MCU: Secrets and Lies

[kerravonsen]

On re-watching Iron Man, and pondering Thor-1, it seems to me that SHIELD's knee-jerk reaction is to cover things up even when they don't need covering up. Consider the two cover stories they made in Iron Man: that Tony Stark's bodyguard is Iron Man, and that Stane died in a light plane crash.



A. Having Iron Man be a secret identity.

So far as I can figure, there are two main reasons for a (super)hero having a secret identity.

The most common is that if their civilian identity is known, enemies of the superhero could threaten the civilian's loved ones; given that the superhero has enemies and the civilian does not, and that the civilian has loved ones and the superhero does not. Superman's secret identity may protect the Kents, but it doesn't protect Lois Lane. But in the case of Iron Man, Tony Stark has more enemies than Iron Man does! His loved ones are already under threat. Besides which, making Iron Man Tony's "bodyguard" doesn't really reduce the risk very much. Everybody already knows that Tony Stark built the Iron Man suit. So Tony Stark is already linked to Iron Man. No point in trying to make a secret identity, the connection is already there.

The second reason for a secret identity is that the identity is a codename for someone doing covert operations. Black Widow (before she became an Avenger and her cover was presumably blown); or for another, much older example, the Scarlet Pimpernel. But Iron Man is about as covert as a flashing neon light. So that reason doesn't work either.

There's really only one secret related to Iron Man that needs to be kept secret, and that is that the arc reactor is keeping Tony alive. I can't remember whether Tony takes any particular effort to conceal the existence of the arc reactor in his chest, but I doubt that he's told many people why it is there. It's possible that only Pepper knows.

(I wonder if Coulson knew, in Iron Man 2, that his threatening to use a taser on Tony amounted to a death threat?)

B. Covering up Stane's death.

I'm failing to see why covering up Stane's death was actually necessary. Indeed, the more I think about it, the cover-up causes more problems than it solves. The only problem that I think it solves is that it prevents Obadiah Stane's actions and the things related to them from being investigated. But why would that be necessary?

1. Tony killed Stane in self-defence, and in defence of others. Open and shut case, no need to hide that.
2. The existence of the Iron Man armour can't be covered up anyway.
3. The existence of the arc reactor isn't a state secret. It's Tony Stark's proprietary technology.
4. Okay, the fact that Tony depends on the arc reactor for his life is something that Tony would prefer remained hidden. On the other hand, if it were known, well, it would be an argument Tony could use against the US Government in Iron Man 2 when they try to commandeer "the Iron Man weapon" -- because at least the arc reactor really is a "prosthetic".
5. The cover-story that Iron Monger was a rogue robot makes Tony's reputation worse, because instead of the destruction being Stane's fault, it is Tony's (for allowing something under the auspices of Stark Industries to get out of control). It also paves the way for everyone to blame Tony for Ultron, because in the public's eyes, Ultron is just another example of Tony letting robots get out of control, an even worse example.
6. Covering up Stane's death also covers up that Stane was dealing under the table and that Stane hired Ten Rings to assassinate Tony. This means that Tony is not exonerated in regard to Stark weapons ending up in enemy hands. The fallout of this is that the Maximoff twins have no reason to let go of their grudge against him, and that has a lot of nasty repercussions.

So, the cover story is generally not good for Tony. But there doesn't seem to be any benefit for SHIELD in this cover-story either.

I've seen fan-theories that Stane was either HYDRA, or (wittingly or unwittingly) working with HYDRA, and therefore it was HYDRA-within-SHIELD who wanted Stane's death to be covered up. This makes more sense than anything else I can think of.

Speaking of HYDRA, since I haven't seen The Winter Soldier or Civil War, there's something I'm confused about. I know that HYDRA assassinated Howard and Maria Stark, but I don't know the reason why. Was there even a reason, or was it a random "HYDRA is evil" thing? Inquiring minds want to know. Really, I DO! Because I remember reading in fanfic that Howard had five vials of Super Soldier serum with him at the time, and HYDRA stole them to make the five additional Winter Soldiers. But I don't know if that is canon or not, because, as I said, I haven't seen those movies.
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