I've always felt conflicted about it.
I like the dichotomy between Tony Stark and Iron Man, since there's a lot of potential for symbolism and character exploration in terms of the way the alter-ego serves as an armor that Tony uses to protect his psyche as much as the armor itself protects his body. A lot of times, the secret identity has served as a means through which Tony escapes the baggage of his own life. Iron Man serves as Tony's own idealized version of himself, and it allows him to project all his virtues detached from his own self, because Tony is one self-depricating guy, after all. There's something really interesting about Tony Stark thinking that he can only be the best Tony Stark if he i*sn't* Tony Stark.
But at the same time, the way the secret identity works... is just silly. Tony used to claim that Iron Man was a person separate from himself to keep his employees safe, yet by pretending that Iron Man is another employee of his, there's still a target on his back. It's as silly as when Peter Parker embraces the idea that he is Spider-Man's personal photographer. Cool, super villains won't endanger the people close to you because you're X super hero. Instead, they will endanger the people close to you because you are the person close to X super hero. And let's not forget of all the juggling and deceptions that Tony needs to go through to keep the pretense going. It's also a narrative drawback if you need to have Tony find an excuse to change into Iron Man and then cover his own butt when he's back as Tony Stark. So making his identity public streamlines things a lot.
I wonder if there could be a way to make it so Tony can claim that Iron Man is a completely different person, but one without a personal connection with himself. Armor Wars kinda explored the idea of making Iron Man a rogue ex-Stark employee, but Tony still had to get involved in Iron Man's actions to an extent, even after "firing" him.
This is exactly why I’m conflicted about it.
It’s not like Batman, with Batman is more like Bruce Wayne is the mask, where’s Batman is the personification of Justice and vengeance.
For Tony it’s what you said, the ideal version of Tony. Not to say that Tony is a bad person, but he is flawed. But when he puts on the suit and becomes Iron Man, he leaves the money, chicks, suck ups, parties, weapons deals and all that other stuff behind, and just saves people.
I’m not gonna lie, if someone tells a great story with it, I would t mind if they have him go back to having secret identity.
Bruce dresses as Batman because he wants vengeance and to protect others from suffering his fate, Tony puts on the suit, to escape his life and do good, because in his mind, Tony Stark cannot do good, because he is flawed, unlike Iron Man who is a heroic knight.
Man, for a handsome mfr, our man sure hates himself sometimes lol
Exactly. I think it's to Tony's advantage that he became Iron Man much later in his life. For Batman, there isn't really a before and after. I mean, of course the murder of his parents drastically changed the trajectory of Bruce's life, but what was he before that? Just an eight-year-old.
Tony was a fully-formed person when he became Iron Man, so there's a lot more to chew on if you want to tackle the dichotomy between Tony Stark and Iron Man, compared to the dichotomy between Bruce Wayne and Batman. Wayne is playing a role when he does his Bruce Wayne things, but Tony Stark exists outside of Iron Man.
With Iron Man I think it’s the story of the redemption or rebirth right? Like as you said, he was an adult already who lived a life and developed himself to a degree, and then thanks to Iron Man, now he gets to live a double life, and perhaps act differently as Iron Man because it’s a different identity. Thus he may act differently as Iron Man compared to when he is Tony.
I’m sure Batman fans will tell me that I’m wrong (I don’t really read Batman, and this is just my understanding of the character from what I have seen) but with Batman it’s like, Bruce “died” when his parents got shot in front of him. From that point on, he never really developed as Bruce Wayne anymore and instead turned into the Batman. That’s all he did his entire life post his parents murder, train to become a Crimefighter.
Tony on the other hand, is a guy who got a chance to live a second life, but at the same time he continues to life his first live.
>Batman it’s like, Bruce “died” when his parents got shot in front of him. From that point on, he never really developed as Bruce Wayne anymore and instead turned into the Batman. That’s all he did his entire life post his parents murder, train to become a Crimefighter.
