If this is unsuited to Fan Town because it's less of general fan thing and more of a 'I'm unsure of my reading of this character' thing, feel free to tell me so I can ask a mod to move it somewhere more appropriate UnU So, I am doing an extensive character analysis of Tony Stark in the movies and I specifically noticed one line in particular, at the end of Iron Man 2, where Tony reads his assessment by Natasha about his suitedness to the Avengers Initiative. The assessment claims 'Compulsive Behavior' (yes), 'Self-destructive tendencies (oh boy YES) and 'Textbook Narcissism' (actually....?) to which Tony answers with explaining away the first two and agreeing to the third. Now my question is, to folks who know more about this, does Tony (during the events of the second movie) actually depict symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder? Because if I hear 'Textbook Narcissism' I imagine the textbook they mean would be psychological in nature and probably one of the DSM's. I don't actually see him doing the things I've seen shown as characteristic for npd by people more knowledgeable in psychology than me by far, but I am unsure? tl;dr: I guess my question for the nice people in this forum is: Tony Stark is definitly narcissistic in the popular usage of the word, but does he qualify for NPD in the 2nd movie of the Iron Man trilogy?
List of symptoms to qualify for NPD. He needs five: http://psychcentral.com/disorders/narcissistic-personality-disorder-symptoms/ Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements) I think Tony does have a grandiose sense of self-importance. However, I don't think he exaggerates achievements or wants to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements. I think he rightly considers himself one of the smartest men on the planet. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love I don't really see that in the second Iron Man film. Later ofcourse he gets the ideas for world peace and such, but that's not in the second movie. Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions) Don't really see this. Requires excessive admiration Yes, I think that might be true, but I am again unsure. Has a very strong sense of entitlement, e.g., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations I think this could fit. Is exploitative of others, e.g., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends He does that sometime,s but I don't think he does it enough to qualify. Mostly he also gives things back. Lacks empathy, e.g., is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others I think he is unconcerned with the feelings of others, but not necessarily unwilling to recognize the feelings. I think he mostly doesn't care. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her Believes others are envious of him, definitely. Regularly shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes Oh yeah. I think he might show five of these behaviours, but honestly, I would probably not diagnose him with NPD based on Iron Man 2. Remember, for something to be a disorder, he or his surroundings have to have a problem with his behaviour.
see this one I am pretty sure comes up in the second film already. His opening speech at Stark Expo has him talking about how he is the one responsible for the months of undisturbed peace and how Uncle Sam may now kick back in a lounge chair with an Iced Tea because, and I quote, "I haven't come across anyone who is mad enough to go toe to toe with me on my best day!" also he literally says in the hearing with the Senator "But I did you a great favor, I privatized world peace!" though I am unsure if he isn't halfway convinced at that point in time that he already ACHIEVED world peace, which ties into other symptoms. Pepper and her strawberry allergy, which he forgot. I mean in his defense he legitemately acts remorseful about his very inappropriate gift, but he is still very angry when she doesn't immediately accept his apology. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out WHY Pepper is upset with him, either. I don't know I get this feeling that he is not quite emotionally as mature as he should be? If that makes sense? He is very impulsive and reckless and regularly shows confusion at why Pepper or Rhodey are upset with him at hiding things, doing things he wasn't supposed to, getting himself into danger and so on (and prioritizing his robots over human contact, but that's kinda the third movie). But thanks! I think I may just be taking a throw-away line too serious/literal, but it did give me a minor moment of confusion because he seems a little too... reasonable in attitude to be npd? Feels more like deliberately rude eccentric genius billionaire and not really like a narcissist.
I think he is definitely a narcissist if you go by the self-absorbed definition of the word. I guess I don't really see him qualifying for NPD. I can definitely support him not being as emotionally mature as he should be. However, this is explained from his less than stellar childhood. I think his dad emotionally neglected him an then died before Tony had a chance to talk things out with his dad. That's how I understood it at least. Also, the way I understand it, a lot of these personality disorders can stem from childhood problems. Emotional neglect can do a lot of damage.
yyyyyep, father either ignored Tony or shooed him out of his office, then put him into boarding school. With an additional little cherry of it being explained away by the "neglectful father loved their child all along and left them clues to save the world" redemption cliche. Eurghs. I think the damage Howard Stark did to his son is pretty well summed up by how Tony reacts to Harley (a like twelve year old kid) telling him about his own father leaving in IM3: y'know after the movie where Tony was trying to deal with his own father being shit to him and IN the movie where Tony actually opens up to people and talks to them about his emotions and has a severe anxiety attack every few scenes. It's obviously very much a sore topic. Or inconsistent writing. either or.
In which movie did he "successfully privatize world peace", his exact words? ...I am NOT and never will be a Tony Stark fan /full disclosure
You know, I could see him as having NPD actually? But a lot of that is tempered by the fact that he actually is a genius, so he has provable achievements to point to when he's fueling his delusions of grandeur. If we had more of Tony Stark-the-person prior to Iron Man 1, it might be easier to actually tell if he'd fit it more firmly, but we've got all kinds of levels of wartime PTSD layered over it, which muddles it a lot. (That glimpse we get of him in IM3? That definitely is a lot more narcissistic than he is now, and even now he fits the dictionary definition even the DSM definition isn't quite as solid.) That being said, I haven't seen Civil War or Age of Ultron, so I couldn't tell you how bad he gets post IM3.
Beep Boop I handed that particular paper in almost a year ago so before age of ultron and civil war were published s'all good lol
