“Any excuse to get me to hold you.” “You see right through me.” – Avengers: Prime#3
“You know, Shellhead… nobody’s called me “Winghead” like you just did since I left the Avengers last year! I miss it!” – Avengers, Vol. 1 #144
“All those things…all the things I said and did– I’m–I’m so, so sorry. I know that’s not enough, but I hope you will allow me the chance to earn your friendship back. I don’t deserve it…I just hope you let me. I’m not half as good at– at anything as I am when I’m doing it next to you. And that’s the truth.” – Avengers: Prime #5
“Why are you naked?” “It’s my new armor. It’s see-through.” – Avengers: Prime #3
“Where is here? Is this a dream? Tell me it is, Tony, tell me you can save me.” – Captain Ameriva, Vol. 1 #437
“Tony Stark and his armor. His wonderful metal suit. The end result of all the technology he’s mastered in his hands the ultimate weapon for good. A good that I can never hope to equal.” – Tales of Suspense
“I feel like a snail or a tortoise, lumbering along in my shell, whenever I’m with Steve. So clumsy, and so safe, next to his grace and daring. I have so much, I know I shouldn’t envy Steve and his Strength And yet I do.” – Tales of Suspense
“Whatever the threat –– We’ll face it together.” – Avengers, Vol. 3 #1
“Captain America. Steve. I look at your handsome face… into your clear, azure eyes.. and, as ever, I feel the same guilty envy.” – Tales of Suspense
“A man’s worth isn’t measured by what he’s made of, by blood or bone. It’s what’s inside, what you beleive, and how you act on those beliefs that counts. And by that yardstick –– I doubt anything could diminish you.” – Iron Man, Vol. 1 #314
“Tony. Tony. Tony. I didn’t think you were serious… This is Captain Handsome ordering you to rock and roll on that 45. […] That is the last time I let Tony freelance the door codes. We all said, six digit number! Just because he has trouble remembering his own birthday…” – Avengers Christmas Annual #1
“Good morning, beloved. Did anyone check the dumpsters for Clint yet?” – Endless Wartime
“Sorry, Tony… but Captain America is more important than you. Let’s hope I can keep him alive long enough… for Panther to get him out.” – Avengers, Vol. 3 #70
“I… Look, I’m not the crying kind, Steve. I didn’t cry at my own father’s funeral. But right then and there I realized that in this crazy business we’re in, there’s no one I’d miss more than you. And I… well… you’re an inspiration to me, Steve. To a lot of us. We may not think like you or act like you –– but we still respect and appreciate what you do and the way you do it. You’re an idealist in a world that is far from ideal. I don’t know how you can do it, Steve… How you can keep all the ugliness from getting you… hardening you… I can’t. I’m not as perfect as you… Forgive me.” – Captain America, Vol. 1 #401
“Tony… I’m not perfect either. I’m sometimes too quick to judge… too slow to forgive. I appreciate how much courage it took to come here –– in a bar, of all places –– and to level with me like you just did. I’m really sorry our ideological differences bent our friendship out of shape. I miss having you as my friend. I’d like us let to bygones be bygones.” – Captain America, Vol. 1 #401
“Mr. Stark, when I woke up in this era, I had no one. Nothing. You gave me a purpose, somewhere to belong… You gave me a home.” – Civil War: Casualties of War
“It wasn’t worth it.” – Civil War: The Confession
“And now I’ve lost you, too. Maybe… maybe there was a reason you had to be on the other side of every argument. How you could be my rudder, steering me when others couldn’t… I don’t know if I can do it without you… I certainly won’t do it as well…” – The Death of Captain America: Iron Man
“I miss your battle cry.” – The Death of Captain America: Iron Man
“All I can think about is him.” – Avengers, Vol. 5 #43
“There are people that get married and they love each other and have real relationships, but then one of them cheats on the other and even though they’ve loved each other very much the schism is forever. There’s never going to be any getting over it. Some people can get past it. Some people can’t. [The memory wipe] was a betrayal that Steve was never going to get over.” – Jonathan Hickman on Avengers, Vol. 5
avengers assemble
“I’d hate to be on the other end of that grunt.” – S01E06, Super Adaptoid
“I was brave long before I was Captain America. And Tony Stark wa a hero long before he was Iron Man.” – S02E07, The Age of Tony Stark
“You want to do some trust exercises? Fall backwards. I’ll catch you.” – S02E09, The Dark Avengers
“Iron or no, you’re still the man.” “Sure, I’ll go all… billionare philanthropist on their butts.” “Billionaire genius philanthropist.” – S01E26, The Final Showdown
“Don’t pretend you didn’t miss this.” – S02E17, The Ultron Outbreak
“Taking a huge risk that ends up saving the world? Tony does that five times before breakfast.” – S02E17, The Ultron Outbreak
earth’s mightiest heroes
“I know you believe in the future, but I believe in people. And I choose to believe in you, Iron Man.” – S02E19, Emperor Stark
marvel cinematic universe
“How are we guys planning on doing this?” “Together.” – Avengers: Age of Ultron