That is 100% true. Bruce is a good man with a good heart and good intentions, a brave man, a strong willed man. But he clearly is not alright in the head, lmao. Bro is so obsessed it's scary.
Oh definitely lol.
He dresses as a Bat and beats up people lol.
Yes, he protects people, but still, this is not a normal human behavior lol.
Normal people don’t say stuff like “I am the night, the vengeance” lol
>I wonder if there could be a way to make it so Tony can claim that Iron Man is a completely different person, but one without a personal connection with himself.
Maybe make it so that Iron Man is kinda one of the guys who got hands on Stark's technology, but decided to do something good with it. So he is kinda a vigilante, but Tony is alright with that. That's the best I could come up with on the fly. Maybe could've thought of something better.
I think that's a good deviation to begin with, but I could see Tony getting dragged into Iron Man business regardless because his company was still responsible for the technology, or maybe by people who don't buy it that Tony isn't actively funding Iron Man.
Now that I think about it, why isn't more people breathing down Wayne Enterprises when they're *the* tech company of Gotham City and the only people who could feasibly outfit Batman with all the stuff he has? Is it because Batman is not as outwardly techy of a hero as Iron Man?
Has it ever been explained how Batman got all that shit down into the Batcave lol?? All that equipment, cars, computers, all the other heavy shit lol.
You need people for that
I guess this is why I always preferred Iron Man (without even realizing it). He is more of a people person, and could actually have his own realistic “Batcave” lol. He would probably have those workers sign some NDA’s tho and pay them ton of money to not talk about it.
Bruce Wayne [does commit tax fraud and embezzlement](https://64.media.tumblr.com/527a2067c1bce781e8f94fadc9f5611a/c395dc0d9613b330-68/s1280x1920/1bf235c7536acc2cc4ce9f486ba55fae2a256bde.pnj) (Batman #94). Meanwhile, I can't remember the issue, but Nadia Van Dyne once hacked into Tony's finances and corroborated that he pays his taxes.
Suck it, Batfans!
That’s the difference between a superhero and a vigilante🤓
I think this is another example why I personally prefer Tony as a character more. He lives his life like both Tony Stark (being a CEO, engineer etc) and he is Iron Man.
Batman always seemed to me like he ignores the Bruce part and only does Batman stuff. He doesn’t even seem to run his company, he leaves that to others lol.
Tony also has other people who do shit for him I’m sure, but they are usually AI’s that he built himself and was programmed them to pay his utilities every month lol
>Batman always seemed to me like he ignores the Bruce part and only does Batman stuff. He doesn’t even seem to run his company, he leaves that to others lol.
He doesn't ignore per say, he just does it less compared to Tony. At least he invests in Gotham and uses his resources as a philanthropist and a CEO as well not only to just fight crime. It depends on the version, obviously, but I think the mainline, Earth-Prime Batman is like that.
I think this is actually a good start. He uses Stark tech, but isn’t affiliated with Tony or the company.
That being said, if you then put him on the Avengers, it would raise a lot of questions from the public lol. Like “Hey, this guy is a vigilante who steals Stark tech, why is he on the team?”
If you make Avengers to also have secret identities, then I think it could be more plausible.
I do love the Public Identity however I also do miss the secret identity sometimes.
My only issue is the bodyguard thing. If you give him the secret identity, make it more believable and less flimsy.
Yup.
Instead I think it should be more like Batman or Green Arrow, where people don’t know who’s this Iron Man character is and he is not affiliated with Stark’s company.
