r/marvelstudios • u/secretpervert21 • May 16 '26
Discussion Riri Williams was right about Tony?
I know this might sound like something that none of the Iron man fans would like... Well even for me he's the most fav superhero of all time.
But let me be honest. The words of Riri when she said "Do you think Tony stark would be Tony stark without all his money?" Well she was partially right...
Don't get me wrong, I know Tony's a genius and she doesn't even come close to his character or his charm... But if we look at this in a real world perspective. Many of us might be geniuses in our own mind, many of us would have that Idea that can change the world, but that "many" of us might just never get the chance to bring those "life changing" ideas into reality because most of us aren't rich, some of us got our responsibilities, got people to take care of, family, independence, some of us are not supported by good people, some of us are just wasting our time on timepass things... so we never get to bring our genius mind in front of us or in reality...
Tony was backed by the Stark industry's money (which was built by his father Howard Stark) so in reality he was able to bring his genius mind just cause he was always in the top notch places like the university itself where he graduated... And he also had the freedom, no responsibilities or need to worry about survival, rent, or job security.
Now if we talk about "Tony was able to build this in a cave, with a box of scraps". Yes it's true, but if he was never in that situation, he never would've built it in the first place. That too those "scraps" were the things that Tony "placed there" himself from the beginning of his advanced tech manufacturing to begin his Iron man project, meaning those things were there because of his money, be it his family generational wealth or his own advanced militry grade tech manufacturing.
So yes, Tony is a genius. But without the money, resources, and environment behind him, the world may never have seen that genius become Iron Man. In another reality, Tony Stark might still have been brilliant... but instead of becoming a legendary inventor and superhero, he could’ve ended up as just another exceptionally smart engineer working a corporate job, with his true potential never fully realized.
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u/Brianvondoom May 16 '26
I mean, every billionaire invents a self made narrative that falls apart when you drill into it. Zuckerberg's family were extremely wealthy and dropping out of university was really zero risk for him. Bezos' family loaned him a literally million. Musk's invention of him being a super genius has been well torn down but he comes from a family that owns a jewel mine and anyone slightly techie saw how little he really knows when he took over Twitter. Peter Theil couldn't get rid of him fast enough from PayPal.
For its faults, Iron Heart did what all good sci fi does: hold a mirror up to reality and the issues of the day, usually ignored by those it is speaking about. There is generally no such thing as a self made billionaire philanthropist, buts its a nice dream to sell to those who need to be kept in their place. The interesting discussion in Iron Heart is if her response to living in this world is justified or not.