“The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. That’s not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us.” – Thor (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
“Endgame” is a term used to label the late stage of a chess game when there’s fewer pieces on the board–and the King becomes a more powerful figure. This is why Strange saved Tony–not only because Tony will be a pivotal figure moving forward, but to lose Tony would be checkmate. (x)
WHAT THE FUCKITY FUCK FUCK FUCKING HURT ME LIKE THIS
tony stark? untouchable? lmaooo bitch pls. when has tony stark ever not suffered consequences by the narrative?? like. how??? what movies have u been watching where anthony edward stark has been untouched by consequences ??? lmao tony??? who’s;
– been attacked by a weapon of his own design that pierces his chest with shrapnel
– endured open heart surgery while awake with terrorists holding him down as his chest is cut open with a stranger’s hand digging inside it in a dirty cave
– had horrific body modification done to him
– had his life depend on a literal car battery (and then the arc reactor)
– been held in captivity and tortured by terrorists for three (3) months
– had his “father figure” paralyse him and quite literally rip his heart from his chest, and mentally torment him before leaving him to die in his own living room
– had to deal with the knowledge that he was slowly dying from palladium poisoning
– flown a nuke through a wormhole into space, expecting to not come out of it alive
– managed to just barely make it out alive after flying said nuke through a wormhole, coming out of it with ptsd and severe anxiety
– had his entire house blown up while he was inside because he impulsively gave out his home address and baited a terrorist –
– majorly fucked up when his intended peace-keeping program somehow became a murder-bot instead by external forces and had to deal with the guilt of all the destruction it caused
– had to go through the entirety of civil war
– yeeted himself into space AGAIN to save a wizard
– been near-fatally stabbed with his own sword by a mad titan on another fucking planet
– lost his son figure who crumbled to ash, slipping right through his fingers (and who just prior to his death, desperately clung to him, begging him to not let him go, but he couldn’t do a thing to save him)
– having to deal with the guilt of knowing that 50% of the universe is now gone because strange traded the time stone to spare HIS life
– now adrift in space with zero hope of rescue, is out of food and water, and is about to run out of oxygen
IN WHAT WORLD HAS TONY STARK NOT SUFFERED ANY CONSEQUENCES ?!!?? I AM SO CONFUSION FFHKDKD ANTIS EXPLAIN
jfc i always lose my shit whenever an anti comes @ me with a “tony stark is untouchable” or “he never gets any consequence” like can yall just???? sit the fuck down and watch a single iron man movie before yall write out some shitty mediocre half-assed bullshit character report? because his entire 10 year story arc was literally just pain and him suffering???
I sometimes think most of the anti-Tony folks are Cap stans who came into the series very late, and probably got most of their information from “Winter Soldier” and “Civil War.” (They IDOLIZE CAWS and call it the “perfect” movie. I mean, it was good – but of course they love it because it’s unadulterated Stucky, not for any deep appreciation of the screenplay or production.)
And then they read the anti-Tony commentary about “Civil War” and believe the old lies about “Serpent Society” and that whole stupid canard, and then the idiocy about RDJ supposedly “forcing” his way into the movie and taking up screen time from…Stucky. Which is, of course, their main beef. All long since disproved – the Russos themselves have said they had to go after RDJ and convince him to be in CACW. But all these folks know is what they want to believe – they’re selective believers. They wallow in the untruths passed around by their own bunch, which is exactly what conspiracy theorists do.
And then they watched the Avengers movies. AND never bothered to go back and watch the Iron Man movies, because now they simplistically hate Iron Man because he was briefly the “antagonist” to Cap. And all they get from the Avengers movies, apparently, is that Tony is snarky and arrogant, because they have no basis on which to apprise the complexity or underlying heroicism and goodness of his character. (Never mind that part about him selflessly carrying the nuke into space.) So – not having even watched the Iron Man movies, they make ridiculous comments like “Tony Stark never suffers any consequences.” I mean, really…??
