20 Saddest Moments In Marvel's Cinematic Universe (So Far)

By Jonathan Cordiner /

14. Post Traumatic Stark Disorder

With celebrated Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black at the helm and also sharing script duties, it was no surprise to see Tony Stark€™s snark cranked up to eleven in Iron Man 3. Something that was a bit more unexpected was seeing Stark, so often arrogant to the point of being unflappable, suffering genuine trauma after his brush with death at the end of The Avengers. Carrying a nuclear weapon through a wormhole as an alien army rains chaos on the streets of New York apparently isn€™t all in a day€™s work, even for someone with Tony€™s track record of life-threatening situations. Stark€™s PTSD in Iron Man 3 has even found its way into clinical discussions: Psychology Today explored Stark€™s disturbed mental state and sleepless nights and applauded the human frailty on display, concluding that €œthe episodes' sudden, intense, debilitating, and significantly distressing nature make them appear to be panic attacks.€ So there.