10 Out Of Character Moments That Annoyed Comic Fans

4. Tony Stark - The Iron Fuhrer

Even among the countless poorly written and heavily contrived event comics Marvel churns out, Civil War has a special place of hatred in many fans' hearts. Between bad writing, and triggering the tedious trend of heroes fighting heroes to the ludicrous point seen today, it's not hard to see why. Even among all this however, the one who easily suffered the most was Iron Man. Selected as the figure who would lead the pro-Superhuman Registration Act against Captain America's forces opposing the decree, Tony Stark was intended to be a major figurehead within the story. Unfortunately, figurehead translated as political straw man in the minds of writers favouring Cap's side. Rather than any even handed portrayal of all involved, writers instead began to turn Stark into a fascist dictator using tactics even his villains had not stooped to. Along with throwing opposing heroes into prison without trial (said prison being a dimension which slowly drains the life-force of its residents), he advocated the use of mind controlled supervillains to help bolster his side's strength and even robot copies of, then dead, lifelong ally Thor. To cap this all off, Stark planned to trigger a war with the technologically advanced Atlantis, use conflict this to forcibly unite the pro and anti-registration sides, and have Stark Industries make a tidy was profit as thousands were killed in the crossfire. While all of this is negative for Stark himself, what makes him truly warrant mentioning is Stark's hatred of government oversight. Of all the heroes present, Iron Man would be the last to side with the government and previously repeatedly fought efforts to control the Avengers. Having witnessed firsthand the problems which come with political meddling, Stark was previously sacrificed personal reputation, influence, vast amounts of his fortune and even dignity to oppose previous attempts to control heroes like this. If he ever did sacrifice his morals such as here, he would turn into an anti-governmental anarchist. It's no small wonder it took Robert Downy Jr. and a total personality reset to even begin fixing the damage Civil War caused him.