#the post isn't meant to be shippy but possibly some tonynat shippers will appreciate the panels for fic or whatever :)

[ghosthan]

Let me talk, for a minute, about Tony and Natasha’s interactions in Iron Man Vol. 3 #6.

I’m just really heart eyes at their interactions and the vibe in this issue. She summons him via purposefully, overly cryptic messages to lounge in tiny bathing suits together on a sailboat, and asks him to be her hot little piece/kidnapping bait for a mission she’s doing, (someone is kidnapping scientists in fields like Tony’s field), and he is like, ‘Well. anything for you, babe. Remember when we were Avengers together? uwu’

And she says, basically, that she’s much better as a spy, and they don’t talk too much about it, but the subtext here is really interesting-- Natasha’s guilt, blaming herself for the Avengers “failure” and disbanding, and I think she’s generally a pretty emotionally guarded person, and Tony is too, but this is something they both understand, and I appreciated the nod to guilt complexes (brief enough to not bring down the sexy island vacation/buddy spy movie vibe.)

Oh yeah. And she says, ‘oh and no armor. you have to be helpless :)’

I just find the pan out to the sail boat and the “no... armor? 😳” panel very comedic. Liike. They may as well have given him a “gulp” sound effect.

But Tony is naturally helpful and agreeable, and he drinks his Respecting Women Juice-- this is her mission, if he agrees, he’s going to do it her way-- but he’s also so fucking uncomfortable being without armor. It’s his emotional support billion dollar technology. It’s his crutch, he doesn’t like walking around exposed. But anything for a friend, right?

So they spend a few days basically having as much public fun as possible, flaunting Tony’s presence, dangling him like a piece of fruit for the bad guys, “Oh boys, I’m here, I’m unarmed, it would be a shame if someone came and... kidnapped me 😳😳😳”, and they go to a gala together (looking like an extremely hot couple),

and...

Assassin: Hello

Nat: Tony... run to safety, you’re in danger

Tony: aight, I’mma head out

I don’t love tropes that woobify Tony or make him a damsel in an incompetent way, or need to be rescued constantly by some alpha male ship counterpart (this is a common Steve/Tony trope, from what I’ve seen) but objectively I think it’s hilarious and so in character for him to willingly make himself vulnerable to be used for bait, absolutely hate it, and fully trust in his female friend/hero counterpart to rescue him.

“Yeehaw, I’m finally getting chloroformed, took them long enough, sure hope everything is good with Nat and her plan to save me :)”

and meanwhile she literally got so caught up in the fun of beating up an assasn while wearing a ballgown, (quote: ‘You’re wasting my time, you can’t be working for the people I’m after so it’s time to stop playing with you’) that she... she just kinda... loses Tony:

good issue. fun issue. read iron man volume 3 and talk to me about it thanks

#han reads comics #iron man #iron man volume 3 #imv3 #natasha romanoff #they're just beautiful #tony/natasha #the post isn't meant to be shippy but possibly some tonynat shippers will appreciate the panels for fic or whatever :) #tonynat #tony stark #meta #comics #han meta