by K. L., San Jose
Role models are people who others look up to. They are those who can inspire others. Iron Man is a character from the Marvel Universe. He is a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist who is the CEO of Stark Industries. He has 270 IQ, being one of the smartest Marvel characters of all time. Even though he has many positive qualities, he can also be arrogant, selfish, and impulsive but he works on those things to improve. Despite these bad traits, Iron Man is a good role model because he changes for the better, learns from his mistakes, and he overcomes challenges.
Iron Man is a good role model because he changes a lot for the better. In Age of Ultron, Iron Man decides to create a being who could protect the entire world, despite the protests of his friends. After seeing the damage his creation, Ultron, did to the planet, he sees how his arrogance in thinking he could save the world by himself almost caused its downfall. After this event, Tony starts to become less arrogant and selfish, beginning to open up to being in a team instead of flying solo. This shows how Iron Man is a good role model because he can change for the better.
Iron Man is also a good role model because he learns from his mistakes. After being attacked by the Ten Rings organization with his own weapons, he realizes how dangerous his weapons are, and when he returns to his company, he decides to stop the weapons program of Stark Industries, even though that would be catastrophic for his company. This is an event showcasing Tony’s abilities to learn from his mistakes. When Iron Man learns from his mistakes, he is demonstrating that being a good role model means admitting when you are wrong.
Iron Man overcomes challenges. For example, His Mark 2 armor had a failure when he went into space, which caused his armor to freeze. To overcome this challenge, Iron Man used gold-titanium alloy in his suit, which makes him an excellent role model. Later in The Avengers, he is seen flying into space with a nuclear bomb to defeat the alien invaders; this shows that he fixed the error and saved the world from an alien invasion. This shows how he overcame a challenge to become a good role model.
Ironic Man, a fictional character, was my pick for being a role model because he was the first thing that popped into my head for my biannual assessment essay. But, now that I think of it, he is a pretty good role model, except it is unrealistic to put a fictional character as a role model without an explanation. If you put a fictional character as a role model, you should focus on the personality part, more than the super-powered god that saved the world. I think that Iron Man’s personality is originally greedy and arrogant, but after many changing events, he becomes a great person. This shows that Iron Man is a great role model.