Avengers Endgame has broken many records and is probably seen by all who will be reading this article. But there was one thing almost everyone missed.
The Infinity Saga of the great story about superheroes has captured a great story in itself. When it comes to superhero stores about characters that have unrealistic power, we don’t really think about the storyline and its depth. The hero is someone else in the beginning but something happens that changes him/her and that becomes the character arc. Obviously I have simplified the whole process but that is the general rule of thumb. But in the Marvel’s series of stories about different heroes coming together, there was one little thing people may have missed about the character of Tony Stark, a.k.a Iron Man. The little detail shows a lot about the type of man Tony was and the type he chose to be. Let’s read.
Avengers Endgame Subtlety.
We all know that Iron Man, the character played by Robert Downey Jr. was an arrogant man who really did not care that much about the lives of other people. Not that he was innately that way, but he just did not care. But that all change when Ho Yinsen died for Tony Stark. That was the turning point for Iron Man which gradually kept getting better and better till he reached peak in the last movie for Iron Man, Avengers Endgame.
We are also aware that Tony and his father did not have a close relationship. They were always alienated from each other because his father was busy in his work. We see bits of his father’s ignorance towards Tony in Iron Man 2. While he did not show that he liked his father very much, there was a beautiful scene which completely changed the whole paradigm. That scene, in the truest sense, completed Tony Stark’s character arc.
Iron Man Character Arc.
When Iron Man travels back in time in the movie Avenger Endgame, he encounters his father Howard Stark. Clearly we can see that there is a lot of emotions Tony is going through, trying to rein it in. But then he realizes that he has to let of go of the feelings that pushed him away from his father. In the end, as Tony leaves, he finally gives his old man a hug. This was the moment when Iron Man completed his character arc. From being an arrogant, self-absorbed man who always saw his father as a stranger to a man who now accepted that his father was a good man who loved him. But that’s not all.
The subtlety that really hit me was in the scene when Howard Stark gets inside his car and it is revealed that his assistant is named Jarvis. Now that wasn’t just an easter egg to make people smile. There was a great meaning behind the character of Iron Man. This showed that even Tony Stark did not like his father, he wanted to be like him. That is the reason why he named his own A.I assistant “Jarvis”, so that he can feel like his father. And the moment when he hugged his father, that was when he realized he forgave his father.
The Sacrifice of Iron Man.
I would say Spoiler Alerts but I’m sure everyone has seen the movie till now. In the end, Iron Man sacrifices himself to save the world. Even though it meant that Morgan Stark, his daughter would never get to meet her father again. But this was all a part of his character arc. Maybe in the future, Morgan would see the recorded message of Tony where he says goodbye and forgive him for leaving just like Tony did after he saw the recored message of Howard Stark. It was something beautiful which many people missed in the movie. But now you know it.
