What Was Tony Stark Like pre-Civil War?

[Agent Z]

I haven't read any of Tony Stark's appearances prior to CW and have seen only a handful of him afterwards (mostly in Avengers books). What was he like prior to Civil War. How much of a jerk was he?

[Corey W]

I haven't read any of Tony Stark's appearances prior to CW and have seen only a handful of him afterwards (mostly in Avengers books). What was he like prior to Civil War. How much of a jerk was he?

It varied depending on the writer and the time frame. There have been times when he was a playboy jerk, there have been times when he was just a bland-decent-guy. There have been times when his alcoholism was a major story and other times when he seemed to be focused on his business. The character has been very varied over the years.

It is common to say that since the movies the character has become the RDJ version of Tony Stark, but I think it would be more fair to say that RDJ nailed a particular version of Tony Stark that was floating around and that portrayal has influenced everything that followed.

[pageturner]

for the most part dull as dirt

[MyriVerse]

Heroic....

[Mark]

Manipulative but not evil.

[Anjohl]

Civil War Tony is my favorite.

[Minerboh]

His character was an amalgam of various characters. But mostly he was trying to make a diffenrence and alienate himself from his father's legacy as much as it was possible.
What surprised me though is that during Dissassebled tie in Iron Man issues, he reconstituted his secret identity status once one doppelganger-Iron Man disfigured wannabe murdered his girlfrend, japanese pest Rumiko Fujikawa so he can honor her memory and never allow something like this to be repeated.
HOWEVER, once CW begun, he dropped all that away and once again he revealed his id to the public completely forgetting the promise he gave on Fujikawa's grave.

[Tony Stark]

He has always been a bit of a dick. He had manipulated people before. What CW did was basically put everything on such a large scale. It was Cap vs. Tony basically and with it being a HUGE event. More eyes were on the characters. Any with some of the stuff that Tony did during CW was out of character, but editorial let alot go. He has always been the kind of person that if he thought something was right. He would do what he had to do in his eyes. See Armor Wars.

[Nix Uotan]

I think when I first started collecting Iron Man books where he was just out of his alcohol dependency and was involved with Rumiko Fujikawa. That was the Stark I first got introduced to... the one who pretended to be his own bodyguard. That one I don't think was anything like the current one or the RDJ one. He was... a lot more insecure if anything.

[emac1790]

He was drunk all of the time. Do you know that the Black Widow first appeared in an Iron Man book (Tales of Suspense)? They met because Tony ran out of booze and he saw 'Tasha loading up her truck with Grey Goose. True story.

[Tony Stark]

I think when I first started collecting Iron Man books where he was just out of his alcohol dependency and was involved with Rumiko Fujikawa. That was the Stark I first got introduced to... the one who pretended to be his own bodyguard. That one I don't think was anything like the current one or the RDJ one. He was... a lot more insecure if anything.

He was arrogant and joked, but not as much as he does now.

[pageturner]

He fought on roller skates!

Big time brain and he adds roller skates to his suit.

[Vic Vega]

It varied depending on the writer and the time frame. There have been times when he was a playboy jerk, there have been times when he was just a bland-decent-guy. There have been times when his alcoholism was a major story and other times when he seemed to be focused on his business. The character has been very varied over the years.

It is common to say that since the movies the character has become the RDJ version of Tony Stark, but I think it would be more fair to say that RDJ nailed a particular version of Tony Stark that was floating around and that portrayal has influenced everything that followed.

RDJ's Tony always seemed to be a mix of Lee/Portacio Heroes Reborn Tony Stark and Mark Millar Ultimate Tony Stark.

But before then comic Tony was a stern, but fair determined mogul (with a huge authoritarian streak) who constantly worried about his bum ticker giving out in a fight.

It's not til the 80's that you get a sense of him as also a dude who enjoys the playboy lifestyle. Or the alcoholism (becoming a drunk was the most interesting thing classic Tony'd ever done up to that point).

[Dayle88]

Genius, charismatic, respected, brave. As a business man he was overly concerned with everything being safe and his staff being well looked after. He believed in himself and his work wether or not other people did and, as someone above said, he was concerned about his health. Look at how much he is willing to sacrifice himself in any of his major storylines (I recommend Byrne and Busiek's runs for two easy examples.) He always had the wit and humour but he had been through a lot more and held more responsibility. Of course, other than basically being portrayed as a villain these days, he has no company and doesn't seem to be portrayed doing anything other than pissing people off.

I agree about RDj's Tony being a mix of Heroes Reborn and Ultimate's Stark. I feel Downey has the skill to be that version yet project authority and seriousness when the story needs it. That's one of the things I was so happy to see when the first film came out.

[Sasquatch by Night]

Genius, charismatic, respected, brave. As a business man he was overly concerned with everything being safe and his staff being well looked after. He believed in himself and his work wether or not other people did and, as someone above said, he was concerned about his health. Look at how much he is willing to sacrifice himself in any of his major storylines (I recommend Byrne and Busiek's runs for two easy examples.) He always had the wit and humour but he had been through a lot more and held more responsibility. Of course, other than basically being portrayed as a villain these days, he has no company and doesn't seem to be portrayed doing anything other than pissing people off.

I agree about RDj's Tony being a mix of Heroes Reborn and Ultimate's Stark. I feel Downey has the skill to be that version yet project authority and seriousness when the story needs it. That's one of the things I was so happy to see when the first film came out.

Summed up everything great about Tony right there. I was growing up during the Crossing/Heroes Reborn shenanigan, but thank goodness my only exposure to Iron Man during that time were Layton/Michilne back issues. He certainly has changed since then, and I'm not certain I like it as much (although the Fraction/ Larocca run was top notch in my opinion)