History TearJerker / IronMan

** Iron Man 167. Tony's coming apart at the seams, still vulnerable from Bethany's departure, and facing attacks on all sides from Obadiah Stane's machinations. He's not sleeping and struggling to stay sober. At his lowest point, he goes to his new girlfriend Indries Moomji for comfort..[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech who tells him off in the most brutal fashion possible.]] Indries was really working for Stane, toying with Tony's heart in order to break it. It works, and Tony takes a long, hard swig from the bottle Obadiah mockingly sent him.

* The World's Most Wanted arc by Creator/MattFraction has Tony destroying all of his armories and deleting his memories from his brain, in order to keep his secrets and the Superhuman Registration Database out of Norman Osborn's hands. As he's flying across the world, he's losing his cognitive abilities, similar to an Alzheimer's patient. While he's deteriorating, he spends one last night with Pepper, and finally sleeps with her. Pepper tearfully thanks Tony for everything he's done for her, Rhodey, and her late husband Happy Hogan. Tony asks, "Who's Happy". Even knowing he'd get better, this troper was literally in tears.

* There are many, many tear jerkers in Denny O'Neil and Luke McDonnel's early 80's run, when Tony Stark falls off the wagon hard. Rarely has a creative team had a superhero descend so deeply into despair.

![[ComicBook/IronMan}} Comics]]:

!!Tear Jerkers for [[{{ComicBook/Iron Man}} the comic]]:

!!Tear Jerkers for [[{{Film/Iron Man}} the movies]]:
* When talking about Yinsen's family, Yinsen asks if Tony has anyone to return home to. Tony silently indicates the negative. Yinsen marvels that Tony is a man who has [[LonelyAtTheTop everything, yet nothing]].
* "[[spoiler: My family is dead.]] I'm going to see them now... ''Don't waste your life, Stark...''"
* When, after Tony's escape from the terrorists, Rhodey finds Tony in the desert and they hug. "Next time you ride with me, all right?"
* The press conference Tony held after getting back from Afghanistan when he first talks about Howard Stark about never saying a proper goodbye when he passed away.
* "I shouldn't be alive, unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know...what I have to do...and I know in my heart, it's right."
* Tony, not long after discovering that Obie has screwed him over, blasts apart pretty much every glass surface in the room after seeing his reflection in one of them.
* The message Howard Stark left for Tony at the end of the Stark Expo film. [[spoiler:"[[WellDoneSonGuy What is and always will be my greatest creation...is you.]]."]]
** The whole speech is one huge tear jerker.
** Everything... Is Achievable... Through technology.
* [[NotSoStoic Ivan]] [[SkywardScream crying]] [[DueToTheDead in the corner]] for his dying father.
** The opening scene can really hit home for people who have had to take care of their dying parent and that itself is another tearjerker.
** Subtle BilingualBonus with Ivan at the start of the scene. Anton calls his name a few times. Ivan ignores him. Anton uses Ivan's diminutive name (the one more associated with his youth), Vanya. Ivan pays attention.
* A [[FridgeLogic fridge]] tear jerker from ''2'' when Tony is in his suit, munching on a donut, sitting in a giant donut, wearing shades. Although this scene is [[PlayedForLaughs played for laughs]], when you subtract the amusing background music used in the scene and the inherently funny nature of [[ItMakesSenseInContext Iron Man sitting in a donut]], this is a really depressing scene.[[spoiler: He had just gotten into a fight with Rhodey, whose response was to take his Mark II suit to the Air Force, trashing both their friendship and Tony's desire to keep his tech private. His palladium poisoning was getting critical, leaving him with mere days to live (less than 72 hours, according to the tie-in comics), especially if he kept on accelerating it by using his armor. And after an attempted night of over-the-top partying was crashed by his best friend, Tony was so desperate to spend the last days of his life enjoying himself in new ways that he was reduced to sitting there on top of a donut store while wearing his armor, and eating some donuts. Good thing Nick Fury showed up.]]
** The fight between [[spoiler: Rhodey and Tony]]. It's pretty badass at first, but then they start talking to each other. Take it from each end. [[spoiler: Rhodey is desperately trying to save his friend from self-destruction, while Tony is coping (terribly) with the certainty of his death]].
!!Tear Jerkers for the Marvel Anime: Iron Man:

** It makes [[spoiler:Yinsen's ''second'' death all the more heartwrenching]].

* [[spoiler:"[[WellDoneSonGuy What is and always will be my greatest creation...is you.]]."]]