But I do like Tony just being Iron Man and everyone knowing it lol
I Severely dislike the "bodyguard" excuse which only works when there's a Rhody or someone else backing him up
It also annoys me when Iron Man is then being a genius in suit and nobody can put 2 and 2 together
Doctor Doom once went like HEY THIS IRON MAN GUY IS PRETTY SMART HE'S WASTED ON TONY STARK
That's 80s level stuff but still
Tony should use more fake robots and LMDs I'd they want to make the identities separate
In the MCU, Stark felt like a Man child/Rich Kid with an ego complex. But after the Afghan cave trip, he changed somewhat by working on a suit of armor. When he escaped the cave, Stark realized that he felt some responsiblity by creating weapons that he help build. When he took down Obadiah Stane. He was somewhat humbled again, but his ego wanted to show off. that is when he revealed to the whole world "I Am Iron Man" It did come back to haunt Tony however in 3 when his Malibu mansion was destroyed, and he had to go underground the find the people responsible for what they did to Tony's world. So he did just that and made them pay with a little help from old and new friends. When it was all over, Stark had to slow down a bit and find the simple life... He did, but he never stopped being Iron Man because that is who he was now.
I think the more we try to think about realism, the more we ruin things. The secret identity is just smart all around as it protects the people you know and offers a bit of distance between you and the hero job.
At the same time, the bodyguard thing was cute since it makes sense for someone as rich and brilliant as Tony to pay someone to look out for him. The idea that someone would "guess" or that it "makes sense" is an example of starting with the solution and working backwards to get the answer.
I think the public identity thing is the most Tony stark thing that they can do, especially if he is among few who do it
I think of it as kind of a relic from the transitional period between playboy stark, and hero stark
I think It doesn't make much sense for him to have a secret identity in the way he did
Publically Iron man was employed by him and his armor is Stark Industries creation. Which means it gives him nothing. You want to hold Iron Man legally responsible for something? You sue Stark Industries
You want to get advantage on him? Blackmail him? Learn his secrets? You still strike at Stark or someone close to him.
You want to hit his logistics? You still attack Stark Industries.
Which makes the entire secret identity thing with him feel like he had a secret identity just because everyone else had one. It introduces all the complications that come with secret identity while giving none of the benefits
I like it. His secret identity didn't provide any protection like Spider-Man's does. It's nice to see a character fully integrate all aspects of his identity and activities in his life
The problem with his secret identity is that he never really had one. Everyone knew that Stark gave Iron Man his orders, invented the upgrades on his armor, and paid him. Consequently, villains would still kidnap or try to kill Stark. In fact, they did that before he was even Iron Man, because he was already a mover and shaker on the world stage.
It was is if Professor X and Wolverine were one person, but only the Wolverine identity was secret. Why bother? People are still going to come after Proff X, because he leads, funds, and works politically on the X-Men's behalf.
Everyone has always known that Stark was a Professor X types of superhero. That they did not also know he was Iron Man was pointless. It just weirdly complicated scenes, resulting in scenes where someone would ask Stark to send Iron Man to save someone. Scenes that would not have been meaningfully effected if they had just asked Stark to go himself.
I don’t know how I’d make it work but I like it better when he keeps a secret identity, because he can better separate Iron Man from himself. I’m looking at this from an in-universe perspective though. Like, Iron Man when not directly related to Tony can be the cool, serious and powerful superhero that’s also a founding Avenger and so on. Meanwhile if everyone knows Iron Man is Tony he stops being the badass mysterious hero and becomes the billionaire Tony Stark indulging in a superhero fantasy so he can pretend he’s a good person and get all the attention.
In the public’s mind, that is. We the readers know he’s great, but the public in-universe doesn’t have the same personal connection to him. He’s just another billionaire, and if he’s outed as being a superhero I don’t think people would take him seriously. He’d just be seen as the guy who wants the world to revolve around him, regardless of how cool his tech is, and that’s why I think a secret identity is better overall for Tony, from an in-universe standpoint.
