“Tony Stark ‘not recommended’ “
Everyone watching on t.v. everyone in the street and every person on the helicarrier bridge watched Tony fly that nuke through the portal and every single last one of them cheered when he disappeared from view….except Nick Fury.
For someone who wasn’t recommended, Fury calls on Tony a lot. Nick had told Tony about the Avengers Initiative years earlier. It was Tony they sent in to talk to Ross. It’s Tony whom Fury immediately calls for when the carriers engines go down and it’s Tony that Fury calls for when the nuke is fired. And each and every time, Tony responds instantly.
Nick would have been in his early twenties when Tony was born. Shield would definitely have had Howard Stark’s only child under surveillance, especially when Tony presented with a genius intellect and Nick when he joined Shield, would have had access to those files.. It is no coincidence that Shield just up and had a form of an antidote when Tony had palladium poisoning. This was Shield protecting a future asset. So Fury would have watched as Tony grew up. Watched as he lost his parents, as he forged his own path in the business world, been fully briefed on Tony’s kidnapping. There may be exasperation with Tony but there is respect and a certain fondness too. Fury is smirking with a definite ‘oh my god, this boy’ in the donut shop and he steps up and in between Cap and Tony when Cap gets in Tony’s space and tells him to ‘put on the suit’. He knows how Tony will react to a challenge. Fury’s been watching video of Tony since his birth. He knows this man.
When he tells Tony that the nuke has been fired Fury knows, he knows exactly what Tony will do. He knows that he is sending this man, this man he has watched grow from a child, to his certain death.
So while Shield, the WSC, the people of Manhattan and the rest of the country are celebrating, Fury is mourning. This isn’t the first time Fury has ‘lost a soldier’ and Tony isn’t a soldier but Fury knows he has just lost a good man who had the heart, courage and potential to be one of his best assets. A leader in his fledgling team.
He knows you don’t recommend someone to become a hero, it’s something they simply inherently are.
**
