Tony Stark, since his introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Iron man, has done nothing but try to make his world a better place. On the surface he comes across as chauvinistic and arrogant but that is the stereotypical response to having “daddy issues.”

In the comics, Stark nurses his depression with alcoholism. Having spent his entire life never quite measuring up to his stoic father, Stark adopted an egocentric, pseudo personality masking his low self esteem.

“He was cold, calculating, never told me he loved me, never even told me he liked me“…“You’re talking about a man whose happiest day of his life was shipping me off to boarding school,” Stark said about his father.

Steve Rogers’s thought that Stark was the type of person who cut corners. He saw Stark as the the weapons contract that he had worked so hard to dismantle.

“…The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.”

In “Age of Ultron”, Bruce and Stark worked to create the ultimate protection measure. They called their creation Ultron. The artificial intelligence program misinterpreted the program to protect the world and instead sought to destroy it.  Stark took the blame for it so as to deflect from . He saddled all of the blame for that event so that his friend wouldn’t have to.

In “Captain America Civil War” all of the consequences of Ultron came to the surface. The United Nations decided that they could no longer let the Avengers go unchecked. The socovia accords were made to have these powered individuals sign themselves over to the government’s control or to retire.

“In the past four years, you’ve operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That’s an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate,” Secretary of State General Ross.

Stark recognizes that the Avengers cannot be trusted to freely make decisions on their own, and he chooses to leave it up to the government, and effectively the people.

Rogers was particularly arrogant throughout “Civil War”. He trusted himself more than he trusted the United Nations to protect the people. The United Nations is made up of the most influential countries in the world and the Captain Rogers thinks that he, having no real credentials, unless you count selling war bonds and becoming all buff, is better suited to protect the people.

“I know we’re not perfect, but the safest hands are still our own,” Rogers said.

In addition to this, Roger lied to Stark about the murder of his parents. This resulted in an all out brawl with Rogers, Stark, and Bucky Barnes (aka the Winter Soldier).

During the fight sequence in, Rogers smashed his shield down on the Iron Man suit’s arc reactor. Stark immediately shot his hands up in defense of his exposed neck. He thought for a moment, that Rogers, his friend, was going to kill him. And yet he was still regarded as a villain in the movie.

Bucky Barnes was forced into killing his friend. He killed the Starks brutally. Haunted by it or not, can you really blame Ironman for retaliating in his grief?

“He’s my friend,” Rogers said about Barnes.

“So was I,” Stark said.

Time and time again, Stark has tried to improve the world around him. He tried to stomp out corruption, save the world and atone for his sins. He is selfless and more honorable than frenemy Captain America. He is a hero.