application ⊛ futurology

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APPLICANT INFO.
NAME: Arden
CONTACT: ardendactyl
CURRENT CHARACTERS:  None.

CHARACTER INFO.
NAME:   Anthony "Tony" Edward Stark aka IRON MAN
CANON:  Marvel Cinematic Universe
AGE:  45
APPEARANCE:

Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man.

CANON POINT:  End of Captain America: Civil War

BACKGROUND:  The tale of Tony's hard life.

PERSONALITY:

When asked to profile Tony Stark after shadowing him in her undercover role as Natalie Rushman, SHIELD operative Natasha Romanov described him as: "displaying destructive behavior... prone to self-destructive tendencies... [and] textbook narcissism" - the last of which he couldn't even disagree with, himself.  

As the only child of genius inventor Howard Stark, much of Tony's psychology is a result of his strained relationship with the man, who provided his son with just about any financial resources he could ever need growing up, but fulfilled just about none of Tony's emotional needs.  He was distant, often dismissive and cold, and shipped Tony off to boarding school when he was young, leaving the boy convinced that his father wanted nothing to do with him.  This lack of validation left Tony deeply fractured, and while it's true that he does possess an ego the size of a small moon, he's also prone to deep self-loathing.  His initial impulse is to consistently be preoccupied with managing the impression he makes on others in order to gain the approval that he never received from his father, but his awareness of his own manipulative tactics mean that he is quick to dismiss favorable criticism of himself deep down, because he knows his personality to be largely manufactured.  This allows him to possess both incredibly low self-esteem, and an exaggerated, narcissistic investment in his own image that drives him to be incredibly self involved.   When Natasha refers to 'textbook' narcissism, she means the classical definition:  his need for admiration, constant exhibitionism and desire to be the center of attention, and his grandiose way of behaving.  He's prone to sulking and becoming irrationally anxious when the spotlight shifts to someone else, or when people openly denounce or reject his carefully crafted image.  This psychological need of his for approval is one of the main reasons that he had no interest in maintaining a 'secret identity' when he took on a superhero mantle - he wanted to be lauded for his accomplishments, and even having Iron Man take credit for them was too much for him.

His cynical worldview is a direct result of his abandonment issues.  Tony believes that everyone is essentially out for themselves, and being betrayed by his business partner (and honestly, the closest replacement he had had to a father figure) Obadiah Stane, did little to rectify this chip on his shoulder.  As a result, he's not particularly well suited for teamwork, and that's one reason that he often rubs the other Avengers the wrong way.  He maintains his guarded demeanor with most of them, but provides an important independent streak of thought that counteracts the soldier mentality of Steve, Clint, and Nat.  It's notable that he's been able to make slight progress in terms of his interactions with others due to learning that his Father really did love him and believe in him, but he's prone to backsliding and self-sabotaging his relationships even now.

The alien invasion of New York City played a significant role in the degradation of his mental state, when he willingly sacrificed himself to fly a nuke through a wormhole into outer space and nearly asphyxiated.  He managed to survive the encounter, but it left him suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, that manifested in anxiety attacks, drastic changes in his sleep, appetite, and personal relationships, and an obsession with perfecting and creating new Iron Man suits as he became driven to find a way to protect himself and the world from facing such threats ever again, to the point of extreme paranoia.  None of this was helped when his house was blown up in the middle of the night, and he was subsequently pinned beneath it underwater - no doubt a very familiar feeling scenario to a guy who almost suffocated in space that one time.  He repeatedly suffers from nightmares of falling back through the wormhole, and avoids any discussion of it, to the point of leaving the room if it's brought up.  Much of Tony's hyper-vigilant paranoia is directed at the idea of protecting Pepper, who has represented the single grounding point in his life for years, and proved for a long time to be unwilling to abandon him even when he repeatedly sabotaged their relationship.  Becoming fixated on the notion that he could not function without her, he becomes increasingly aggressive towards anything he perceives as a threat to her, and abandons all his usual interests in order to stay close to her.  However, Ultron proved a breaking point, and even Pepper chose to distance herself from him finally, which left him bereft, as even his own teammates seem to have continued limited patience for hearing about his failing mental state (Banner even fell asleep when he told him the long story of his near-breakdown in Iron Man 3).  Tony's facade of strength and self-confidence has often proven to be his own worst enemy, as it is very difficult for him to seek the help he really needs, or to appear to others to even need it - or be willing to accept it.

