So... How am I suppose to accept Tony's death and continue caring about these movies? I wouldn't of had any interest in the mcu if my cousin hadn't forced me to watch Iron Man when it was on TV. His character and movie introduced me to superheroes and were one of the main reasons I kept coming back.
Same he is the reason why I even start to care about superheroes movie, I will never ever forget that feeling when I saw him in Iron Man and the mirth in his eyes when he first tested flight his suit and he realised that, yes, he can fly. It was so powerful and inspiring and uplifting that it made you see that, yes we are all just human with no special power, but our mind is our superpower. His superpower is self-made, not given, not born with, notĀ extraterrestrial. His superpower and heroism is obtainable, achievable. Iām not a billionaire genius but Iām a human, I can relate to him because heās one of us. He is the most human character in the mcu and he represents humanity as a whole, thereās no race no cultural boundary, the struggles he deals with is always personal, I donāt have to be a certain country citizen to understand or relate to him, I dont have to be a certain race or class to feel his story echoes with mine. I am human and that is enough. We can all see part of ourselves in him. And his story is always about survival, he is always the personification of hope and human miracle.Ā
And thatās why his death is such a betrayal to me, thatās why I feel my heart aches like I actually has lost someone real, they take away the hope I always feel when I look at him, they take away the assurance I always feel when I think of him. The decision to kill him off is a betrayal becauseĀ his heroic act simply doesnāt need to end in death. The movie can stay the same as it is (or not if they can be a bit more creative) and he can snap the finger to save everyone but it can easily be done with him surviving it. Everyone would still be alive because of him, him surviving wouldnāt take away the fact that he sacrificed himself for everyone. The intension is the same, just a different result, and he can have the happy ending he deserves and earned.Ā
But no, they want some emotional epicness to ātriumphantā toĀ ādefy expectationsā,Ā and they have to use his death to achieve that. On screen, his relationship with Pepper and Morgan is what makes his death so tragic, leaving them behind and have that happiness taken away from him would make everyone empathise with this tragedy; off screen, his relationship with us the audience guarantees a reaction from everyone, because heās the one who we are emotionally attached to in some way, deeply connected or lightly touched upon, he represents human, us, and his death would leave a mark in everyone. Itās really clever of the Russos, to use Tony Stark time and time again to evoke emotions from audience so they can make this mess of a movie āunforgettableā and sweeps all the problems of this movie under the Tony Stark Heroic Sacrifice Death rug to create a diversion. It wasnāt the first time they use Tony Stark and his relationships to simply serve as either a plot device or a tool to evoke emotions from audience. And not just Tony, they never truly care or appreciate the characters or the relationships, or occasionally I donāt feel that they respect what characters have been though in past movies, all characters and relationships are just a means to an end for the āgrand plotā.
Before you say Iām being cynical or negative, I totally get the other, more positive side of his death in Endgame, like his death is the reason why MCU is still here and itās poetic, his gave birth to the MCU and his death enables it to continue, itās like a parent lay down his life for the future of his children. Itās poetic and tragically beautiful I get it, but they donāt kill him after his heroic act because itās deserving for his character and what he represents, but because itās a convenient and effective way to end the movie with an epic emotional send off. If this is just a movie on its own, his death serves the movie and itās fine. But this is not just a movie, itās the conclusion of the 22 movies 11 years of memories, the movie should serve the characters not the other way round, they owe it to the characters, because without the characters there is no MCU franchise.Ā
Itās my personal opinion, but what this movie has done to the characters is a massive let down, you may think the movie as a whole is great and epic, but all the characters the relationships between them in this movie deserve a better treatment, theyāre not a means to an end, theyāre supposed to be the end. So yeah, how could I possibly feel enthusiastic about future movies when this is how they treat the characters Iāve been growing up with for the past 10 years. These characters are part of our lives and for me itās Tony, and hisĀ death makes it feels like a small part of myself has died away with him and my enthusiasm for Marvel will stay dead