Slandering Tony Stark
The Mandarin and Tony Stark have battled repeatedly, but Mandarin can’t seem to defeat the bajillionaire. His new attacks are focused less on brute strength and more on destroying Stark’s public image.
Mandarin is a pretty clever dude. He and Iron Man have been at each other’s throats for years, and Mandarin is known as Stark’s greatest enemy, but thus far, Stark has always come out ahead. Now he’s taking a different approach: to tarnish Iron Man’s public image.
A recap for those not up-to-date:
government officials are asking for readings from his suit to see what his blood-alcohol content was
Iron Man is in a bit of a pickle. During the Fear Itself arc, he fell of the wagon in Asgard. This story leaked to the media, and government officials are asking for readings from his suit to see what his blood-alcohol content was. Then, the Daily Bugle came out with a photo of him getting owned and looking drunk. PR nightmare.
On top of this, Stark Towers is a pile of rubble, what with Thing having gone bananas on it (metaphor!) and Pepper Potts is in trouble with the Board of Stark Industries for crying in the Rescue Suit in her office. Their question, “how do you think this makes the company look?” sums up the theme: perception is everything.
Writer Matt Fraction has been doing a superb job of playing with the public perception of his hero and how important it is. With Tony under investigation, he isn’t the consummate hero. People won’t assume he’s doing the right thing, or that he’s sober. Being a superhero can be problematic when that happens.
This is a similar conundrum to the Civil War crisis. When the public outcry comes, so does the government to help the frightened masses. Since the Iron Man suit is a weapon of the US government, they could simply take away his right to pilot it. And also, while he’s fighting the accusations (though some are accurate), he isn’t fighting super villains.
Again, Mandarin’s a smart cookie.
Knowing that he’s going to get whooped in straight combat with Stark, Mandarin is using slander instead of force to cripple his foe. It’s similar to political rivals, and judging by the degree of mudslinging each election year, it’s a solid tactic.
Will Tony be able to juggle the media with Mandarin, alcoholism with the American government, his adversaries with alliteration? If anyone can, it’s Tony.