#but she's eastern European immigrant and a woman so that probs wont happen

[hyperfixation-stations]

Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff and the Story Parallels

We are back again with another Avengers post, this hyperfixation seems to be sticking around for a while so y’all are just unfortunately going to have to deal with it. So in my re-watch of all the Avengers movies I noticed a parallel between Wanda and Tony’s arcs, but how when they are confronted with similar issues they react in such different ways that really cement who they truly are. 

There is quite a bit of overlap between Wanda and Tony’s stories and while they aren’t exactly the same, they are similar enough to draw comparisons too. They both have dead families, both have done bad things and are trying to move on from it, they have been branded certain things and are trying to move on from those labels, etc. However when they are confronted with the realities of this situations, one person sacrifices for the greater good and the other doesn’t and it’s not the character who you think it is. 

In situations where it comes down to in a moment of crisis choosing something that will help the greater good even if it means losing something so important to them, Wanda always chooses the later. We see this in Infinity War, Age of Ultron, WandaVision. Even if she starts out as morally grey or a “villain”, when it comes down to it she is willing to pick the side that means saving the lives of others. She kills Vision in Infinity War (the last person that she truly loves and who loves her back just as equally) because that means that Thanos won’t have the mind stone and he can’t end humanity. When in AOU the twins are promised a better life with Ultron, her and Pietro immediately switch sides because they don’t agree with what Ultron is doing. In WandaVision when she finds out that the hex is actually hurting people she immediately ends it. This is a person who has lost so much and is willing to put it all on the line time and time again because she believes in doing what is right. 

Tony when he is confronted with these same things can never find it in himself to make these same choices. When he has the chance to go back and undo the blip, he won’t because that means he will lose time with his daughter (who isn’t born yet anyway), he drags a 16 year old into a losing fight just so he can prove his point, he refuses to listen to Steve who tries to explain what brainwashing happened and tries to kill Bucky, and he is in favor of the Sokovia accords not because he genuinely cares about oversight but so that way he can ease his guilt about the fact that an AMERICAN died in Sokovia (not any of the Sokovians that died that day including the family of someone living with him).

And I think when it comes down to it, why Wanda is able to make these choices is because she has been on the other side before. She knows what it is like to have no one care about your country and what you are going through and I don’t think she wants anyone else to feel like that, so she does her best to mitigate situations where that is happening even if it means she will suffer another loss. Tony on the other hand has always had people championing for him and always had people that cared about him and his issues. Even if people dislike Tony, he is a billionaire with one of the largest companies in the United States there will always be someone there to provide him resources and tell his side of the story. I think this is what makes the mark of a true hero, Wanda, no matter how villainous or morally grey she starts out she is always prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice. Tony on the other hand can not be bothered until he is either impacted directly or he has to be begged and had his ego stroked to find it within himself to compromise some of his luxurious to help others. 

And the parallels don’t stop there either. In the MCU both are confronted with their parents murders, one tries to commit murder and the other one eventually forgives the guy (and once again it’s not who you think it is). Wanda who is at least 20 years younger then Tony is able to find it within herself to not only switch to the sides of the Avengers and help them defeat a robot that Tony built because he is once again killing her country and then later able to live and fight along side him in later movies. This girl is in her late teens to early 20s at the latest in Ultron and Civil War and she is able to muster up emotional maturity and set her very real and valid anger towards Tony aside to help save the world. Tony on the other hand, breaks a document that he signed two days ago and goes out and tries to murder a man who was a POW and brainwashed into killing his parents and almost killing his friend too. He is unable to take a conversation logically and listen to Steve try to explain something and almost commits' double homicide. This is once again cements the idea (at least for me) that Wanda is more of a hero then Tony ever will be.  

There is one final point I’m going to bring up and its the idea of them being weapons of mass destruction (I don’t know if this entirely fits but I don’t really have enough to make a whole separate post so its gonna get lumped in here). Both Wanda and Tony at different points in the MCU are referred to as weapons of mass destruction, but they deal with this so differently. We know in Civil War that Wanda is doing her best to help people and she is absolutely devastated when the bomb goes off in Lagos and innocent people die, despite the fact that she probably saved more of them and we know that she is working and training to get into better control of her powers. She feels guilt and shame when being called that and wants to do better and then ends up in prison. In IM2 when Tony is told the same thing he tells the government to essentially suck it and claims that he privatized world peace (which is an issue on so many levels). Not to mention Tony doesn’t learn anything, he has no qualms about shooting haphazardly around people to kill a villain they are chasing (or contain Bruce), he puts civilians in harms way more than Wanda ever does. The other interesting thing is Tony’s suit is more of a threat tot the world, in that same movie we learn that his technology and his suit aren’t that difficult to recreate so his inherently more dangerous then Wanda will ever be because there is only one of her but there is the possibility for multiple versions of the Iron Man suit. He also continues to create more dangerous tech, i.e. Edith, Wanda can learn more about her powers but she can’t change her overall form. So not only in Civil War is Tony a hypocrite when he calls her that, but had he not been a rich white man, he would have been just at risk if not more for being held to stricter standards because his tech can be recreated way easier then Wanda’s powers. 

Anyway that’s my rant on how there is a lot of over lap in their stories and how Wanda is 10x the person Tony will ever be (although the bar really is just so low).