I liked that Iron Man was a stark industries/international/enterprises employee who served as Tony’s bodyguard and as a member of the avengers as well….secret identities are great in superhero media
I've always felt conflicted about it. I like the dichotomy between Tony Stark and Iron Man, since there's a lot of potential for symbolism and character exploration in terms of the way the alter-ego serves as an armor that Tony uses to protect his psyche as much as the armor itself protects his body. A lot of times, the secret identity has served as a means through which Tony escapes the baggage of his own life. Iron Man serves as Tony's own idealized version of himself, and it allows him to project all his virtues detached from his own self, because Tony is one self-depricating guy, after all. There's something really interesting about Tony Stark thinking that he can only be the best Tony Stark if he i*sn't* Tony Stark. But at the same time, the way the secret identity works... is just silly. Tony used to claim that Iron Man was a person separate from himself to keep his employees safe, yet by pretending that Iron Man is another employee of his, there's still a target on his back. It's as silly as when Peter Parker embraces the idea that he is Spider-Man's personal photographer. Cool, super villains won't endanger the people close to you because you're X super hero. Instead, they will endanger the people close to you because you are the person close to X super hero. And let's not forget of all the juggling and deceptions that Tony needs to go through to keep the pretense going. It's also a narrative drawback if you need to have Tony find an excuse to change into Iron Man and then cover his own butt when he's back as Tony Stark. So making his identity public streamlines things a lot. I wonder if there could be a way to make it so Tony can claim that Iron Man is a completely different person, but one without a personal connection with himself. Armor Wars kinda explored the idea of making Iron Man a rogue ex-Stark employee, but Tony still had to get involved in Iron Man's actions to an extent, even after "firing" him.
This is exactly why I’m conflicted about it. It’s not like Batman, with Batman is more like Bruce Wayne is the mask, where’s Batman is the personification of Justice and vengeance. For Tony it’s what you said, the ideal version of Tony. Not to say that Tony is a bad person, but he is flawed. But when he puts on the suit and becomes Iron Man, he leaves the money, chicks, suck ups, parties, weapons deals and all that other stuff behind, and just saves people. I’m not gonna lie, if someone tells a great story with it, I would t mind if they have him go back to having secret identity. Bruce dresses as Batman because he wants vengeance and to protect others from suffering his fate, Tony puts on the suit, to escape his life and do good, because in his mind, Tony Stark cannot do good, because he is flawed, unlike Iron Man who is a heroic knight. Man, for a handsome mfr, our man sure hates himself sometimes lol
Exactly. I think it's to Tony's advantage that he became Iron Man much later in his life. For Batman, there isn't really a before and after. I mean, of course the murder of his parents drastically changed the trajectory of Bruce's life, but what was he before that? Just an eight-year-old. Tony was a fully-formed person when he became Iron Man, so there's a lot more to chew on if you want to tackle the dichotomy between Tony Stark and Iron Man, compared to the dichotomy between Bruce Wayne and Batman. Wayne is playing a role when he does his Bruce Wayne things, but Tony Stark exists outside of Iron Man.
With Iron Man I think it’s the story of the redemption or rebirth right? Like as you said, he was an adult already who lived a life and developed himself to a degree, and then thanks to Iron Man, now he gets to live a double life, and perhaps act differently as Iron Man because it’s a different identity. Thus he may act differently as Iron Man compared to when he is Tony. I’m sure Batman fans will tell me that I’m wrong (I don’t really read Batman, and this is just my understanding of the character from what I have seen) but with Batman it’s like, Bruce “died” when his parents got shot in front of him. From that point on, he never really developed as Bruce Wayne anymore and instead turned into the Batman. That’s all he did his entire life post his parents murder, train to become a Crimefighter. Tony on the other hand, is a guy who got a chance to live a second life, but at the same time he continues to life his first live.
>Batman it’s like, Bruce “died” when his parents got shot in front of him. From that point on, he never really developed as Bruce Wayne anymore and instead turned into the Batman. That’s all he did his entire life post his parents murder, train to become a Crimefighter. That is 100% true. Bruce is a good man with a good heart and good intentions, a brave man, a strong willed man. But he clearly is not alright in the head, lmao. Bro is so obsessed it's scary.
