MCU: Iron Man's 10 Greatest Moments
6. All The Nicknames (Every Movie)
Though some feel the MCU goes for comedy too often, Tony’s nicknames fit with his personality perfectly. The fact his protege Spidey has just as big a penchant for movie references only makes it better.
He’s not the first pop culture character to employ this technique either. Sawyer from Lost used to do the same, frequently referring to the non-English speaking Jin as Chewbacca. Just like Sawyer, these names began as insults, but slowly grew to be a sign of affection to this teammates.
He had some great ones over the years, with some like Capsicle or Legolas (Captain America and Hawkeye) being fairly easy to figure out, while Machurian Candidate (a novel on Cold War era soldiers being implanted and brainwashed into spying) and Underoos (classic superhero tight fitting underwear for kids) being harder to figure out. These were used for Bucky and Spidey respectively, if you missed them.
Interestingly, while he used to spray these nicknames around with impunity in his early days, recent movies have him use the gag less, with another subtle hint that he matured more the longer he was a part of the Avengers.