So, of course, they’re literally missing most of the point of the MCU, which is that BOTH men were right in “Civil War;” BOTH men are heroes, just in different ways; and BOTH men admire and even love each other. And that YES, OF COURSE this whole storyline is leading to a reconciliation and a re-teaming of the two.
ok so ANOTHER thing I love about Leverage is how seriously it DOESN’T take Eliot Spencer
because Eliot Spencer, taken at face value, is an absolutely generic white action movie/video game hero, right? has a Troubled Past, beats up armies of goons, cracks wise, hits on ladies, etc.
except that this show’s narrative turns every aspect of that character type into a punchline! not necessarily at his expense – but it goes out of its way to avoid the kind of reverence most testosterone-charged action media give White Male Badasses by sidelining him, refusing to let him play the hero, and making him comic relief most of the time, even when he’s being a Badass
in fact the only times the narrative does treat him with any sort of reverence?
is when he’s being kind. (which he does on a far more regular basis than most other characters of his type)
and that? actually makes him an interesting character
It’s always very telling to me that the two times his violence is given a non-joking, single-minded focus are the two times he has a loaded gun in his hand with the intention of using it. And what sells those scenes is Christian Kane’s acting, and John Rogers’ and Dean Devlin’s willingness to let the acting make the scene, and not music or filmography or anything else. Christian Kane’s emotional depth as an actor amazes me more every time I see him in a role, and his ability to convey more with a still face and speaking eyes than most actors can with their entire bodies would be unbelievable if I hadn’t seen him do it over and over.
The first time was with Nate and the Italian in the warehouse at the end of the Big Bang Job, when he tells them to go, and he picks up loaded guns without immediately emptying them. Nate, as well as the audience, know instantly that something is different, and the solemnity of that moment as a precursor to the (admittedly amazing and over-the-top) fight sequence is fitting. Following the fight sequence with the perfectly acted and filmed moment between Eliot and Chapman made it one of the best sequences in the show.
The second is in The Last Dam Job, when he threatens Dubenich and says that he’s thinking of saving his friend (Nate) a bit of trouble. At this point, we’ve seen him kill before. Once. And the quiet, as well as the shaking of his hand on the gun, makes the moment equal parts touching and terrifying, which I never thought I would say of a scene like that.
John Rogers and Dean Devlin created a masterpiece of a show with Leverage, primarily because they were willing to write a cool story with all the tropes, and then either subvert or hang lampshades on 90% of them.
It’s also Bucky being more than a little upset that they turned his gentle, harmless friend—who Bucky wanted to PROTECT from the horrors of war—into a fighting machine.
was that really necessary
it’s also Bucky realizing that he can no longer protect his best friend no matter how hard he tries. he’s utterly helpless now, even after the war is over. they’ll always be wanting steve to fight this or that, and bucky won’t be able to do a darn thing to protect him.
It’s also Bucky taking the 5 seconds he has of Steve not paying attention to him so he can allow himself to process all these emotions without worrying Steve. If you watch Bucky through the movies, you’ll notice he always makes sure to look like he’s 100% fine if other people are looking at him. Fighting with Steve, but smiling at their dates. Recently tortured, but walking confidently by Steve’s side. Basically a mess, but all “Let’s hear it for Captain America!” It’s a pattern, really. Even in the flashback in CATWS, you can see he looks a lot less confident when Steve isn’t looking at him than when Steve is.
Also, Seb has mentioned that researching WW2, what left the deepest impression was how quickly everybody dies. You get attached to someone only to watch their heads being blown up in front of you the next day. I’m sure this influenced how he chose to act this scene. Because you can bet by the time this scene takes place, Bucky has seen many people – hell, maybe even friends – die, and recently, he’s had to see his whole unit be killed or captured by HYDRA. This certainly plays a role here. It’s not just a general sense of “I can’t protect Steve anymore,” it’s more like “I don’t know if Steve will live till next week.” It’s very real, very immediate. It’s a concrete prediction more than a vague fear. And if Steve’s survives, there’s still the fact Bucky knows what’s like to be changed by war, and Steve will be changed by it, which Bucky certainly hates. Either way, he loses the Steve he knew, even more than he’s already lost, with the whole “Steve Rogers is suddenly a super soldier” deal.
I’d say this scene is wartime Bucky in a nutshell. He handles the entire crowd and this whole Captain America propaganda thing without hesitation, he smiles at Steve and makes sure Steve enjoys the moment instead of pulling some “I did my duty” bullshit, and only then he allows himself to be overwhelmed by the fear that comes with being able to think 48923740 worst case scenarios in two seconds. If we can trust interviews with cast and crew, this eventually becomes his role in the war, basically – he thinks fast and does his job protecting Captain America and the missions, he takes care of Steve on a personal level by shielding him from the worst of the war as much as he can, and only then, if there’s time and Steve isn’t looking, he thinks about how the war is affecting him.
