The Steve/Tony Multiverse Ship Manifesto & the Cap-IM Slashy Moments List

[cap_ironman_mod]

Last year we celebrated 10 Years of Steve/Tony. So far this year, we celebrated the 10 year anniversary of the cap_ironman community and next month it'll be time to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A lot of time has passed, a lot of fans have shared their love for the Steve/Tony ship with us and put in work to share the love for this ship.

In July, it will be ten years since elspethdixon posted her Captain America/Iron Man (Marvel Comics) Ship Manifesto in the ship_manifesto community on Livejournal: an essay and overview of the Steve/Tony ship that aided the start of our fandom and the still active Steve/Tony community.

Ten Years Later

Much has transpired during those ten year in Marvel Comics canon, the Marvel multiverse, and in the Steve/Tony fandom. But not least of all, the MCU has given shippers an accessible and immensely popular Steve/Tony universe, and brought in so many new members to our community in the past decade. Just look at all the brilliant Steve/Tony moments everyone voted on during our Best of Steve/Tony 2018 votes.

Steve/Tony and the Marvel multiverse go hand-in-hand. And that's why it is time to for the community to come together to continue on the legacy of the Steve/Tony Ship Manifesto, and help create the...

The Steve/Tony Multiverse Ship Manifesto

What is a Ship Manifesto?

To quote the original ship_manifesto community, a ship manifesto is a "a public declaration of fannish love for a particular pairing or ship". The idea was to provide "readers with a detailed listing of pairings, insight into the characters behind the pairings, and contextual understanding of what makes the pairing work" and "provide newcomers with a starting point for further exploration."

People signed up to write detailed essays of 1500 to 5000 words to give people unfamiliar with ship a good reason to check it out and fall in love!


What is the goal of this post?

The goal of this post is to give the Steve/Tony ship an updated ship manifesto, one that not only acts as a sequel to the original essay — we don't want to reiterate the original essay, we want to expand on it and branch out into the different Marvel universes we have come to enjoy. A new place to point newcomers who may want to learn about the multiverse versions they're unfamiliar with, a place that answers the question "Why do Steve and Tony belong together?" and a place for an ongoing discussion about the ongoing canon versions and the fandom.

To achieve our goal, we want to explore the following points for versions of Steve/Tony across the multiverse:

• Small character studies that allow the uninitiated reader to get to know the characters and understand who they are.


• Canon or subtext evidence for why Steve and Tony work as a pairing.


• Your own interpretation of the pairing and why you ship them.


• Some background information on how you became involved with the fandom, and why you were first attracted to the pairing.


• Meta/insight into why the reader should be following Steve/Tony.


• Short fandom/universe guide (information on how to get into the canon, fanwork recs, useful sites etc.; resources that will help a newbie find their way around fandom and the Steve/Tony ship)

To make it a ship manifesto for everyone, we want to crowdsource and discuss everyone's thoughts on Steve/Tony. Everyone's shippy view of the pairing is welcome, everyone can share their opinion. (Please, remain positive and be nice to each other! You don't need to hate on other characters or ships to justify your love for Steve/Tony!)

This post will remain open indefinitely, so that shippers old and new can come back here in the future and talk about new developments and give new fans a chance to see Steve/Tony fandom as it progresses. By next year, we'll archive everyone's thoughts, meta, and links into a new community Steve/Tony ship manifesto index.

Please promote the post. We want to have diverse viewpoints and opinions!


How do I help and join the discussion?

The mods will make top level comments with a subject line that indicates what part of the multiverse the thread will be for. You can comment there with your thoughts on all or some of the points listed above.

If you want to write an essay and post it in your own space, please do so and leave a link to it here on the post so that everyone can find it. Please indicate that it was written in answer to this post and link back to it, so that new people coming across it will find the main discussion easily. On Tumblr you can use the #capimmanifesto tag. We also encourage you to link to meta you've written previously or existing meta you think is relevant!

If you're new to cap_ironman please read through our community information and posting guidelines before you get started!

The Cap-Iron Man Slashy Moments List

The Cap-Iron Man Slashy Moments List has been curated by different fans and cap_ironman mods over the years and is closely connected to the answer of "Why do you think Steve and Tony are the ship?"

It's currently hosted on the cap-im tumblr blog. The current overview post is here.

After months of discussion, preparation and work, we are now finally going to update the slashy moments list again with about a moment per week starting next week — and usher in the long overdue inclusion of the non-comic multiverses with MCU, animated universes and video game moments, as well as missing comic moments. (Expect us to do some reorganizing of tags and update the index as soon as the anniversary gives us a breather!)

