Justin Hammer Revealed Iron Man’s Big Weakness (That Other Villains Missed)

Tony Stark faced several bad guys throughout his stint as Iron Man in the MCU, but only Justin Hammer recognized his biggest weakness and used it against him. Iron Man 2 may not be one of the best Marvel Studios offerings as its plot was convoluted and focused more on building the franchise than developing its story. Regardless, it had some great moments and smart elements, one of which was the introduction of Tony Stark’s rival, Justin Hammer of Hammer Industries.

By the time Iron Man met his death in Avengers: Endgame, it had been 15 years in-universe since he assumed the superhero persona. Throughout his stint, he met both loyal allies and dangerous foes along the way. Aside from Thanos, arguably a darker mirror of himself, he had a couple of other memorable personal adversaries such as Aldrich Killian from Iron Man 3 as well as his own foster father figure, Obadiah Stane, who tried to kill Tony and steal Stark Industries from him. There’s also Hammer, who may have appeared in the worst film from the Iron Man trilogy, but was arguably the best solo villain for the hero, not just because he was fun to watch, but also because he understood Tony so well that he knew his pain points.

While Thanos was Iron Man’s arch-nemesis in the MCU, having been traumatized by the threat the alien posed long before he debuted in Avengers: Infinity War, it was Hammer who was the most dangerous to Stark personally. Unlike all the other villains Tony faced during his stint in the franchise, it was only Hammer who knew that to be able to really defeat him, one must go after Tony’s legacy and reputation — something that Stark had been obsessed with for a long time. Hammer blatantly said this to Ivan Vanko as he propositioned them to work together against Iron Man: “You just don’t go and kill the guy… you go after his legacy, that’s what you kill.” This fits well with Iron Man 2‘s narrative which dealt with the idea of legacy in general with both Ivan and Tony processing their respective fathers’ life works. What’s more interesting here is that Hammer wasn’t even the primary bad guy of Iron Man 2; he had to share the limelight with Whiplash, but considering his understanding of Tony Stark, he could’ve easily been the movie’s only villain.

Hammer’s threat was more dangerous to Tony Stark. Most of Iron Man’s personal villains wanted to simply get rid of him, but killing him during n physical encounter would only strengthen the idea that Iron Man is a hero, which was what he had been striving for since realizing the error of his ways in the first Iron Man. He wanted to revitalize his image and he wasn’t exactly worried about dying if that meant that people’s negative perception of him changed. By going after his legacy, Hammer could’ve turned the public against Tony which would’ve been a far worse problem than fighting an extraterrestrial villain or a demi-god. It’s the reason his Ultron mistake in Avengers: Age of Ultron really hit a raw nerve with Tony as people of Sokovia saw him as a villain and he couldn’t live with himself knowing that.

In hindsight, Tony would’ve been just like Hammer had he not had his life-changing experience in Afghanistan that resulted in his epiphany to do good in the world and atone for his past mistakes. Both were charming billionaires who made most of their money by supplying weapons of war. It would’ve been great to see more of their rivalry in Iron Man 2, even if simply because it was so much fun to see them riling each other up. It’s too late for that now given Tony’s death in Endgame, but Marvel Studios can still bring back Justin Hammer and make him a villain of Armor Wars. If anything, it would even better fit his previous agenda as the show will likely be a fight over preserving Iron Man‘s legacy.

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