Carol and Tony Stark's alcoholism...

[Flash Gordon]

Agreed. The movies made him compelling by focusing on the PSTD over losing his parents, and fearing that his failure to act would cost the lives of his friends and loved ones. It was never actually confirmed that he was an alcoholic, and the movies moved away from even hinting at it after the first couple of movies. The problem with alcoholism is it is too unsubtle and unnuanced and screen-time-consuming a problem. Not only is it inherently unnuanced in an action story, it gobbles up so much screen-time that there really isn't even room to give character more nuanced problems. That's why the movies dumped it in favor of PSTD, a problem that can be given more nuance because it can flow into so many more plot-points.

Alcoholism isn't nuanced?

I think that a man struggling with the depths of the bottle, all the while trying to help others- is a really uplifting story that begs to be told.

I never expected Disney to make a film where a superhero actually gets to look messy and defeated...to look human- but I still think it was a big ole missed opportunity.

[MichaelC]

Not in an action story, no. You can really only do a nuanced alcoholism story in a movie that is completely about alcoholism. In an action story, alcoholism either comes across as simply a sin for the hero to willpower through, or a something that makes the hero comedy relief. Whereas PSTD synergizes neatly with the plots and tropes of heroic fiction.

[CTTT]

I never really thought about it but it makes sense that his drinking comes out of a symptom of something deeper. More layers. Does Tony's drinking get brought up in Avengers titles also? I was just wondering if it was. Tony I think is one of the more complex characters in Marvel

[Frontier]

I never really thought about it but it makes sense that his drinking comes out of a symptom of something deeper. More layers. Does Tony's drinking get brought up in Avengers titles also? I was just wondering if it was. Tony I think is one of the more complex characters in Marvel

I think there was an issue of Stern's Avengers where Cap goes to visit Tony while he's on a binge to try and talk him out of it, and that's where we first learn that Steve's dad was an alcoholic.

I could be mistaken about that.

[Tony Stark]

I never really thought about it but it makes sense that his drinking comes out of a symptom of something deeper. More layers. Does Tony's drinking get brought up in Avengers titles also? I was just wondering if it was. Tony I think is one of the more complex characters in Marvel

I wish they would talk more about his Major Depressive Disorder. Marvel.com used to have this really cool thing they would do and let a professional psychologist do read ups on characters. Tony’s was very interesting to say the least. Also I totally agree with you as Tony being such an incredibly complex character.