December posting meme: MCU Steve/Tony
sheron asked me to talk about what I like about MCU Steve/Tony, other than the actors. The short answer is, in movie canon, as a pairing on-screen? Nothing at all. They are barely speaking to each other most of the time, and when they do, it seems to result in this weird characterization of Cap that's sort of off-kilter and overly self-righteous. Some of that is due to the way he was written in Whedon's movies, but some of it is just that he's the stiff moral foil to Tony's rogue or whatever, and it's dumb.
What I like about the pairing is the possibilities that canon gives us, but just never bothers to explore. Tony has this love-hate thing going on with the Cap he grew up listening to his dad go on about, vs. the living breathing flawed version of Steve Rogers in front of him. He hates and loves Steve's flaws equally. But Tony's a person who gets being flawed. He just doesn't deal well with self-righteous. They built an entire movie (Civil War) on the concept of how two principles can be in opposition, and neither be entirely wrong, but they are still irreconcilable. I don't like that version of their relationship.
Instead, I like stories where Steve is allowed to be compassionate and observant and kind, and decides he's not going to let his temper get the best of him when Tony annoys him. I like stories where Steve gets to be smart, and curious, and interact with Tony on his tech and on strategy, and Tony's equal measure of respect for what Cap can do doesn't devolve into snarky comments about 'language' and Cap's lack of a dark side. I love stories where Tony gives too much (gifts, tech, etc) and gets called out on it. I love how dumb and self-sacrificial they both are, and I love stories where Steve gets that instead of making stupid comments about how Tony would never lie down on the wire. I mean, I like versions of their story where they are allowed to be grown men who can be perceptive about each other, which is more than the canon gives us - those stories build on the best things, instead of using the bad things to build artificial conflict.
Steve and Tony also both have endured tremendous trauma. Steve came out of it a clam, Tony came out of it a fucking mess with PTSD and anxiety. The movies never allow that to be acknowledged. Stories allow it to be explored, which I love a lot. And I love stories where that informs their relationship to each other, and how they work together.
Basically, I like to take the well-written version of Steve (Russos), and the well-written versions of Tony (Iron Man movies), with their competence and Tony's needy narcissism and his capacity to love and his vast intelligence, and Steve's strategic mind and his strength and his bravery and leadership, and put them together in ways that are better than the movies where they were actually together. If that makes sense. And that's the joy of reading MCU fic, for me. It's 100% better than their best moment on screen together.