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Austin Cover

Mrs. Harnden

English 12

04 March 19

Iron Byronics

Tony Stark also known as Iron Man, is a controversial hero. Regardless of your view on

the billionaire, genius, former playboy, and philanthropist, Iron Man is definitely a Byronic hero.

His traits as a Byronic hero are always extremely present in the films. A Byronic hero is

classified as intelligent, attractive, and an outcast with distaste for social norms.

Intelligence is one of the main characteristics of a Byronic hero. Tony Stark easily

connects to this description in many ways. In the first Iron Man film he is taken as a prisoner by

a terrorist group and forced to make extreme weaponry. Instead of honoring their commands he

uses the scrap metal to build an armored suit to escape his captors. Also, upon returning to the

United States, Tony is able to redefine the suit with major modifications including an onboard

computer system he names JARVIS. The way he is able to design a rocket thruster propelled suit

of armor equipped with heavy weaponry shows his true intelligence.

Additionally, Tony Stark is described as attractive and good with women. Multiple times

throughout the movie series he can be seen flirting with many different women and using his

charm to enchant various women. His ability to attract women is directly correlated with his

appearance as well as charm and he knows it. This is related to a Byronic hero as one of their

characteristics is their attractiveness and ability to communicate smoothly with the ladies.
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Lasty, playing by the rules isn’t exactly how Byronic heros roll. Thus making Tony Stark

the epitome of a Byronic hero. The way Iron Man uses his weaponry to upend evil is one of the

reasons many people may feel as though he is not a real hero. However, it infact cements his role

as a Byronic hero. In the first Iron Man film, Tony Stark himself describes how he doesn’t play

well with others. He always has his own waying of doing things, like many other Byronic heros.

In conclusion, Tony Stark or Iron Man is without a doubt a prime example of a Byronic

hero. Which is demonstrated multiple times throughout the movie series. His Byronic tendencies

are made apparent with his intelligence, attractiveness, and his outcast like behaviours.