But anyway, overall, this scene is about overwhelming loss of everything Bucky knows, as well as an attempt to hide this as well as he can. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that in the 4th and 5th gifs, Seb looks a lot like comics!Bucky does when he says goodbye to his younger sister, thinking he’ll never see her again and almost breaking down in tears, but unwilling to show her he’s scared. For your reference:
it really is beautiful. his friends love him. his bots love him. his ai loves him. tony literally created intelligent beings capable of learning feelings and displaying affection. like…..he really did that.
Sometimes I think about the Tony that we had at the end of Avengers, smiling with his girlfriend in their tower after he saved New York from a nuke, building a new home base for the Avengers.
And then came the PTSD and the Maximoffs, Ultron and ‘together,’ the Accords and ‘did you know?’ and I think of the Tony we have now, sad, broken, tired. All his fault, always his fault, right, Stark? Still trying, but not with the effervescent drive of Avengers, but with the determination of a dying man.
And I hate it, but sometimes I think the Avengers were the worst thing that ever happened to Tony Stark.
😭😭😭😭😭
I love all the Avengers. I really do. But this is the damned truth. The Avengers are unequivocally one of the worst things to happen to Tony in his life – a life that was already full of worst things.
Tony’s relationship with the Avengers begins when Nick Fury approaches him about joining in Iron Man 2. Tony turns down any talk of the Avengers (”I don’t want to join your secret boy band”) because he’s dying. It’s in this same scene Tony learns Pepper’s new assistant “Natalie Rushman” is actually an undercover spy for SHIELD who has been assessing him (an assessment done while he’s on a self-destructive binge due to the whole “dying” situation).
After Tony has cured his palladium poisoning and put an end to Vanko, he approaches Nick again, actually excited about the prospect of joining the Avengers team now that he’s healthy, only to be turned down. Due to Romanoff’s less-than-flattering assessment of his character, Tony is only wanted in a “consultant” capacity. While it’s not overt, it’s clear this is a slap in the face, but Tony brushes it off and waives his usually exorbitant consultant fee solely to be a petty jackass to Senator Stern (because, get this, Tony still wants in – even if in a small role).
Tony’s next brush with the Avengers is in the The Avengers film itself. Tony is enjoying a quiet date night with Pepper when he’s interrupted by Agent Coulson who basically drags him into the “Loki stole the Tesseract from SHIELD” mess. Tony reminds Coulson that he’s a consultant, and Coulson says, “This isn’t about personality profiles anymore” to emphasize how dire the situation is. It’s actually Pepper who convinces Tony to get involved (or at least she’s the one who gives him the go ahead), because Tony was fully willing to tell Coulson “no” if Pepper didn’t want him to go.
We all know what happens next. The team doesn’t gel quite at first. Steve Rogers and Tony especially don’t get along. But then Coulson’s death is that sort of rallying moment to make them put aside their differences. A nuclear warhead is shot at NYC, and Tony – the man who isn’t even officially on the Avengers roster – is the only one who can put it in the wormhole and save everyone. Tony does this unhesitatingly, without even getting to say goodbye to the woman he loves, fully expecting to die, but miraculously he survives –
But lives forever with the psychological scars.
Iron Man 3 details how Tony is coping with his near-death experience – and it’s not good. He can’t sleep. He’s hoarding robots. He’s a “piping hot mess” and he admits in a vulnerable moment that Pepper is the only constant in his life holding him together. By the end of the film, it seems he might’ve resolved some of his trauma. He destroys his Iron Man suits. But then we see in Age of Ultron that Tony is still not well. He’s paranoid, jumpy, he still holds onto his suits. While helping the Avengers mop up HYDRA, Wanda Maximoff hexes him, making him see his worst nightmare.
And his worst nightmare? The Avengers – this group he considers a family even after being rejected by them – lying dead around him while he still lives.
In essence? It was Tony’s love for the Avengers that led to the birth of Ultron, because it was his fear of not doing enough to protect them that drove him to resurrect his and Bruce’s old pipe dream of a “suit of armor around the world.”