Tony almost seems to have all the ingredients to become a supervillain at his psychological disposal, so it is a testament to his better self that his reaction to most of these catalyzing events of his life has been a desire to do better, to be better, to seek a safer world and contribute to improving it.  However, his crippling issues often lead him astray, and he doesn't always opt for the best ways to do this - he's prone to taking things too far to the extreme (see: shutting down all manufacture of Stark weaponry after being a prisoner of a terrorist cell that used them, creating the 'peace-keeping' robot Ultron as a reaction to his PTSD, pushing for the Accords as a reaction to his massive guilt issues... the list goes on).  Regardless, he's proven to be self-sacrificing, staunch in his beliefs, horrified by acts of evil, and willing to go above and beyond to protect others.  While he may break the mold of a typical hero, he is still undeniably a good man at heart.

ABILITIES:

Being smarter than you.  Tony stark is an actual genius, particularly when it comes to engineering.  He was a child prodigy in that department, to the point of graduating from MIT summa cum laude when he was 17.  His ability to jury-rig inventions on the fly demonstrates how he can think quickly and apply his intellect to problems in creative and extraordinary ways.  He invented and designed his own supersuit, and has constantly worked at creating new versions that improve on the previous incarnations.  He's also able to design complicated artificial intelligence, beginning with JARVIS, and eventually leading to the problematic Ultron fiasco.   His scientific knowledge is incredibly broad, as well, and he once taught himself thermonuclear astrophysics overnight.

Can beat you up even without a suit.  Tony has been shown to be trained in martial arts (he even had his own boxing ring to train in).  In Iron Man 3, he infiltrates the bad guy's mansion sans suit entirely, facing a bunch of guards along the way.

But, also, he has a supersuit.  His most famous power, and the one that his entire superhero shtick, involves the incredibly complicated technology that makes up the Iron Man suit(s).  The suits themselves are powered by cold fusion through the Arc Reactor, which keep them from running hot, and gives it a vast amount of energy to utilize for such fun things as flight (up to supersonic speeds) and repulsor technology that allows him to kill, stun, and destroy with concentrated particle blasts.  The titanium alloy exoskeleton not only helps protect him from the most intense of attacks, but also augments his strength, and the suit itself includes complicated programming that enhances his senses, helps analyze threats and monitor the suit's many systems, and also provides him the ability to communicate with others.  There are even more functions, as he continued to tweak and expand on the suits over the years, but since he won't actually have one with him, I won't go into too many more details until if and when he earns one back in game.

Schmoozing Level 5000.  Tony is incredibly charismatic, and despite the fact that he's also a chronic narcissist who can get under the skin of even those who care about him the most with ease, he's also great at getting people to pay attention to what he has to say, and people can't help but be drawn to him, fascinated by him, and happy to have his attention when he's willing to grant it (however briefly).  Combined with his vast intellect and business sense, this has helped him turn Stark Industries into a true corporate titan.


INVENTORY:

A swanky pair of shades.
Vivo V3 cellphone.
Wallet with ID.
Watch that can transform into an Iron Man gauntlet.
A damn fine looking suit (of the regular variety).

WRITING SAMPLES.

NETWORK SAMPLE:

You're ruining his aesthetic.

LOG SAMPLE:   

Fluff flavor ⊛ Tony & Pepper
Action flavor ⊛ Tony & Daisy
Angst flavor ⊛ Tony & Steve