Avengers 4 Theory: Does Tony Stark Have A Death Wish?

2. Isolating Himself

If you don't believe that Stark has a death wish, look at his relationship dynamics within the Avengers - a team who are ostensibly supposed to be his friends and allies.

He almost immediately clashed with Captain America - who would otherwise have been his most valuable brother in arms - he turned Vision into an over-powered babysitter, placed Wanda under house arrest, goaded Bruce Banner to try and make him become Hulk, frequently insulted Thor... It's only Rhodey and Spider-Man he's particularly fond of and they actually prove why he has a thing about pushing people away.

Tony doesn't want close bonds with others. When he does they get beaten half-to-death (Happy), infected by Extremis (Pepper), paralysed in combat (Rhodey) or killed entirely (Peter Parker). He's haunted by that fear, but isolating himself from the rest of the Avengers actually serves his self-destructive impulses too.

By alienating the more powerful Avengers and then siding with the government on the Sokovian Accords, Tony basically made himself a one-man army again. As much as he wants to protect everyone else from the "curse" that messes with those he loves, he also knows that being alone means he's in more danger himself and yet he seemingly quite wilfully puts himself in that sort of position.