Of course we see no reaction from the group to Tony’s horrific vision because he he never tells them what he saw (he admits he can’t). Instead, they blame him, in one instance even physically assault him, for his mistake – a mistake he made because he loves these people so much.
Already we see a pattern with Tony and the Avengers. He’s always the odd-man-out. For one, he was never really technically an original Avenger (he got shoehorned in because of desperation). For two, he was the villain of Age of Ultron while the others got to be heroes (nevermind why he did what he did or the circumstances that led to that decision).
And then? Comes Captain America: Civil War. And it’s Tony’s desperate drive to keep the Avengers together that ends up breaking them apart. While Steve had already given up on the Avengers before the airport fight in Germany (as signified by the fact he removed his “Avengers” patch on his uniform), Tony was still trying to prevent further damage to the team (because he’s a foolish optimist). In his mind, he’d rather the Avengers stick together even under the imperfect Accords than be forced into hiding from their own government, living on the run. By the end of the film, once all the fighting is over, Rhodey is paralyzed, Steve and Tony are no longer on speaking terms, the Avengers are into the wind, T’Challa is back in Wakanda, and it’s only Tony and Vision at the Compound.
… And even then Vision leaves Tony too in Avengers: Infinity War.
In fact, it’s very interesting that, in Avengers: Infinity War, Tony doesn’t interact with any Avengers except Bruce – and even then he doesn’t fight alongside Bruce. Kind of intriguing that Bruce is
ultimately
the one who makes the call to get the Avengers back together even though Tony was the one who had the cellphone on his person for the past two years, right? Even more telling that, by the end of the film, Tony is the Avenger who is furthest from home. He is literally light-yearsaway on an alien planet while everyone else is back on Earth. This is symbolic of the place he’s always had in the Avengers “family” – left in the cold.
Tony’s love for the Avengers, his heart, has been the thing slowly undoing him from the inside out. He’s never truly belonged to the team (as the films have plainly demonstrated), but he tries and tries and tries to do right by them and protect them to the best of his ability. It’s the saddest fucking thing.
Hopefully Avengers 4 finally offers Tony some comfort for all this. Maybe he’ll finally find a family where he belongs.
The original post was heartbreaking enough and you had to go and stomp all over my already bleeding heart @starkravinghazelnuts
“The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. That’s not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us.” – Thor (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
“Endgame” is a term used to label the late stage of a chess game when there’s fewer pieces on the board–and the King becomes a more powerful figure. This is why Strange saved Tony–not only because Tony will be a pivotal figure moving forward, but to lose Tony would be checkmate. (x)
“Because the Soul Stone” is not a good enough reason why Thanos knew Stark.
I think we, the audience, are supposed to be asking ourselves, “Why does Thanos know him? How?” Because it was a dramatized moment. The narrative deliberately pulled our attention to this scene. Thanos says, “Stark,” like it’s significant somehow–and clearly Tony feels the same way because he stops to ask Thanos, “You know me?” It’s very much a “did I hear that right?” beat. Thanos then says, “I do. You’re not the only one cursed with knowledge.”
If this was all the Soul Stone granting Thanos knowledge of every person in existence, why doesn’t Thanos call anyone else by their name after he gets the Soul Stone? Why don’t we see any more displays of this power? Why didn’t the Soul Stone light upwhen Thanos said Tony’s name such as it did when Thanos used the Soul Stone to pinpoint which Strange was the real one after Strange multiplied himself?
Many point to Red Skull’s comment on Vormir to mean that the Soul Stone somehow imparts wielders with the ability to know people’s identities. Admittedly, it is incredibly similar language used in both scenes – but maybe there’s a reason for that.
Like Thanos, Red Skull indicates he knows who Thanos and Gamora are by dropping their names (”Welcome, Thanos, son of Alars. Gamora, daughter of Thanos”). Then a similar response: “You know us?” and Red Skull says “It is my curse to know all who journey here.” Like Thanos’s quote, Skull is comparing knowing people’s identity to a curse–and perhaps Red Skull is even knowledgeable of what Thanos and Gamora’s fates will be.
But later Red Skull says the Soul Stone is a “treasure [he] cannot possess,” which makes it pretty clear that Red Skull is not getting this ability from the Soul Stone, but it is perhaps part of his banishment. A punishment given to him by the Infinity Stones.
Furthermore, I think some scenes in Avengers: Infinity War were meant to demonstrate that Thanos has absolutely no idea who the other Avengers are – nor can he magically sense them.