“You could have saved us.” – Avengers: Age of Ultron
“I think there’s been a very nice journey between Steve and Tony, and I feel like in “The Avengers,” we were both kids, there was [an ego struggle]. In this movie, we argue, but the dialogue is even written more just like a seasoned relationship, the way you’d see an old married couple argue as opposed to a 20-year-old couple argue. They know each other. They might press each other’s buttons, but they get past it quickly.” – Chris Evans, on Steve Rogers’ relationship with Tony Stark, AOU press tour
“It’s like a marriage… We love each other, but it’s explosive. You’re working toward the same goal but you have very different approaches to it.” – Chris Evans, on Steve and Tony’s relationship in Captain America: Civil War
“I didn’t know if you and Stark were done staring into each other’s eyes.” – Natasha Romanoff in Avengers: Age of Ultron
“I’ll miss you, Tony.” – Avengers: Age of Ultron
“You alright?” “…I’m home.” – Avengers: Age of Ultron
The premise of the movie (Avengers: Infinity War) for us was always that because of what happened in Captain America: Civil War, because Cap and Tony had fallen out, because the Avengers were divided. This is why they lose to Thanos, because they’re not together, they’re divided. –Anthony & Joe Russo
your fave steve rogers: tony stark. the tony stark. billionaire, genius. you’re probably one of the three smartest men in the entire world. you’re as tough as they come. you invented hardcore. the avengers are lucky you’re on our side.
IM CRYING OKAY JUST IMAGINE tony trying to explain the basics of roleplaying in bed to steve.
“so it’s us playing out scenes that might not normally happen?” steve asks.
tony nods, happy that steve is getting it. “exactly.”
after a brief silence, steve nods too. “okay. i think i have an idea,” he says.
“ooooh,” tony says, audibly excited, “you wanna surprise me with it tonight?”
so tony also talks him through how they can call it off if either of them want to stop at any time, and they set up to do it that night.
tony’s in the lab when jarvis alerts him that steve is coming. tony grins to himself, excited, but manages to keep working until he hears the door open and steve’s quiet footsteps. then out of nowhere he’s hoisted into a pair of strong arms.
“oh, my,” tony says, feigning demureness. “how forward of you, cap.”
but steve doesn’t talk all the way back up to tony’s bedroom.
“so, what’s going on, hm?” tony purrs when steve finally drapes him on the bed.
steve peels back the covers. joins him. and…pulls the covers back over them. and steve draws him close and pats his waist and says, “night, tony.”
“wait what,” tony says, smushed against steve’s chest, because neither of them are even naked.
“we’re roleplaying going to sleep on time,” steve says. “night, tony.”
tony’s too awed by his boyfriend’s tactics to kick him out of bed.
Steve’s Greatest Hits Of Roleplaying also include::
—Look at Us Eating Healthy Meals at Reasonable Times.
—What If We Get Kinky and Switch Coffee to Decaf
—Handcuffing Tony to the Bed Because He Was Too Reckless Yesterday and Needs to Sit This One Out
—Playing Doctor but Actually Taking You To the Doctor Because Tony You’ve Been Sick for a Week and I’m Not Accepting More Snotty Kisses and Wheezing Sex Noises
Why Steve sacrificing himself for Tony makes sense: A critical analysis
Since that (clearly fake) leak about Avengers 4 has been out, I’ve seen a lot of people grousing about how it would be stupid, unrealistic, awful, etc. if Steve died to save Tony (or at least died in place of Tony in order to save the world). Obviously the leak is baloney, for a bunch of reasons, but I do think that bit is not that far off base.
While I completely find the situation heartbreaking, and I do not want Steve to die (like at all), this manner of death is not outside of realm of what Steve Rogers would do.
In fact, I think it’s where Steve and Tony’s mutual journey has been heading all along.
It all comes down to their arcs–both individually and the one they share together.
Avengers 4 is the culmination of 10 years of storytelling. It’s the product of 21 movies. In most stories, the ending usually reflects the beginning.
For this reason, there’s three key movies to look at when going into A4 when it comes to Steve, Tony, and their story together: Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man, and The Avengers. The first Steve Rogers film. The first Tony Stark film. And the first film they shared together.
In Captain America: The First Avenger, we see Steve Rogers is a paragon. An ideal. A nearly-perfect man who is selfless. He’s willing to lay down his life for others–and he does it twice in two very notable moments. One is when he dives on the grenade to save his fellow soldiers at the training yard–a moment which led to Erskine deciding Steve was the Chosen One–the man who would be perfect for the Super Soldier Serum. Erskine knew that the serum would enhance every aspect of the person–including their personality. This meant they had to choose the most noble, pure of heart man for the job. And that was Steve Rogers.
