Loki season 2 delighted Marvel fans in its second episode with a hilarious reference to the events of The Avengers. Allowing us Iron Man off of Avengers Tower.
Of course, if any other variants of MCU villains were to view Loki’s conversation with Mobius on the TVA’s Time Theater — you know, like how Loki got a crash course in Phase Two-Four continuity in season 1 — it’s fair to say many of them would totally sympathize with his moment of weakness. The most adored hero on Earth-199999 he may be after his heroic self-sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame, but Tony Stark’s vain and arrogant personality sure earned him many more nemeses than the rest of his teammates over his ten years protecting the planet.
If the following 10 individuals from Tony’s past ever found themselves in Loki’s position, they’d have definitely done the same thing.
10. Miriam Sharpe
As proof that even regular folks, not just megalomaniacal supervillains, hate Tony Stark’s guts we have Miriam Sharpe. her? She was the grief-stricken mother who blamed Iron Man for the death of her son when the Avengers destroyed Sokovia while defeating Ultron. Something tells me she’d have no problem chucking Tony off a roof. Especially as she’s clearly the long-lost twin of Harlem mob boss Mariah Dillard, who once did the same thing to Cottonmouth (who, by the way, is also the long-lost twin of Blade).
9. Ultron
Children sometimes hate their parents, what you gonna do? The epitome of an angsty kid screaming “I didn’t ask to be born!” Ultron took one look at the chore list his “dad” Tony had given him — protecting the world — and opted to find a loophole, deciding that the best way to protect the world was to rid it of the Avengers. Basically, that was his version of shoving all your mess in the closet when your mom tells you to clean your room. Ultron would’ve loved nothing more than squishing Tony’s head like an egg he was using to make an omelette.
8. Justin Hammer
Arguably the most entertaining of the many anti-Tonys the MCU has introduced (and we’ll get to the rest in due time), Justin Hammer might not be the hands-on type of villain but he probably would’ve been A-OK with tasking a henchman to throw Tony off a skyscraper. That said, that Marvel One-Shot “All Hail the King” (weirdly, the last time he appeared in the MCU) did suggest he found love in prison after Iron Man 2, so maybe he’d thank Tony rather than kill him.
7. Whiplash
Speaking of Iron Man 2, Tony’s second-ever MCU appearance featured two villains who hated his guts for the price of one. While Hammer might be too squeamish to do the dirty work for himself, Ivan Vanko aka Whiplash would be all too keen to wrap his hands — or maybe his Arc Reactor-powered whips — around Stark’s neck and toss him from the top of Avengers Tower. Probably while muttering something about how much he loves his bird in a bad Russian accent.
6. Vulture
Adrian Toomes was just an ordinary working joe trying to make a living collecting and selling alien technology after an extraterrestrial invasion decimated New York — we’ve all been there — until Tony Stark created the Department of Damage Control to, uh, do his bit, with his vast resources, to clear up his own messes. Um, right, yeah, that was real evil of Tony, wasn’t it, Ade? Maybe you should be spending more time with your daughter and less at playing at being a supervillain.
5. Aldrich Killian
Ah, Aldrich Killian aka Anti-Toy #4 aka the Guy We Thought Was The Real Mandarin Until We Met The Real Real Mandarin. The formerly nerdy Killian modeled his whole image on Stark, so his greatest dream probably involved kicking Tony out the window of Avengers Tower and then taking it over as his own, maybe adding a giant “K” after the “A” on the front of the building to give it that nice personal touch. There’s a particularly mid episode of What If…? for you, Marvel.
4. Baron Zemo
To be fair, Zemo hated all the Avengers rather than Tony specifically, but the Sokovian nobleman is an equal rights villain so he would’ve certainly been as happy to kick Iron Man off a roof as he would’ve been Steve Rogers or Bucky Barnes. And given how Zemo’s schemes in Captain America: Civil War actually came off, making him one of the rare MCU baddies to outsmart the heroes, he might’ve been more successful at it than Loki.
3. Iron Monger
Ah, Iron Monger — the blueprint himself. The original Tony Stark Hater, Obadiah Stane certainly would’ve chucked Tony off a roof if he could, given that Tony defeated him the same way. Interestingly, Obie might still be avenged as it’s believed Alden Ehrenreich’s character in the Ironheart TV series is Ezekiel Stane, Iron Monger’s son who’ll likely be wanting to take out his daddy issues on the champion of the Iron Man legacy, Riri Williams.
2. Thanos
Huh. I’m just now realizing that Tony’s MCU arc began and ended with him defeating bald bad guys played by actors with the initials “J.B.” Anyway, back on topic. Thanos actually had a lot of respect for Stark initially, but it’s fair to say that was worn away by how meddlesome the hero turned out to be. There’s a theory that states Thanos isn’t really dead, just sent to whatever void those snapped away by the Infinity Gauntlet go to. If that is the case, then you can bet he’s stewing away dreaming up some way to resurrect Tony just so he can kill him all over again.
1. Mysterio (and company)
It’s tough to say who hates Tony the most out of everyone on this list, but certainly the one who put the most effort into hating him is Quentin Beck, better known as Mysterio. The rest of these guys basically just tried to kill Stark, but Mysterio’s plot revolved around him using his surprisingly in-depth knowledge of the Marvel multiverse so he could manipulate his way into getting his hands on a piece of Stark memorabilia. Plus, he formed a weird friendship group with other people who shared his hatred. Wait, is Mysterio a secret takedown of toxic Marvel fandom? Discuss.
Published: Oct 16, 2023 09:28 am