Tony Stark has become the Hal Jordan of the ^^***** universe. Only he did it some of it sooner than Hal did. Of course he didn't assume a stupid name like Modulus and set out to blow up the universe for its own good. Yet.

He did betray the Avengers though and fought a teenage version of himself from an alternate universe. Or has that wonderful story finally circled the bowl twice and disappeared?

Andrew W. Farago: since then, one creative team after another has written Iron Man as a manipulative jerk whose philosophy is "the ends justify the means."

On this, I can agree with you 100%.  There have been a few instances since issue #250 where Tony Stark was written well, but as time goes on, they're stretching further and further apart.

Check out Kurt Busiek's IRON MAN: THE IRON AGE two-part story if you haven't already.  It does a very nice job of showing how much of an ass Tony Stark was prior to the trip to Southeast Asia, and how much he changed when he came back.

Andrew W. Farago: For the cost of one Iron Man suit, he could probably have given fifty people hoverchairs, and I'm sure he could have brought the costs down if he'd put any effort into it.

And maybe he did, and we just didn't see it.  There was a creative team shuffle going on right about this time, so I'm not surprised it never got mentioned again.  But, that doesn't mean he wasn't concerned about it or that he never did something generous like that.  Tony Stark still goes to AA meetings, but we haven't seen that in the book in a very long time, either.

And if we're going to pick on Tony Stark for not giving them away, why not lambaste Charles Xavier, too?  He's had many high-tech wheelchairs over the course of his history, and I've not seen one instance of him offering them to the general public.  Should we hang good ol' Professor X out to dry for not having the Shi'ar clone every handicapped person on Earth a new working body like they did for him back in the early 80's?  At least Tony Stark tried to help people in many different ways by starting a prosthetic research facility.

All I'm trying to get at is that Tony Stark isn't a jerk.  Not when he's written like he's supposed to be.  Sure, there are instances when he's put into a situation where he has to make decisions that others might not like, but that's something many other heroes have had to do on occasion as well.  Even Spider-Man (to bring it full circle).

Emery Calame: He did betray the Avengers though and fought a teenage version of himself from an alternate universe. Or has that wonderful story finally circled the bowl twice and disappeared?

Well, in my mind it had until you just mentioned it.  Thanks a ton, Emery!

I think if we are going to wonder why Tony did not give away high-tec wheelchairs, then we got to start wondering about why they aren't  curing cancer, making barren lands fertile, why Thor doesn't appear every time there is a drought, etc. etc.

We have to conceded some things for the whole genre to survive, don't we? 

There are instances where he has been written, wrongly, as a jerk.  But if we are going to include "Why didn;t he make the Iron Man chestplate available to everyone who had a heart condition" or "Invent suits that would enable all people to walk" aren't we a little lost?

edited-Matt handled it better than me I think. Missed his post

Heck Reed Richards mind alone would have come up with all sorts of things.

As far as Tony Stark ad the rest of the Marvel sci-guys inventing things to make the world a better place ...

There was a time when a writer could just do a throw-away scene like Tony hanging out at some event where Stark International was giving away high-tech wheelchairs or money for the homeless or some other such thing. Then he's called away to fight The Procupine or The Mandarin. It wouldn't be a Big Deal, either; the charity stuff would just be there, because Tony Stark (and Reed Richards, and Hank Pym and the rest) were good guys.  Not just super-heroes, but really good guys.

I haven't read Iron Man in ages, but the guy I used to read about would be the type of character who would do that (and did on occasion).  That doesn't mean these guys were without flaw, but it does mean that they were heroic in costume and out.

Me: Yes, it is a stunt, but they go with the territory.

Matt:  So you're saying we really have no place to complain?  We should basically just shut up and deal, huh?

*****

Me:  Care to tell me who in fandom knew it was a two issue gag at that time before the Internet?

JB:  No one knew. But more importantly, no one wanted to know. We were simply content to be swept along by whatever the folk at Marvel (and DC) threw out for our entertainment. We were not so riddled with ennui that we greeted each new development with a feigned yawn and a moan of Well, we know this isn't going to last!
*****

I am not trying to suggest we shouldn’t complain.  Heck, I will champion people rights to bitch for the rest of my life.  But I guess I still love being swept along by the things thrown out for my entertainment and look forward to seeing where it goes.  This new outfit could last for two months it could last for six or a year or several.  We don’t know.  Yet, so many people complain because of one picture or a preview page for solicitation without even reading the story.  It sometimes feels like a majority of the people who complain haven’t even been reading Spider-Man for years.