Dominic Cooper, the English actor behind Captain America: The First Avengerâs Howard Stark, has seemingly confirmed heâll reprise the role in Marvelâs sequel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier!….
Presumably he’s in the Peggy flashbacks. Or her One shot.
Wahtever, well past the point of worrying about too many characters.
But can I point out how Howard is featuring more in Cap’s franchise than Iron Man’s, and we’ve learned never to nothing about Joseph and Sarah?
Those middle gifs. Dr. Erskine is like “Howard, I did it. He’s hot.” But Howard is mortified. “What have you done, Abraham?!? You made him too hot.”
What touched me most in this scene was the fact that Steve really thought Tony was the only bond with your past, whose life would not change abruptly if he decided to show up for a chat. For a moment, Steve thought he could go to Stark Tower and talk to Tony about everything that happened, but then he realized that Tony is not Howard.
Tony has his own life and has no memories of that past. They’re not friends and there is nothing to justify a visit, but Tony was still the closest connection to the world he knew, so Steve just keeps watching him from a distance.
Iron Man 2: Ivan Vanko Arc Reactor Blueprint
This is an original blueprint from the 2010 superhero sequel Iron Man 2. This hand drawn blueprint features the likeness of an Arc Reactor invented by Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) father. This blueprint can be seen in the opening sequence of the film, where the main villain Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) starts to build his early version RT unit, and pulls out a set of blue colored blueprints from a portfolio binder, that also contains these hand drawn prints.
This blueprint is hand drawn pencil on a sheet of white drafting style paper that has been aged by production to look very old. The paper features light wear in the form of wrinkles and small tears along the edges, that was done purposely by production for the aging process. This piece measures approximately 19.5” x 30” (49cm x 76cm) and is in fair condition.
I like the nurse in the background of the last panel. The one who’s like, “Do it. DO IT FOR ALL OF US. GROPE HIM.”
Those middle gifs. Dr. Erskine is like “Howard, I did it. He’s hot.” But Howard is mortified. “What have you done, Abraham?!? You made him too hot.”
“Yeah, I realize people are like ‘but in the last movie he learned his father loved him’. But when it happens when you’re 40, and not as a little kid, it doesn’t count. It’s gonna leave you…twisted.”
-Joss Whedon, The Avengers Director’s Commentary
If you’re older than fourteen it’s not gonna count.
A strong case could be made for five as well.
FUCKING THANK YOU, JOSS! One seriously disturbing comment like “My greatest creation is you” (he’s not even calling Tony a person there, just another thing he created down in his lab) does not erase decades of abuse and neglect.
Steve Rogers vid to Carbon Leaf’s “The War Was In Color.”
I know there was a discussion a while back about how very perfect this song is for Steve, and now someone has made the perfect vid for it. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll just be over here crying for a few minutes. Don’t mind me.
ETA: I meant to put this in, but apparently got caught up in my feels. The vidder is Settiai, and you should go tell her how amazing it is.
thisisevenharderthannamingablog:
“Yeah, I realize people are like ‘but in the last movie he learned his father loved him’. But when it happens when you’re 40, and not as a little kid, it doesn’t count. It’s gonna leave you…twisted.”
-Joss Whedon, The Avengers Director’s Commentary
If you’re older than fourteen it’s not gonna count.
A strong case could be made for five as well.
I like it when Joss and I agree. I mean, sheesh, just *look* at him. Yeah, happy fun times, not so much.
As someone who’s dealt with parental abuse and neglect myself, there are a couple things I feel like people should know. (TW for abuse and neglect) (I also use rape as an example of something)
There is a big difference between holding affection for a child and loving a child… Or at least, loving a child in the way they need to be loved. You’d be hard-pressed to find any parent that doesn’t hold affection for their children, but Howard certainly do the second thing well to even a small extent.
In that footage, Howard Stark did not directly say his love. Perhaps it was ‘implied’, but really? Someone has to read between the lines to know they’re loved? Someone has to dig through hours of old footage to gain even a scrap of affection?
One scrap of affection cannot make years of abuse okay. Yes, Howard Stark is not a man for affection. So, small words are supposed to have big impacts, right? Well, nope. I disagree. That’s really twisted logic. That’s really insensitive. That’s invalidating. That’s like telling a rape victim that it’s fine because it was someone they knew instead of some thug (‘ah, they did an act of hate but they didn’t do it because they actually hated you, it was actually an act of love, see?’). All of a sudden, love is about the “lover’s” intentions instead of whether the receiver actually felt loved, which Tony didn’t.
Just, agh. Even in that video, I can tell that Howard’s love was not authentic. Howard’s “affections” are explicitly tied to Tony Stark’s genius. Do you think that Howard would have anything to say to Tony if he were of average intelligence? What if he were stupid? In other words, what if Tony was unable to continue Howard’s work and be his legacy? Howard’s ‘love’ for Tony only extends as far as how useful Tony will be to him.
If love is based on a what a person is rather than who they are, then that love is conditional. That type of love is fragile, not really love at all. At most, it’s affection that’s never at all been conveyed. And if it is in-conveyed love, then Tony certainly never felt loved. If he never felt loved, then he might as well have had a father who held no affection. Both have the same effects, regardless of intention.
But what are the effects? Agh. It would be impossible to cover everything, but I will try to explain.
We learn to love ourselves the way others have loved us. If Howard’s love for Tony is inextricably tied to keeping his father’s legacy - in terms of persona, keeping the company running (through his inventions), and continuing Howard’s own inventions - then that’s what Tony’s love for himself is dependent on. Except, it’s worse than that…
If nobody is able to unconditionally love you (that is, still think you’re worthy of love even when you chew through the dirt of rock bottom) then the pandering for love manifests into something even more horrible. It manifests into ‘being a certain way so that you’re somehow lovable/worthy of love’. It’s shame as a way of life, a constant feeling underlying at best and also a motivator for every single action (like, maybe if you do this or are finally x enough, you’ll be worthy).
Alternatively, it’s trying to run away from the shame. Pre-Iron Man, Tony’s big one was alcoholism. Still is. Now, it’s more that he tries to escape Tony Stark, by being Iron Man. Looming over everything else, is Tony’s narcissism - it’s more than a mask, that ‘fake self’ is so infused in Tony that he doesn’t know how to turn it off and doesn’t know where his ‘true self’ begins anymore. It’s all very messy.
Just, agh. How long did it take for Tony to meet someone who liked Tony for Tony? Probably Rhodey at MIT. Too long, certainly.
So, Howard was a rubbish father. He’s affected Tony negatively in sooooo many ways (I have only barely scratched the surface; I could go on and on). As a result, Tony is more than twisted; this neglect and abuse makes one believe they’re an unlovable deformity who must spend every waking moment attempting to be worthy. Howard’s words in that video? It doesn’t make up for everything Tony has lost. It doesn’t even ease the pain, really; because that, too, was inauthentic affection.
