So I go into the “Tony Stark Defense Squad” tag looking for some good “Tony Stark Defense Squad” posts, and I come out with anti-Tony’s running around about the “evil Tony Stark solely creating Ultron and the poor, sweet, innocent Wanda being blamed for doing nothing wrong.”
Here’s the thing that anti-Tony people absolutely refuse to acknowledge:
There is a massive difference between what Ultron was originally supposed to be and what Ultron became.
Yes, since New York, Tony had the idea of Ultron and a “suit of armor around the world” in his head. I will never deny that and say that Tony just decided on a whim to make Ultron. But Tony’s idea and plans for what he wanted Ultron are not anywhere near what Ultron became.
Ultron became what he became because of the mind stone.
Tony and Bruce weren’t anywhere close to getting somewhere with Ultron. And then as soon as they leave, basically the mind stone comes to life and attacks Jarvis.
And was Tony’s plan from the very beginning to use the mind stone for Ultron? No, there’s basically no indication of Tony wanting to use the mind stone for Ultron.
Until, Wanda shows him his worst fear, and then has this evil grin when Pietro asks “You’re going to just let him take it?”
And then, a little bit later in the movie, when they meet Ultron, she says “I didn’t expect (gestures to Ultron), but I saw Stark’s fear. I knew it would control him, make him self destruct.”
But people who already hate Tony completely ignore this, and just focus on the outward narrative of “Tony originally had the idea of a program called Ultron, so whatever it became is solely on him because he had an idea called Ultron.”
Again, Wanda states in the movie she wanted Tony to take the mind stone because she knew it would create something awful and hopefully kill him.
And fine, I’m not going to go into full argumentative mode about why Tony doesn’t deserve to be killed and solely blamed for Wanda’s parents being killed, but throughout the movie, it’s pretty clear Wanda couldn’t care less about who else Ultron kills in it’s path, as long as Tony is in the body count, she’s satisfied. And I’m not going to go into a full rant as to why Wanda isn’t a “sweet, innocent victim of the evil Tony Stark who personally murdered her parents.” All I’ll say is, the MCU had multiple chances for Wanda to say that HYDRA tricked her and her brother into joining them or for her to express remorse and responsibility for her part in what happened in Ultron. Instead, below is what happens:
When she finds out Ultron is planning on destroying everything, including her and her brother, then she decides to “turn to the light.” And when she and her brother meet Steve, she doesn’t take responsibility for her actions with working with Ultron and what happened in Johannesburg. Instead, she gives her line of “Ultron can’t see the difference between saving the world and destroying it, where do you think he gets that from?”
And Steve and the audience who already hate Tony were living for it.
I personally won’t say Tony has absolutely no role in Ultron, but I will say he had absolutely no role in what Ultron became.
And another little extra thing to add. People who hate Tony love to add in “Tony coerced and forced Bruce to help him with Ultron, so Bruce truly had no part in it and it was all Tony’s fault” And it’s hilarious and extremely ironic.
Tony was influenced by a power he had no control over to use the mind stone (again, Wanda says explicitly in the movie she wanted Tony to take the stone because she knew he would use it and destroy himself). Tony just convinced Bruce to help him, and he didn’t have any telepathic powers to do so! But people who already hate Tony twist it like Tony is the one who has Wanda’s powers and influenced Bruce to help him with Ultron, while Wanda did absolutely nothing wrong ever.
So if you’re going to say Tony was in full control of his choices and was fully responsible for what Ultron became, you can’t just turn around and say “Bruce was forced.” Bruce wasn’t influenced by telepathic powers. He could have said no and walked away. So it’s either Tony and Bruce both made their own choices, or they were both influenced, you can’t just twist things to fit your (and basically the MCU’s) narrative of “Tony Stark is a monster” that don’t necessarily make sense.
Everyone ignores that Tony’s vision of Ultron was absolutely nothing like what Ultron became, because everyone believes that Tony is already the true villain of the MCU so obviously, Ultron would have become exactly as he was even without the mind stone’s influence. Even when Wanda says she let him take the stone because he would create something that would make him destroy himself, people ignore it and instead cling to Wanda’s declaration of being completely innocent and Ultron is solely just a robotic Tony Stark.
I’ve talked about it before, but I think everyone’s hatred of Tony and reasoning for solely blaming him for Ultron is that he’s just easy to hate and to blame. And him being easy to hate and blame isn’t based on looking deeper into the story. It’s based on the fact he has the basis/superficial traits of people they hate in the real world due to their immense privilege and power over the rest of the world; billionaire born into money, male, white, cisgender, heterosexual. And Wanda, who was born into poverty and had her family destroyed by war, is someone who has a more relatable and sympathetic background. So no matter what wrong she has done, it doesn’t matter because in real life, people relate to her more and in real life people loathe everything Tony’s basis traits represent.
So anytime the narrative of “Tony Stark is a monster and Ultron became a monster because Tony is a monster” is pushed, people jump on it and cling to it. Even if it’s obvious Tony’s Ultron would not have become what it did without the mind stone(even said in the movie), people refuse to acknowledge it as Tony’s basic traits already represent the villains in real life, so he’s clearly the villain even in a fictional universe where it shown through every movie that, yes, he absolutely has flaws, but he goes through massive growth of trying to do better and be better. And Tony’s plans of what he wanted Ultron to become were clear proof of him wanting to protect Earth and wanting to do good. But because of what Ultron became is name “Ultron”, people are happy to ignore that fact and say Ultron would have became what it did even without the mind stone’s influence, because Tony is and always will be a monster.
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