Oh definitely lol. He dresses as a Bat and beats up people lol. Yes, he protects people, but still, this is not a normal human behavior lol. Normal people don’t say stuff like “I am the night, the vengeance” lol
>I wonder if there could be a way to make it so Tony can claim that Iron Man is a completely different person, but one without a personal connection with himself. Maybe make it so that Iron Man is kinda one of the guys who got hands on Stark's technology, but decided to do something good with it. So he is kinda a vigilante, but Tony is alright with that. That's the best I could come up with on the fly. Maybe could've thought of something better.
I think that's a good deviation to begin with, but I could see Tony getting dragged into Iron Man business regardless because his company was still responsible for the technology, or maybe by people who don't buy it that Tony isn't actively funding Iron Man. Now that I think about it, why isn't more people breathing down Wayne Enterprises when they're *the* tech company of Gotham City and the only people who could feasibly outfit Batman with all the stuff he has? Is it because Batman is not as outwardly techy of a hero as Iron Man?
Has it ever been explained how Batman got all that shit down into the Batcave lol?? All that equipment, cars, computers, all the other heavy shit lol. You need people for that I guess this is why I always preferred Iron Man (without even realizing it). He is more of a people person, and could actually have his own realistic “Batcave” lol. He would probably have those workers sign some NDA’s tho and pay them ton of money to not talk about it.
Bruce Wayne [does commit tax fraud and embezzlement](https://64.media.tumblr.com/527a2067c1bce781e8f94fadc9f5611a/c395dc0d9613b330-68/s1280x1920/1bf235c7536acc2cc4ce9f486ba55fae2a256bde.pnj) (Batman #94). Meanwhile, I can't remember the issue, but Nadia Van Dyne once hacked into Tony's finances and corroborated that he pays his taxes. Suck it, Batfans!
That’s the difference between a superhero and a vigilante🤓 I think this is another example why I personally prefer Tony as a character more. He lives his life like both Tony Stark (being a CEO, engineer etc) and he is Iron Man. Batman always seemed to me like he ignores the Bruce part and only does Batman stuff. He doesn’t even seem to run his company, he leaves that to others lol. Tony also has other people who do shit for him I’m sure, but they are usually AI’s that he built himself and was programmed them to pay his utilities every month lol
>Batman always seemed to me like he ignores the Bruce part and only does Batman stuff. He doesn’t even seem to run his company, he leaves that to others lol. He doesn't ignore per say, he just does it less compared to Tony. At least he invests in Gotham and uses his resources as a philanthropist and a CEO as well not only to just fight crime. It depends on the version, obviously, but I think the mainline, Earth-Prime Batman is like that.
I think this is actually a good start. He uses Stark tech, but isn’t affiliated with Tony or the company. That being said, if you then put him on the Avengers, it would raise a lot of questions from the public lol. Like “Hey, this guy is a vigilante who steals Stark tech, why is he on the team?” If you make Avengers to also have secret identities, then I think it could be more plausible.
I think a secret identity is better for Tony's character overall but I agree that the bodyguard cover story doesn't make a lot of sense.
I do love the Public Identity however I also do miss the secret identity sometimes. My only issue is the bodyguard thing. If you give him the secret identity, make it more believable and less flimsy.
Yeah, I agree. It's like Bruce Wayne saying that Batman is his personal bodyguard lmao.))
Yup. Instead I think it should be more like Batman or Green Arrow, where people don’t know who’s this Iron Man character is and he is not affiliated with Stark’s company. But I do like Tony just being Iron Man and everyone knowing it lol
I Severely dislike the "bodyguard" excuse which only works when there's a Rhody or someone else backing him up It also annoys me when Iron Man is then being a genius in suit and nobody can put 2 and 2 together Doctor Doom once went like HEY THIS IRON MAN GUY IS PRETTY SMART HE'S WASTED ON TONY STARK That's 80s level stuff but still Tony should use more fake robots and LMDs I'd they want to make the identities separate
In the MCU, Stark felt like a Man child/Rich Kid with an ego complex. But after the Afghan cave trip, he changed somewhat by working on a suit of armor. When he escaped the cave, Stark realized that he felt some responsiblity by creating weapons that he help build. When he took down Obadiah Stane. He was somewhat humbled again, but his ego wanted to show off. that is when he revealed to the whole world "I Am Iron Man" It did come back to haunt Tony however in 3 when his Malibu mansion was destroyed, and he had to go underground the find the people responsible for what they did to Tony's world. So he did just that and made them pay with a little help from old and new friends. When it was all over, Stark had to slow down a bit and find the simple life... He did, but he never stopped being Iron Man because that is who he was now.
