Marvel Rants

2

Ok, so I want to talk about something. No Endgame spoilers or anything. I just want to talk about this scene.

More specifically, I want to talk about the exact moment that Peter and Tony meet. The way Peter is stuttering, tripping over his words, barely able to choke out his name, and Tony just offers him tiny smile and is like, "Tony."

Do you understand the magnitude of that single word, of that single look he gives Peter? I mean... HE INTRODUCES HIMSELF.

Common courtesy, who wouldn't, that'd just be rude not to, whatever... No. This is Tony Stark we're taking about. TONY STARK. Literally everyone knows who he is, and it's already obvious Peter does more so than anyone. If done wrong, Tony introducing himself could only serve to make the poor kid even more awkward. I mean, don't tell me you can't see this happening...

"I'm Tony Stark."

"Yeah, I... I know. I mean... I... You... You're Iron Man. I mean... You're... You're Tony Stark. I... That is... You... How many times have you saved the world? I mean... I... You... When I was a kid, we... Nevermind. I'm sorry."

But Tony didn't introduce himself like that. That's more the way I see him doing it when he meets most people... Almost sarcastically, "You know who I am," but in the language of his name. But that's not what he did with Peter.

"Tony."

That little smile, the tone he used when he said it, the simplicity of his first name. How many people do you think he gives just his first name to when they meet? NOT VERY MANY. I mean, when in his life does Tony just get to be Tony?

With Pepper, Happy, and the rest of the Avengers. But think about the context. This is Civil War. Pepper has left him at the time, we never see Happy in the movie so we don't really know where he is, and the Avengers are completely split.

So there is this mutual moment that happens here where Tony... He's just Tony. And that is beautiful.

He immediately is focused on putting Peter at ease. His body language says it... The way he's sitting on the couch with May, eating, in fairly normal street clothes, just waiting for Peter to get home.

He could have called ahead, seen when he could show up when Peter was there. Given the kid a warning so he could prepare his presence. Furthermore, this is Tony Stark we're taking about, and he could have used that huge brain of his to figure out when a high schooler would be home.

Maybe he wanted to talk to May first... That was probably part of it. But also, I don't think he wanted to give Peter a chance to be anyone except himself.

A lot of guys like him would have shown up in a perfectly pressed million-dollar suit, having called ahead, the exact second they said they'd be there.

Better yet, they would have sent a car to get Peter and done this on their own turf.

Better yet, they would have sent their Happy to do it, not even bothered to meet the person they were recruiting.

The mere fact that Tony showed up at Peter's door unannounced is amazing enough. The way in which he does it is just incredible.

He doesn't stand on a single formality in the world. He jokes with Peter, tries to banter with him. He comments on May's beauty, but also her cooking. He sits on the couch with her instead of choosing a chair like most even normal people would when they first met someone.

He doesn't get up, make a big show of shaking Peter's hand or any of that. He just turns to face the kid with his arm over the back of the couch and chats... Like he's just a normal person. Like he isn't Peter's childhood hero, even though it's pretty obvious he is, and beyond that, May has probably already told him.

He accepts food from May. Most people, even normal people, wouldn't do that. They'd be like, "Oh that's fine," or, "Just water, thanks." But Tony accepts the food she offers, because he wants to make it completely clear that he doesn't hold himself above May and her nephew.

And he goes out of his way to compliment the food, but in a completely natural way. His staff has staff, but he genuinely appreciates the food this woman offers him.

And he makes himself at home in their little apartment. He doesn't do a single thing that would communicate that he thinks of them as poor, even though in reality, they've got a place to live and food to eat but not much else and compared to Tony, that's dirt poor.

He doesn't make a big deal about the money involved in the internship, just makes it clear there is money and lets it drop.

But I'm rambling. Back to that one little word. I just... His tone.

That's the kind of tone that I struggle to do justice to describing when I'm writing. It just... Ugh it's so perfect and I don't want to waste my energy explaining it when I know I can't anyway.

Just watch that part again. Feel the impact of that casual, "Hey, it's okay, I'm a person too," tone. The impact of that little smile, of his relaxed posture.

And Tony's such a dad. Already, he's looking at a kid robbed of both father figures he's had, and he's thinking, this kid needs a mentor. He's not using Peter, like I've heard people say. He knows what Peter's been doing on his own, and he wants to help him.

And, he wants to keep him safe. He wants to be there to watch the kid's back, make sure he's being smart, not taking on too much by himself.

Plus, this was not a spur-of-the-moment thing. Tony has obviously been considering taking to Peter before this. He's literally designed him a suit, taken the time to equip it with a bunch of protocols designed for much more than one trip to Germany.

I mean, take the Baby Monitor Protocol. Tony did not put that in there so that Peter could help him out in Germany. He did not design whatever ridiculous number of web shooter combinations and then disable them (and most of the other features on the suit) so that Peter could help him in Germany. He did not create a new AI (which was disabled for the trip, once again) so that Peter could help him in Germany.

Tony obviously put A LOT of thought into bringing Peter in under his wing, and saw Germany as an opportunity to bring the kid onto the field with him and see what he could do. Yeah, Peter was super useful in the fight, but that wasn't the point.

And to those who say it was irresponsible and dangerous for Tony to bring Peter, no. Peter was in way more danger stopping armed robberies in a hoodie and homemade goggles than he was in Germany.

"If Cap had wanted to lay you out, he would have."

Tony knew his former teammates weren't gonna hurt the kid. Yeah, he got a whopping black eye and was super sore, but don't tell me that hadn't happened a million times before when he was patrolling.

The only serious injury that happened in that fight happened because Vision got distracted. Steve's team was on defense. They weren't trying to hurt anyone. And Tony's team wasn't either. That's why he felt safe bringing Peter with him, and that's why he benched him the second he got hit.

So just... Don't tell me Tony USED Peter, and that they only CAME TO truly care about each other. From the very start, Tony was there to help Peter, and from the very start, from that look in his eyes and the tone in his voice when he said that one little word, he cared about Peter too.