I grow tired of these posts beating up on Tony Stark comparing his wealth and intellect and tech to T’Challa’s.
Come on, folks. We KNOW T’Challa is the wealthiest character in all of Marvel, hence in all of comics, hence probably in the entire known fantasy universe. But there’s no need to build him up by trying to tear other characters down. He doesn’t require that. Both characters play their part in the story, and they’re both heroes.
And here’s the thing - NEITHER Tony nor T’Challa brag with any sort of seriousness about their wealth, and either would be shocked and annoyed to find anyone else doing it on their behalf, let alone comparing them to anyone else.
T’Challa is the heir and new king of an entire nation that holds the rarest and most valuable element on the planet, a genius who creates cutting-edge tech – but if you asked him what his greatest wealth was, I’m certain he would say it was his family and his people and a legacy of goodness and justice toward the future. Tony Stark is the leader of a green tech company – a company that he created with his own genius out of the uber-wealthy weapons conglomerate he inherited from his family and later dismantled (when he found he morally couldn’t continue a business that had the potential to harm innocent people). And if you asked him what his greatest wealth was, he’d probably say his friends and teammates and a legacy of justice and responsibility toward the future.
Some of the posts posit that Tony is always swaggering around about how rich he is or how much amazing tech he’s invented - but that correlates with no Tony Stark I know from either the movies or comics. Sure, Tony has an exterior layer of mouthy cockiness that functions as metaphorical armor (pretty key to the story, that…), but underneath that there’s a very deep layer of insecurity and melancholy, and under THAT is a layer of quiet, unconquerable courage – or he wouldn’t be who he is. He doesn’t brag about his wealth and rarely about his genius (unless he’s joking around); Tony is really most at home as the inventor and tinkerer he truly is, locked in his workshop MAKING things, dressed in oily work clothes. He’d much rather be there than swaggering in a tux at a gala.
T’Challa on the surface seems like Tony’s opposite: calm, centered, composed, princely. But T’Challa’s composure masks a roiling center that burns for justice, an inner sadness at what he has lost, and a determination to protect and to lead his people that propels him to bring Wakanda onto the world stage – and to venture outside his country to join in protecting the world. Like Tony, he makes mistakes and is not infallible – both men pursued Bucky Barnes for what they believed/knew he had done, for example. T’Challa had time in the move to discover the real story and understand and let go; Tony, in movie time, only found out about his parents’ murder circa five minutes ago and hasn’t had time to work it all out yet. But he will.
BOTH T’Challa and Tony Stark are heroes of the highest order. They are very different characters, and yay for writers who create varied personalities, because if all our heroes were the same, it would be very boring. Both are soon going to be fighting side by side against a threat that could consume their world and all those they love. Tony Stark’s reaction to Wakanda’s tech will be like his reaction to any tech he hasn’t seen yet: holy smoke, wow, cool, what can I learn from this?! (Which will probably happen when he meets the Guardians, too…) Because they’re both men, there may be some joking around and “mine is bigger”-type comparisons, because, you know, men. It won’t be serious. In the comics, Tony and T’Challa are friends, and hopefully in the MCU these two – on the surface very different, but underneath probably more similar than not – will be so as well. Until then, let’s stop with the invidious fan snark…
