#stuckies

Honestly I think Tony Stark’s PTSD and “untreated mental illness” isn’t the cause of the stupid fan wank hating on him. I don’t think a character’s mental state causes this kind of thing. And Tony’s PTSD, overall, has made him, if anything, a MORE noble and admirable character, because of what he’s had to overcome.

The REAL CAUSE was the Stuckies (not all of them, but some of them…a small, loud and ridiculous bunch) after “Winter Soldier” and before “Civil War” being super-childish and jealous. They spread outright lies and misinformation about RDJ supposedly “forcing his way” into “Civil War” and allegedly making Marvel change the entire movie from “Serpent Society.” Which was a rumor Kevin Feige himself started as a jokey way to misdirect people from what the movie was really intended to be all along: Civil War. Which, OF COURSE, has to have Tony Stark in it.

Marvel’s big mistake, which added to all this, was to call the movie a “Captain America” movie, which it patently was not. That also set unfairly high expectations from the fans as to how much screen time their faves Cap and Bucky would have, so they were sorely disappointed when it ended up being much more of an ensemble film – and with much more compelling and emotional scenes from RDJ – than a film about, you know, Stucky (which, by the way, NEVER would have happened. But, you know, dream on, kiddies...).  So they felt distressed and cheated of a movie that focused entirely on the WWII  buddies - but you know what? Again: That would never have happened. A one-track movie like that would never exist.

RDJ never “forced his way in” to “steal screen time” from Steve and Bucky, which is what they’re alleging in their outright jealousy. That’s not the way Hollywood works, and no actor has that kind of clout (though it’s nice that they think RDJ does…lol). THEY (Marvel and the Russos) came to RDJ to convince him to come aboard (the Russos themselves said that, so, true). Because he loves Marvel – and, I would think, whatever great deal they cut with him – he agreed.  

Believe me – I’m taking careful notes and citations on all this fan wank and attempt at rewriting history, because I might use all this in an article or pop-culture-studies academic something, somewhere down the road:  The “Tony Stark hate” is 100% all coming from this tiny, ignorant, loud bunch of Tumblr 12-year-olds (or the mental equivalent thereof, which I’m sorry if that unfairly tarnishes actual smart 12-year-olds. I’m talking about ignorant ones…)  that apparently has nothing better to do than spread hate for a fictional character because of something they wrongly accused the actor who plays him of doing. I’ve frankly never seen anything like it, in more than 20 years in fandom --  and it’s both fascinating and disquieting. (If anyone recalls anything similar, please let me know.) It’s pretty much the fandom equivalent of “fake news,” and it’s symptomatic of the hateful schisms that are rocking a lot of fandoms right now.  Fan wank is nothing new -- but attempts at fake-newsing actual history, in the way that’s also being attempted in the wider world, are something new and chilling.

But, like many, I am completely turned off by the small enclave of “Cap fans” or “Stuckies” or whatever they call themselves who spew hate at Tony Stark and/or RDJ for whatever their arcane reasons. Honestly, please go ahead and like what you like, but don’t throw hate at other characters and fandoms. What a waste of creative energy. Grousing that RDJ shoehorned his way into CACW (not true); grousing that Tony, Spidey and Black Panther all took time away from the Bucky shippin’ (yup, probably -- but as much as some of you would like a movie to just focus on that, it’s not a compelling enough story. The writers and directors knew this. Even AS IT WAS, interestingly, most critics didn’t even mention the Steve-Bucky throughline, while praising the roles played by RDJ, Tom Holland and Chadwick Boseman...). These are disingenuous reasons to hate on a character, and when you do so, all you’re doing is turning people off to the thing you like. Running something down doesn’t build up your fave; it just makes you AND YOUR FAVE look bad.

“Civil War” actually ends on a very conciliatory note. You KNOW these heroes will mend their fences and come together as friends again. They’ll have to - more threats are coming and they’ll be needed to save the world again, in true comics style. This is a middle movie; it HAS to end in the middle of things, on the cliffhanger of whether they can ever all reconcile. But you know they will. Cap and Tony are the classic Marvel brothers-in-arms, sniping at each other while adoring each other - THAT’S WHAT MADE MCU’S “CIVIL WAR” SO PAINFUL. It’s a family fighting; it’s brother against brother.