be the weight of his experiences as Iron Man or the stress of balancing lives as a superhero and a civilian. Regardless, Stark has dealt with some pretty significant emotional and mental fatigue, and his personality naturally leads him to compartmentalize most of that trauma.

RELATED: MCU: 10 Things That Make Zero Sense About Tony Stark

His mental strain has shown itself in a number of ways over the years. Take the events of Iron Man 3, for example, where we see Tony Stark deal with not just the PTSD of the Battle of New York, but also the anxiety of wanting to protect not just the ones closest to him, but the entire world. Much like the physical damage, the emotional trauma of Tony Stark is another common element of his character and has led him to do some pretty dreadful things.

2 Drove Him to Alcoholism

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There's plenty of different ways for a person to deal with their interpersonal struggles. For Tony Stark, there was certainly one way that stood out above the rest. Before his time as Iron Man, Stark struggled with an alcohol issue that made him becoming a superhero seem somewhat ill-advised.

So, all the stress that came with his time in the armor by himself and alongside the Avengers naturally led him right back to the bottle. Although he would eventually kick the habit, Stark's issues with alcoholism drastically grounded the hero in a standard, real-world problem that gave us one of his best comic stories in Demon In A Bottle.

1 Multiple Unfortunate Endings

Tony Stark Death Endgame

For just about every superhero, death is a terrifying reality that lays around each dangerous corner and is typically considered to just be part of the job. Tony Stark, unfortunately, has dealt with that reality on more than one occasion. He's met his demise a number of times through his expansive comic history, and more notably and recently he finally met his end in the MCU at the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame.

Whether it was at the fault of someone else, or in the form of a grand sacrifice, Tony Stark's death will always have a tremendous impact on the Marvel universe no matter where and when it happens. There's so much about his time as Iron Man that changed his life for the worse, but obviously, his many deaths were the ultimate sign that being the armored superhero truly and literally ruined his life.

NEXT: Iron Man's 5 Most Villainous Traits (& 5 Most Heroic)