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Warning ! pillager forIron Man # 19ahead !
Marvel Comics ' representation ofIron Mankeeps go back to one of the original traits of the character , Tony Stark ’s struggle with addictions . However , the inadequate handling of the result shown in recent comics proves that Marvel either does not have a good understanding of dependance or simply will not commit to the notion that Tony Stark is an addict .
Iron Man was to begin with conceive to be as unlikable as potential . Stan Lee , who created the character together with Larry Lieber , Don Heck , and Jack Kirby inTales of Suspense # 39 , once stated that he believe it would be fun to make a character that no one would care , and " shove him down their pharynx and make them like him . " This approximation shaped the character ’s outlook : for good example , Tony was originally an arms dealer to tap into the great unwashed ’s Cold War paranoia . However , Stan " The Man " also made Tony Stark an alcoholic . While the expectation of global atomic state of war luckily fade away with the passing of the decade , event like addictions are still alive , and Marvel has struggled with its line drawing in Iron Man chronicle .
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The most recentIron Manseries is a perfect exemplar . Tony ’s drinking dependence was get over ( mostly ) at the closing of the 1970s , in the quintessential " Demon in a Bottle , " one of the best and most influential Iron Man narrative ever ( even if he would briefly relapse later ) . InIron Man#6 , written by Christopher Cantwell with artistic creation by Cafu and Frank D’Armata , Tony has to be injected with opioids to save his liveliness . As a result , he becomes addicted to morphine . smoothing iron Man#19 by the same originative squad reveals that Tony prevent using the drug " to keep going , stay inviolable , not los.e . At the close of the issue , Tony checks into a rehab clinic , and that ’s where the story evidence how Marvel ’s treatment of addiction is at best incomplete , and at regretful irresponsible . Iron Man is one of the most powerful individual in the world , considering his wizard , his impressive armoury , and his noesis and connections . And yet , no one cares that someone so grave has addiction trouble , he simply checks into a clinic , and the next issue will see him back gallivanting in his ( deadly ) armor .
The issue here is not that find addicts should not be commit , even if asking Tony to relinquish his high - technical school weapons would have been only sensible . The job is that Marvel author are not commit totreating Iron Man ’s dependency seriously . The job keeps showing up ( even when it ’s not the current plot line ) only to be brush under the rug when the narration needs to move on . Again , it ’s proper to trust find addicts , but the story assumes that Tony ’s friends would not be retain an eye on him , ready to step in or have an intervention . This is n’t the best way of handling the problem for " normal " addicts , reckon for someone who could well rase a urban center block if he lost control .
The idea of addiction as presented in Tony ’s character is almost crass , particularly when looking at real addiction and addict ' recovery . Tony ’s battle are always his own , and very seldom have an impact on his human relationship with champion , partners , and other heroes too . In the tale , Tony ’s superpowered workfellow just turn a blind optic to his publication exactly as Marvel writers do . This is an instance of an overall Marvel drift of periodically pushing its heroes back to the bottom to make them more relatable to readers ( Spider - Man is a prime instance ) . However , in Iron Man ’s example , the " tool " used for this is content addiction , a serious topic in the real world . To avoid a consummate misrepresentation of the problem , Marvel needs to send to really treatingIron Man ’s dependance seriously .
If you are struggling with substance addiction , call the SAMHSA ( Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ) National Hotline at 1 - 800 - 662 - HELP .
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