A Stark Comparison

I'm a little hopeless. Strike that. I'm A LOT hopeless. My parents took me to see The Avengers on Friday and I absolutely loved it. It was so good. Plus, when you put a cast of mainly of attractive guys who are buff, I'm going to like the movie. :) I'm just cool like that.

The Avengers = Awesome

Anyway, since seeing The Avengers, I decided that I needed to see both Thor and Captain America before I leave. So that's been my goal this weekend. Thanks to Redbox, I've been able to see both movies and I greatly enjoyed them. And now, I have to re-watch Iron Man and Iron Man 2 because I have a mad, mad crush on Tony Stark... despite some major character flaws.

I was enjoying Captain America, when Howard Stark appeared. Now, my initial reaction is that Tony Stark is a little more attractive and a lot more arrogant. Not that Howard Stark isn't arrogant but his is more of self-confidence with an edge. Unfortunately, we don't get a lot of Howard Stark because the movie is about Captain America. However, we do get a little taste and that's all we need. :)

As I've had to contemplate this post, I have come to realize that although Tony Stark is his father's son, he also is a manifestation of all his father's more... undesirable traits. For example, Tony is arrogant, a womanizer, too smart for his own good sometimes, narcissistic, unwilling to take responsibility (sometimes)... and because don't know all that much about Howard Stark... that's really all I have. I should also say, these aren't necessarily bad traits, well most of them anyway, but Tony Stark has them in spades. Probably due to his upbringing as a boy genius from an extremely wealthy family. And a bit of estrangement from his father (if I'm remembering correctly).

About the estrangement between Starks... I can't help but wonder if it had to do with the fact that Howard saw a lot of himself in Tony. Maybe it was to protect him. And perhaps, because we now know about Howard's involvement with Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. (before it was S.H.I.E.L.D.), he was trying to keep his genius son away from that? I'm not sure that we'll ever know... but maybe we will.

The point is that their relationship wasn't the greatest and we don't know anything about Tony's mother. And when did Howard settle down to have his family? And will Tony do the same? (If you've seen Iron Man 2, you'll have the same hope I did that Pepper Potts will finally stop Tony's womanizing ways.)

Writing this post seems to bring up more questions than answers. There is nothing wrong with that, especially because our information on Howard Stark is so limited. He only shows up in the one movie with Captain America and even then the movie is not about him as the Iron Mans are about Tony. [Side Note: I think it quite interesting that Captain America has the opportunity to work with both Starks. I wonder what his thoughts on them are. Hmm?]

Also, the Stark men make engineering seem hot. I love seeing Tony as Iron Man but I love him more when he's all smart and engineer-y and scientifical. I don't know what that means but it's a very attractive quality about him.

Despite claiming that Tony got all his distasteful traits from his father, there are some good ones he inheritated. Once he realizes that his weapons are being sold to the enemy, Tony works on stopping it. And he's loyal to friends... when he's not dying and drunk. Howard Stark went searching for Captain America after he went down in the bad guy's ship in the antartic (or wherever). I believe Howard developed a friendship with Steve (Captain America) and I have hopes that Tony will too.

I don't believe Tony Stark is a bad guy. Sure he's not the greatest guy ever but he's got good intentions... mingled in with narcissism. And I know Howard Stark is a good guy who wanted the best for his son... however misguided his intentions.

This wasn't quite the comparison I had intended but it's hard to compare evenly when we know very little about Howard and we know so much about Tony. But I noticed similarities between father and son in their respective movies and I felt like exploring it a little.

I exhort you all to see The Avengers and any other of the Marvel movies. They are awesome. But that could be the nerd-girl inside of me screaming "I LOVE YOU, TONY STARK!".

Howard Stark

Tony Stark

And because I can't resist... Tony Stark's arms

Until Next Time,

The Hopeless Romantic