In short, and this is the big takeaway, Steve got his powers (became Captain America) because of his willingness to die for others. Because he’s a paragon of humanity.
At the end of the film. Steve once again puts his life down in order to save the entire Eastern coast of the United States. He makes it clear this is his “choice.” He didn’t expect to walk away, but he came to life 70 years later in a whole new world, his life forever changed. Since then, he’s been feeling like a “man out of time” (note: that’s a play on words and has a double-meaning).
In Iron Man, we see Tony Stark as a deeply flawed man who is full of regret, who got catapulted on a journey of redemption and self-discovery. He is saved by a man named Ho Yinsen, who ends up sacrificing his own life so that Tony can live (“Don’t waste your life.”) This is after they had a conversation about how Tony is the “man who has everything and nothing” in relation to having a family. Since then, Tony has been trying his hardest to make a family–he’s done with the Avengers, with Pepper, with Peter–it’s an idea that Tony feels very strongly about, and in Infinity War, we saw he’s now ready to have kids of his own.
In short, and this is the big takeaway, Tony got his powers (became Iron Man) because a good man saved his life (stuck a magnet in his chest) and later was willing to die so he could become a hero and find his purpose. So that he could find out what he was missing.
In The Avengers, we see Steve and Tony immediately clash because they’re very different people with very different histories (plus the Mind Stone was amplifying their aggression). Steve makes the biting remark that Tony isn’t the guy willing to lay on the wire not knowing that’s exactly the kind of man Tony is–and, later, Steve sees that first hand when Tony makes the call to take the nuke into the wormhole, even if it’s a “one-way trip.” Respecting this decision, Steve orders the portal to close, knowing it needs to be done to safeguard the lives of everyone in NYC. Tony barely survives this ordeal, but his sacrifice remains a solid one. Tony was 100% willing to die–and Steve was willing to let it happen in order to save everyone.
Now, looking at where their relationship has developed, we need to look at a few stand-out moments between them throughout the MCU:
– In The Avengers, Steve doesn’t believe Tony is willing to die for others; Tony proves him wrong. This is the foundation of Steve’s respect for Tony.
– In AoU, Steve chastises Tony for keeping a secret from the group, which led to Ultron.
– In CA:CW, Steve keeping a secret from Tony resulted in their relationship falling apart and the fragmentation of the Avengers, which played into the disaster of A:IW.
– In AoU, Tony says he wants to build Pepper a farm and live the “simple life.” Steve says the man who wanted stability died 75 years ago.
– In CA:CW, Steve mistakenly assumes Pepper is “pregnant,” and says he’s glad Howard got married.
– In A:IW, Tony is engaged to Pepper, dreaming of having a child. Steve is on the run, looking forlornly at Wanda and Vision as they argue about the idea of sacrifice.
… You see where I am going with this. Where the MCU has been leading us this entire time.
If it all comes back to those three films, then it’ll go back to why Steve was a hero this whole time: willingness to die for others. And it’ll go back to why Tony lived: to have a family. The Avengers shows where the role-reversal will happen: instead of Tony sacrificing his life, with Steve quietly agreeing on the sidelines, it’ll be Steve who sacrifices his life, with Tony having to accept it. It ties a bow around the loose threads established between them in AoU and CA:CW. Steve accepts that he’s a man who isn’t going to have a family or live the “simple life” (as he says the man who wanted that died in the ice); Steve said he was happy Howard got married–and that’s something he wants for Tony (hence mistakenly, and happily, assuming Pepper was pregnant). Steve feels emotionally indebted to Tony regardless because of the fallout of CA:CW (he regrets not telling Tony the truth), and that could very well play into a decision for Steve to lay on the wire so Tony can live.
More than all that, Steve dying so Tony can save the world would show a reversal of Steve’s opinion of Tony Stark.
Since the beginning, Steve has had a relatively low opinion of Tony’s motives and behavior. He assumed Tony wasn’t willing to die for others (he was wrong); he immediately assumed Tony must’ve sold weapons to Klaue in Age of Ultron (Tony hadn’t); Steve was dismissive of Tony’s concerns about extraterrestrial threats (Tony was right); Steve didn’t think Tony would believe him about Zemo (when later Tony ended up coming to the bunker, violating the Sokovia Accords, to help Steve with Zemo); and I think Steve is now realizing that sometimes the best hands aren’t his own, but may just in fact be Tony’s. That’s why he called him Earth’s “best defender.” He’s come to respect Tony, sees now that Tony has been trying since the very beginning to protect everyone. And, this time, it’s Tony who has to end this.
Anyway, that’s why I think this would fit both their stories. It’s depressing, it’s sad, but it’s not illogical.
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