wow this is… unsettling. i look at this and it freaks me out because it’s all true. tony comes back in the first with a smile on his face and a mission, yeah he has some skeletons in the closet, but those are pushing him forward. in the second, tony still has some of his bravado, but now it’s mostly to keep people from thinking somethings wrong. he was dying for crying out loud and he didn’t want to burden anyone with that, so he kept it from them. then the last one.. he’s just /tired/ plain, old tired (it’s saddening). he’s still trudging along, yeah, but so much has happened that he doesn’t know anymore if he can keep the people he cares about safe or not. new york affected him, he has ptsd and anxiety and, to top it off, he just lost his home and almost got pepper and maya killed. the past couple of years shown in the movies shows how effected tony really was, and, in my honest opinion, i feel like some people don’t realize how hard that is. that all of these factors led to how tony acted in AOU and made him think “hey, i can finally keep. them. safe.”

he’s tired. and some would assume even done with it all. he doesn’t want to be, we can see that with how he keeps trying to raise himself back up and tries to keep going. but like he says “i’m just a man in a can.” a MAN, not a god, or supersoldier, or a pair of people trained for this kinda stuff (not trying to take away from them because they ALL have things they’re struggling through). yeah, tony has made mistake, but this is why it makes me upset when people say tony is a villian. he isn’t, he was trying to find a solution.. in a not very smart way. things affected him (blah blah “that shouldnt effect his actions” shutup okay i know get out) and tony wants /everyone/ safe; he wants to know he did something good with his life. that he didn’t waste it like he promised yinsen.

hats off to hallpen because wow.