An iconic scene from the 2016 film Captain America: Civil War just showed how great Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man was before it all went to hell!
There are two sides to a coin. There are two sides to a story. Likewise, there are two sides to the Marvel Cinematic Universe when it comes to movies. One with Robert Downey Jr. (good) and one without Robert Downey Jr. (bad).
Iron Man was literally a chill guy in the MCU | Credits: Marvel StudiosHowever, in an extremely rare case (but highly probable), a Marvel film that featured Downey Jr.’s Iron Man was a mix of good and bad at the same time. The hard-hitting quotes were good, but the cringe airport battle scene was bad.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark Had a Heart After All
It was the year 2008 when the world was introduced to the charismatic and egoistic character of Tony Stark in Iron Man. Although he gets humbled pretty soon, Stark doesn’t let go of his trauma and due to the shrapnel in his heart, people start saying that Tony Stark doesn’t have a heart.
Pepper Potts proves this wrong when she gifts him his earlier arc reactor. Well, the world starts falling in love with Mr. Stark as more MCU movies are released and in 2016, people were forced to pick two sides.
It was Captain America: Civil War when Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans became enemies over the Sokovia accords (and the whole thing with Bucky Barnes and Howard Stark). Well, one of the iconic scenes sent shivers down the spine when Robert Downey Jr. talked about an unknown person named Charles Spencer.
The clip was shared on YouTube and Tony Stark could be seen talking about this person who they accidentally killed while they were in Sokovia.
Charlie didn’t want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where? Sokovia. He wanted to make a difference.
He continues,
I suppose. I mean, we won’t know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking a**.
This single monologue is enough to make anyone see just how powerful and deep the character of Iron Man is. He wasn’t just a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist but Stark had a real heart and a conscience to him as well.
Well, it would have been nice if all this philosophical talk and talks of karma had some real impact in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kevin Feige tossed all of the philosophy like a Caesar salad when the infamous airport battle in Captain America: Civil War took place.
Marvel Knows How To Make a Caesar Salad
It can become quite infuriating when a story has both sides in equal amounts. After Robert Downey Jr. was finished with his philosophical and deep talks, Iron Man and Captain America end up on the opposite sides of the table.
R.I.P. abandoned airport in Captain America: Civil War | Credits: Marvel StudiosTeams are formed, allies are made, and it all comes down to a pre-final showdown where Steve Rogers attempts to make an escape with Bucky Barnes to Siberia.
They are stopped by Iron Man and his team and although the airport is evacuated, the two teams decide to annihilate everything at the airport. Although the fight scenes were impressive, there were some moments that fans now consider cringe (like Ant-Man laughing weirdly).
It would have been fine if it was just another MCU film but seeing Robert Downey Jr. give a philosophical lecture and later proceeding to do just that seems to be not so great move on Marvel’s part. In search of gold, Feige lost the diamonds (said one of our team members).
Despite the conflicting philosophies, Captain America: Civil War received a strong rating of 7.8/10 on IMDb and a whopping 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. The iconic MCU film is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
