2. It Took Nearly Dying For Him To Adopt Caps Philosophy
Ill acknowledge that not every hero has the same sense of heroism driving him. In Avengers Assemble, youve got government operatives in Black Widow and Hawkeye who serve their country, Thor being a king and Captain America serving as the WWII poster boy and war tactician upholding old fashioned values. Seeing as (despite his efforts) being a billionaire doesnt automatically make you a hero, Iron Man should strive to be closest to Cap out of all of the Avengers. He isnt taking orders from the government, he doesnt have other-worldly powers and he has more uses than the Hulk. Why, then, does Iron Man proceed to be such an egotistical hero? He takes on Thor despite the only thing he did was try to convince Loki, his half-brother, to stop and on the Helicarrier he calls out Shield for building weapons (people with glass houses, Tony). Perfectly capturing his attitude to heroism is Captain Americas claim that he isnt the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you. Stark only learns that you cant always just cut the wire when he guides the nuclear missile away from Manhattan in his most selfless moment on screen. Unfortunately, everyone else wouldve done that too and when Stark does it this is considered character development.