aggravating | Flood Ramblings

To work out the changes in Tony for the Flood:

Howard, first and foremost, is getting marginalized in Tony's life. He was still there, obviously, but the fact that he was cold, unfeeling, and just generally a bad father to Tony didn't matter anymore. As such, Tony never experienced the drive to prove himself to his father. To work to get noticed, get praised. And when he didn't get that, the bitterness never settled in. Because Tony just didn't care.

Life progressed, for him, at a relatively normal pace. He's still smart - scarily so - and he still graduated MIT at 17, if just because the work was easy. He was forced into inventing and he enjoys it, but he doesn't have that same maddening drive to keep at it. He invents when the fancy strikes, and doesn't do much else for the company for the first twenty years of his life.

What he did do was act the total playboy, spoiled son. Wine women and song was pretty much his motto. So things weren't too different in that regard. The part where things really change is when Howard dies. Tony's twenty, and just doesn't care. He shows up at his father's funeral drunk - for his mother - but otherwise with two women in evening gowns at his side, giggling and otherwise making a total ass of himself.

The media never forgives him for that.

Obadiah steps up, instead. He becomes CEO and Tony never takes it from him. Obie's unchallenged, and Tony - playboy, drunken Tony - just isn't a threat anymore. He's the guy that makes the weapons, who comes up with ideas to make them better, if just because he is a genius when he's not drunk off his ass. Which, quite honestly, is a lot more than usual. Tony doesn't have the drive to work instead of drink. Sure, he invents on occasion, but even that's a rarity. More often than not he just checks calculations, makes adjustments on plans. He refines more than invents.

Instead, he's just the name of the company. The last Stark left. He goes to events, he's a major shareholder, but he's not on the board. He's just the name and the face, the public image. He goes to parties, he sleeps with women, he makes guest appearances in commercials for his products. He's a glorified spokesperson, and he's fine with that. Because he really, really likes drinking and sleeping around. But since he doesn't spend his time in the lab, inventing and forgetting to eat and sleep for days, he's not as fit as he used to be. He's no slouch, but he's no human powerhouse, either. More than that, though, he's a complete alcoholic. And not for any emotional reasons. He drinks because its there. Because he's rich and famous and his company gains publicity - doesn't matter bad or good - every time he gets a DUI.

Now, to the biggest changes in Tony.

The most obvious? Obie doesn't consider him a threat. So while he went to the weapons demo in Afghanistan, he also came home from it. He was never kidnapped, he never had his moment of realization. He just went from party to party to party.

Also, because he's never been CEO, he's never met Pepper, and barely knows Rhodey. Rhodey doesn't work with Tony, he works with Obie. And as such, he doesn't actually have anyone in his life other than Obadiah. And hasn't had them for twenty years. Obadiah is his one true influence. Which is probably why he knows about the company doing underhanded deals and just doesn't care. He knows that wars need to happen for weapons to be produced and needed. He knows that Stark Industries needs the money from both sides to keep growing. He gets selling to other countries besides the USA.

And he just doesn't fucking care.

So here he is, assisting selling weapons to terrorists, not really inventing - hell, he doesn't even have JARVIS - drunk off his ass more often than not, and just generally uncaring about things that don't have to do with him and his dick.

Welcome to the asshole of all assholes, ladies and gentlemen. Tony Stark has, officially, gotten even worse.