There will always be ups and downs in our lives, and what we need to learn is how to cope with the bad sides even when we were told a million times that the bad events will be over in no time.
It’s like a school.
At first, you wanted to graduate fast, but by the time you graduated, you sometimes wish you are back studying again. We always hear the phrase ‘the good old days’, and sometimes we do wish we are.
Tony Stark/Iron Man gave the greatest example to this. We first saw him as an arrogant man, and then he changed to become better.
However, even when he was known to be a superhero, did not mean that his journey was easy. He faced numerous threats and near-death experiences, even involving the people he loved and cared for. Even so, he was still willing to be Iron Man and thus, everyone sees that destiny led RDJ to be Iron Man.
In this article, I will discuss the ways you can follow Iron Man when he faced the worst moment of his life. Note as well that this will be full spoilers for the whole MCU that involves Iron Man.
1) Every step is a lesson
There were many different types of events that lead Iron Man to be who he was. The people he met and influenced affected him especially. If Tony was never attacked in Afghanistan, we will never have Iron Man.
He found out that his weapons are the source that sparked a bigger war between Afghanistan and the USA, and immediately asked for a shut down even if that meant closing his main business product. But by doing that, he finally found a purpose in his life besides just selling nuclear weapons. As a result, Pepper fell for him and him for her.
What you can do is, take that everything is a level up experience to get you stronger. You might not understand it now, but you will in the future. You just need to put your mindset that you are capable to tackle this situation leading to my next point:
2) All your experiences today helps to prepare your future
All of Tony’s steps to his future helped him to become, not only a great visionary leader but also a more humble man. He had seen and experienced a lot of things to the point Pepper told him that he couldn’t rest until the world is not in danger.
Throughout the series, he picked up nearly all the disadvantages the suits had when he went against different enemies and upgraded them to the suits. For example, in Civil War, Ant-Man managed to hijack his suit and dismantled it to the point that it didn’t function well. Then in Infinity War, we saw him with a Nanotech suit. So here, he learned his lessons.
The events he witnessed made him want to do more for the world. His continuous suit upgrades helped him tackle a lot more enemies than before instead of using just nuclear as his main weapon. He tried to connect with more and more people in order to help him achieve his vision.
As a result, indirectly, he became quite a remarkable leader for the Avengers.
What you can take here is that there are a lot of things that you never knew you needed. You might not like it now, but you will realize that it will be beneficial in the future. It’s like how Tony met Nick Fury, even when he didn’t want to but eventually, he came to realize the Fury has the same goal as Tony, leading to my last point.
3) All the people you met are not a coincidence
Different people have different purposes. They may have something that you need but never thought of it, which is why connecting with a lot of people is very important.
With Tony being the CEO prior to Iron Man, he was able to connect with a lot of people. However, he didn’t connect with the right ones. Even when he did, he always tried to avoid them.
The example here would be Nick Fury. He was giving him the opportunity to be more than Stark thought could be but Tony was ignoring them. Because Fury knew how much Tony’s arrogant side was still there, he mentioned about Howard Stark’s achievement that got his attention.
From then on, Tony had been trying to connect with people. He got in contact with Dr. Cho to help Clint after being shot in Avengers 2, called Spiderman, trying to connect with Dr. Strange and many more. This also helped him to become a remarkable leader for the Avengers and when he was trying to lead Team Iron Man in Civil War. All the people he met that brought him to certain events helped Tony to face his future.
Connect with a lot of people as possible. Like Tony, you never know that they will help you open doors and help your future.
Conclusion:
Tony Stark never thought that he will have an Iron Man journey for the rest of his life. So will you. You just need to see this as your Iron Man journey as well by:
- Every step is a lesson
- All your experience today helps to shape your future
- All the people you met is for a reason
Sometimes, we just don’t realize that we may have went through a parallel story as Iron Man. We made mistakes and goals just like him. But that is part of the journey, and part of the journey is the end.
Author: Laurentia Nicole Sudjono