When Thanos arrives on Titan, he is taken by surprise that Strange isn’t alone. When Strange says, “our will,” Thanos is like “Our?” and then gets surprise attacked. If the Soul Stone granted the passive ability to know people, wouldn’t Thanos have just… sensed that Strange wasn’t alone?
When Steve Rogers holds back Thanos for a few seconds, Thanos has a look of abject WTF on his face.
Either Thanos has no idea who Steve is (hence the look of confusion) or he at least didn’t know enough about him to know Steve had that kind of raw strength, in which case… womp womp to the “Soul Stone grants you knowledge of every soul in existence” theory – Thanos shouldn’t have been shocked by Steve at all.
Given all that? I don’t see how it was the Soul Stone. It just doesn’t fit.
Now, what about other ways Thanos could’ve known Tony?
First, let’s examine the line itself. What does Thanos mean when he says, “You’re not the only one cursed with knowledge.”
One interpretation of this is that Thanos is indicating on some level he and Tony are the same. After all, both of them foresaw the destruction of their home-worlds and did their best to mitigate the threat.
In which case… Thanos has intimate knowledge of the events of Age of Ultron. And, if that this is true, then Thanos must’ve been spying on the Avengers this whole time–or at least spying on Tony in particular. Did Thanos play some role in the events of that film? (He does have an appearance at the end when he says, “I’ll do it myself.”) Is Thanos literally inside Tony’s head, able to scour his thoughts? (Because how else does he know Tony has been having nightmares about Thanos for the past six years?)
One possibility is that Thanos, being the master tactician he is, wanted to gather more intel about the red-and-gold Avenger who took out his Chitauri army. I mean… who wouldn’t want to know the person who destroyed an entire fleet? It’s smart.
But what blows a hole in that theory is: why was it only once Tony spoke that Thanos recognized him? That’s what I keep circling back to anyway: Thanos only called Tony out once he heard Tony’s voice, which I think is a clue. Perhaps it’s something as simple as he didn’t recognize Tony in his new armor, but given Tony’s known on Earth as “Iron Man” and the “armored Avenger,” wouldn’t the Earthling in the red-and-gold metal suit (albeit upgraded) be enough of a tip-off? Like… Thanos is a genius and he wouldn’t put two-and-two together?
The other interpretation of this is that not only is Thanos aware of Tony’s penchant for prophecy (by saying Tony is “cursed with knowledge”), but, by virtue of simply knowing who Tony is, Thanos himself is cursed.
In which case… knowing Tony’s identity is somehow comparable enough a “curse” as foreseeing the destruction of your planet. (like damn in this case what the hell Tony? what did you do to Thanos to rattle him so bad?)
If this is true, then perhaps Thanos sees Tony as his own “nightmare,” much like how Tony sees Thanos as his. Maybe Thanos has seen into a future where Tony is the one who stops Thanos from fulfilling his goal.
This could fit why Thanos wanted to not just kill Tony, but absolutely murder him. Notice how Thanos doesn’t kill anyone who doesn’t “have” to die. Yes, he kills Loki, but Loki was already on his shit list for losing the Space and Mind Stones (attempting to stab him was just the nail in the coffin). Thanos “had” to kill Gamora (to acquire the Soul Stone). And Thanos “had” to kill Vision (to acquire the Mind Stone). Yeah, he kills half the populations he comes across, but he sees that as mercy (and that’s his whole game).
But otherwise? Thanos bats the other heroes out of the way as though they’re nothing. He doesn’t go out of his way to end their lives. He lets Quill, Drax, and Mantis live after the scuffle on Knowhere (even though he easily could’ve left them for dead). He doesn’t kill Peter, Strange, or Nebula on Titan (even after they attacked him). He doesn’t kill any of the heroes in Wakanda aside from Vision (like he smacks Steve down, pins Natasha, traps Bruce in a rock, flings Rhodey to the side, etc.).
But Tony? Not only is Tony no longer a threat after their fight (since he’s been stabbed and is choking up blood), but Thanos is prepared to use all four of his Infinity Stones on him. Like… he was going to obliterate Tony.
WHY!? Why was Thanos going to do this to Tony when he let everyone else just lay out of commission on the side? Tony wasn’t going to get up again. He was “done.”
