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swissco

The difference between Tony Stark and Doctor Strange... (possible spoilers for Dr. Strange)

Spoiler

So I was thinking about the difference between Iron Man and Doctor Strange... Because their two arcs are quite similar... However, there's two very distinct differences I found..
Tony Starks arc starts from a position of weapon sales acquired power. In that he believes in retributive justice, for eg; in Avengers: "I have a plan, attack", taking on gods like Thor boot for boot... And in Iron Man 3: "There's no politics, just good old fashioned revenge."

He's about realising u have control of your destiny, n inverting that control to exercise agency for the greater good. Although coming from a weapon manufacturers mindset, his solutions are just as destructive as the problem, by trying to bend events to his chosen vision of the greater good, on his higher pedestal of power. And that is why, confronted with a sense of helplessness by an invasion of an otherworldly force, his body reacts in panic, for fear of failure.

Doctor Strange is about learning to fail. And that only by losing, and abandoning all sense of selfishness, can we win. It's about accepting the meaninglessness of your existence, and learning to work within it. However, coming from a surgical background, his problem solving involves working delicately around a problem, rather than smashing through it with a forceful means which is characteristic of Starks mindset. Also Doctor Strange has a central theme in his character arc, which is: "saving the world matters even though I may have no personal investment, because at the end of the day, it's not about me."

As opposed to Stark, where he only makes drastic moral choices, where the threat personalises itself ie: seeing men die by his own weapons before his very eyes, fear for Peppers life, dealing the guilt from the Ultron fallout, his own creation.

What do you guys think? Am I unto something here?

Posted Feb 16, 2017, 10:20 PM UTC

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