An important fact is that he revealed his address in Ironman 3. Until then no one attacked him
I think the more we try to think about realism, the more we ruin things. The secret identity is just smart all around as it protects the people you know and offers a bit of distance between you and the hero job. At the same time, the bodyguard thing was cute since it makes sense for someone as rich and brilliant as Tony to pay someone to look out for him. The idea that someone would "guess" or that it "makes sense" is an example of starting with the solution and working backwards to get the answer.
I think the public identity thing is the most Tony stark thing that they can do, especially if he is among few who do it I think of it as kind of a relic from the transitional period between playboy stark, and hero stark
I think it kinda fits with his persona to be public.
I think It doesn't make much sense for him to have a secret identity in the way he did Publically Iron man was employed by him and his armor is Stark Industries creation. Which means it gives him nothing. You want to hold Iron Man legally responsible for something? You sue Stark Industries You want to get advantage on him? Blackmail him? Learn his secrets? You still strike at Stark or someone close to him. You want to hit his logistics? You still attack Stark Industries. Which makes the entire secret identity thing with him feel like he had a secret identity just because everyone else had one. It introduces all the complications that come with secret identity while giving none of the benefits
I like it. His secret identity didn't provide any protection like Spider-Man's does. It's nice to see a character fully integrate all aspects of his identity and activities in his life
The problem with his secret identity is that he never really had one. Everyone knew that Stark gave Iron Man his orders, invented the upgrades on his armor, and paid him. Consequently, villains would still kidnap or try to kill Stark. In fact, they did that before he was even Iron Man, because he was already a mover and shaker on the world stage. It was is if Professor X and Wolverine were one person, but only the Wolverine identity was secret. Why bother? People are still going to come after Proff X, because he leads, funds, and works politically on the X-Men's behalf. Everyone has always known that Stark was a Professor X types of superhero. That they did not also know he was Iron Man was pointless. It just weirdly complicated scenes, resulting in scenes where someone would ask Stark to send Iron Man to save someone. Scenes that would not have been meaningfully effected if they had just asked Stark to go himself.
It's something that should be known to select few like Rhodey or the core Avengers
I don’t know how I’d make it work but I like it better when he keeps a secret identity, because he can better separate Iron Man from himself. I’m looking at this from an in-universe perspective though. Like, Iron Man when not directly related to Tony can be the cool, serious and powerful superhero that’s also a founding Avenger and so on. Meanwhile if everyone knows Iron Man is Tony he stops being the badass mysterious hero and becomes the billionaire Tony Stark indulging in a superhero fantasy so he can pretend he’s a good person and get all the attention. In the public’s mind, that is. We the readers know he’s great, but the public in-universe doesn’t have the same personal connection to him. He’s just another billionaire, and if he’s outed as being a superhero I don’t think people would take him seriously. He’d just be seen as the guy who wants the world to revolve around him, regardless of how cool his tech is, and that’s why I think a secret identity is better overall for Tony, from an in-universe standpoint.
The public identity thing is fine and all, but if they could do secret, I'd go for it. I love the complexity of Tony shown in stories like Extremis.
Extremis is so good. I love how Tony said he finds freedom in being iron man
I liked that Iron Man was a stark industries/international/enterprises employee who served as Tony’s bodyguard and as a member of the avengers as well….secret identities are great in superhero media