Only reason? Thanos sees Tony as a threat. A very real and dangerous threat. More than Thor. More than Steve. More than all the other Avengers.
Anyway, I am not sure exactly how Thanos knew Tony, but I am sure it wasn’t the Soul Stone – and I think it’s going to be something covered again in Avengers 4. There’s something going on there between the two of them.
EVERY SINGLE MARVEL FAN READ THIS FUCKING POST. READ IT ALL PLEASE.
I just need to explain my point of view on Captain America: Civil War.
Yes, I realize that I am obsessed with Tony Stark. I see myself reflected in him, he is my inspiration and strength in dealing with the mental illnesses he and I share. I’m also studying computer engineering and my best friend is studying mechanical engineering, so I’m obsessed with the suit. I acknowledge this freely, as well as the fact that it colors my perception of Civil War.
That said, being as impartial as I know how, Captain America is still wrong.
Here is why I say this.
The Avengers are initially convened as, effectively, a volunteer crime stopping group. Only two of the original group are actually employed by S.H.I.E.L.D.; the rest are politely asked to help with a project. When the world needed saving, they stepped up to the plate and hit a home run.
Correct, they were not a government arm. However, they were operating with direct permission (and encouragement) from Nick Fury, who was a government operative and had the authority to authorize combat action.
By Age of Ultron, however, Nick Fury legally doesn’t exist, and S.H.I.E.L.D. has been destroyed. The Avengers are no longer connected to the government.
To my mind this looks particularly bad because two of the original six Avengers, Captain America and Black Widow, played a direct hand in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s destruction.
This just looks like the Avengers are trying to break off from the government.It would be arguable that they should be allowed to do so if they were “Avengers Brand Extraterrestrial Pest Control.” That sounds like an autonomous company. It’s defined and makes sense. It isn’t fighting wars between human factions.
But they’re not that. They’re the Avengers, and they’re wiping Hydra bases off the map. Basically, they’re a civilian organization that has taken the War on Terror into its own hands.
Allow me to pause and share my broadest level thoughts on government.
Government is an essential side effect of society / civilization. The purpose of government is a) to ensure that the nation is placed above the selfish desires of individuals, securing the nation’s future, and b) to ensure the rights of individuals.
I realize that this is relatively idealistic and that real world government does not always follow or meet these parameters, but this is based on the philosophy of government as I studied in a my high school world history class. It is government as it should be, not necessarily as it is.
In this respect, military and law enforcement organizations should be impartial and the exclusive domain of government. In an ideal world, they should be effectively identical, differentiated only by the domain of their operation (foreign and domestic, respectively).
If those elements are established, the only thing that remains to decide is whether or not the Avengers are a military unit.
If they are, they should fall into the chain of command – even if they outrank the commands of any single nation – because that chain of command exists to ensure the survival of nations and the rights of individuals. If they are not, they should remain outside of the chain of command but should not be interfering in issues that are reserved for those within the chain of command – e.g., the aforementioned War on Terror – and limit their activities to those things that are exclusively the domain of superheros.
This is the point of view espoused by Tony Stark and those who support the Accords.
Steve Rogers is trying to pick and choose. He wants the ability to be involved in the war against Hydra and other evil, militarized organisations, without any of the restrictions applied to a military operative. This viewpoint may be understandable, given his experience in The Winter Soldier, but it’s immature at best and dangerous at worst. It reverts to a non-governmental mindset; Steve is effectively saying, “Because I am strong and I am good, government is unnecessary for the protection of nations and individuals.” This, of course, ties into the fact that Steve is a hypocrite, but I don’t want to embark on that particular tangent at the moment.
The point of Civil War is not and never was “freedom vs. justice.” Even if the conflict is assumed to revolve entirely around the Accords and not the issue of Bucky Barnes, it is more accurately described as “anarchy vs. law.”
I want to be clear that Steve’s viewpoint is no more evil than Tony’s is. However, from the overwhelming perspective of the portion of the population of the world that is not comprised of Avengers, the term vigilante is actually very accurate for Steve Rogers, and the actions of Team Captain America are, strictly speaking, criminal.
They are all trying to do the right thing. Team Captain America is just ignoring established and justified systems, meaning that their ends are not seen as justified by the means, while Team Iron Man understands that they have to play by the rules of the more powerful players in the game – in this case, the UN.
clintbbarton 