* Subtle BilingualBonus with Ivan at the start of the scene. Anton calls his name a few times. Ivan ignores him. Anton uses Ivan's diminutive name (the one more associated with his youth), Vanya. Ivan pays attention.
* A [[FridgeLogic fridge]] tear jerker from ''2'' when Tony is in his suit, munching on a donut, sitting in a giant donut, wearing shades. Although this scene is [[PlayedForLaughs played for laughs]], when you subtract the amusing background music used in the scene and the inherently funny nature of [[ItMakesSenseInContext Iron Man sitting in a donut]], this is a really depressing scene.[[spoiler: He had just gotten into a fight with Rhodey, who in response had taken his Mark II suit to the Air Force, trashing both their friendship and Tony's desire to keep his tech private. His palladium poisoning was getting critical, with possibly mere days for him to live (less than 72 hours, according to the tie-in comics), especially if he kept on accelerating it by using his armor. And after an attempted night of over-the-top partying was crashed by his best friend, Tony was so desperate to spend the last days of his life enjoying himself in new ways that he was reduced to sitting there on top of a donut store while wearing his armor, and eating some donuts. Good thing Nick Fury showed up.]]

* The message Howard Stark left for Tony at the end of the Stark Expo film.

* Maria Hill's backstory, as revealed in Invincible Iron Man. Her mother died either during or shortly after her birth, her father hated her for it, and she grew up with everyone telling her that she was terrible, from her childhood, to being kicked out of high school, to when she was in the Marines, to when Fury was yelling at her. On top of this, she's shown being treated badly by the SHIElD agents around her, with one saying "so long, sweet cheeks" and her narration says that she can't resist slapping back once more. Is it any surprise that Maria's first instinct is usually to attack people?

* When, after Tony's escape from the terrorists, Rhodey finds Tony in the desert and they hug. "How was the fun-vee? Next time you ride with me, all right?"

* When Rhodey finds Tony in the desert after his escape and they hug. "How was the fun-vee? Next time you ride with me, all right?"

* When Rhodey finds Tony in the desert after his escape. "How was the fun-vee? Next time you ride with me, all right?"

* Tony discovering [[spoiler:Yinsen is alive, but has gone completely insane.]]

* The message Howard Stark left for Tony at the end of the Stark Expo film.

* [[spoiler:"[[WellDoneSonGuy My greatest creation... was you, Tony]]."]]

* A [[FridgeLogic fridge]] tear jerker from ''2'' when Tony is in his suit, munching on a donut, sitting in a giant donut, wearing shades. Although this scene is [[PlayedForLaughs played for laughs]], when you subtract the amusing background music used in the scene and the inherently funny nature of [[ItMakesSenseInContext Iron Man sitting in a donut]], this is a really depressing scene.[[spoiler: He had just gotten into a fight with Rhodey, who in response had taken his Mark II suit to the Air Force, trashing both their friendship and Tony's desire to keep his tech private. His palladium poisoning was getting critical, with possibly mere days for him to live, especially if he kept on accelerating it by using his armor. And after an attempted night of over-the-top partying was crashed by his best friend, Tony was so desperate to spend the last days of his life enjoying himself in new ways that he was reduced to sitting there on top of a donut store while wearing his armor, and eating some donuts. Good thing Nick Fury showed up.]]

* A [[FridgeLogic fridge]] tear jerker from ''2'' when Tony is in his suit, munching on a donut, sitting in a giant donut, wearing shades. Although this scene is [[PlayedForLaughs played for laughs]], when you subtract the amusing background music used in the scene and the inherently funny nature of [[ItMakesSenseInContext Iron Man sitting in a donut]], this is a really depressing scene.[[spoiler: He had just gotten into a fight with Rhodey, who in response had taken his Mark II suit to the Air Force, trashing both their friendship and Tony's desire to keep his tech private. His palladium poisoning was getting critical, with possibly mere days for him to live, especially if he kept on accelerating it by using his armor. And after an attempted night of over-the-top partying was crashed by his best friend, Tony was so desperate to spend the last days of his life enjoying himself in new ways that he was reduced to sitting there on top of a donut store while wearing his armor, and eating some donuts. Good thing Nick Fury showed up.]]

* The press conference Tony held after getting back from Afghanistan when he first talks about Howard Stark.

* "I'm going to see my family now... ''Don't waste your life, Stark...''"