As you're discussing why you love Steve/Tony across the multiverse, please let us know your favorite moments in canon and why you ship them. We'll be reading through everybody's comments and will include any moments we've forgotten as we're updating the Slashy Moments list!

Comments

Questions and General Help

[cap_ironman_mod]

All your QUESTIONS go here!

Re: Questions and General Help

[lady_zm]

Hi Cap-Ironman! If someone would like to write their own essay or manifesto, then what would the due date be to post it? Thanks!

Reminisce: How did you get into the ship? How has the original manifesto helped you?

[cap_ironman_mod]

Tell us when you first read the Captain America/Iron Man (Marvel Comics) Ship Manifesto! Did you find the ship first and then the manifesto? Did the manifesto get you into the ship? Is this the first time you're reading it?

Re: Reminisce: How did you get into the ship? How has the original manifesto helped you?

[laireshi]

I read that part of the manifesto going "Tony Stark hates himself" and went AH YES I WILL LIKE THIS CHARACTER and then I read CW and The Confession and I was lost forever. I did read MCU stevetony fics before that, but I wasn't actively shipping them, I just needed something to pass the time and it was a popular ship with lots of content. So I blame the ship manifesto for destroying my life :P

★★★★★ Amazing content

[erdesque]

Sometime before or around 2010, maybe? I'm reasonably sure I was reading Fullmetal Alchemist at the time and the manga hadn't ended yet. Anyway, I found it by accident. I was more familiar with Steve than I was with Tony (who I believed to be an actual robot at some earlier point in my life), but it piqued my interest, started reading, and by the end I was convinced they had OTP status. I read a fic and loved it, but then I realized I didn't understand much of the canon, didn't really know anyone who wasn't Peter Parker or part of the X-Men, and comics seemed like a difficult world to navigate in general, so I filed this information away and kept reading manga to my heart's content.

I'm not even sure that I saw the first Iron Man movie or The Avengers in their entirety. I do remember seeing CA:TFA eventually, however, and I really liked the movie. Back to The Avengers, I don't remember having any kind of strong reaction, so it probably was on TV or something. I must have paid little to no attention to it, except to the shot of Tony and Pepper at the very end, which seemed a little surprising to me because if Tony had a significant other, shouldn't that be Steve? It turns out he wasn't, so once again, I moved on.

Years later, a friend shared the CA:CW trailer on Twitter, I saw the So was I bit and I was gone, gone. It all came rushing back to me. My friend shipped another ship, but I was like, I don't know, I remember I shipped Steve and Tony in the comics. One thing led to another and this is why I say So was I is the reason I'm here, but now I think about it, the ship manifesto acted like a sleeper agent that became active thanks to the angst. I'll give the manifesto five stars out of five.

Reminisce: Memories of the Slashy Moments

[cap_ironman_mod]

How has the Slashy Moments helped you in the Steve/Tony fandom? Do you revisit it often?

Re: Reminisce: Memories of the Slashy Moments

[spikethemuffin]

TBH, I keep forgetting it exists, and experience Dory-like delight whenever it surfaces...

Manifesto: Steve/Tony through the Multiverse

[cap_ironman_mod]

This is where you can make a manifesto that goes ACROSS ALL UNIVERSES. Tell us why you ship them in any and every universe. Why is their relationship just so good?

Re: Manifesto: Steve/Tony through the Multiverse

[fluffypanda]

One of the reasons I love Steve/Tony so much is because they go so well together across the multiverse and each version of them brings something different to the table, whether that is UST, angst, or fluff.

I really love the tension between them in the MCU and the potential it has to turn into something soft and warm.

I love how obviously in love 616 Steve and Tony are, how sweet they are with each other in the beginning and how tragic the different rifts between them are, especially when it's clear they both still care so much.

I love Ultimates angst, how deeply troubled they both are, but how they grow into caring about and relying on each other.

I love Avengers Assemble for how much Steve and Tony so clearly trust and care for each other, overcoming anything trying to tear them apart.

I love 1872 for giving us a Steve and Tony that have so much chemistry it came through loud and clear in a mere four issues (of canon western au!).

There are so many more great universes they can be shipped in, like Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Marvel Adventures: Avengers, Avengers Academy, Marvel Noir, various animated movies, what-ifs, and one offs from the comics.

There is just something about who Steve and Tony are at their very core that fits together so well. They couldn't be more different, often in ways that work to complement each other. Yet they share this desire to do good, to help where they can, a certain tenacity that lets them keep going even in the face of immeasurable odds.

Re: Manifesto: Steve/Tony through the Multiverse

[spikethemuffin]

I didn't... want to ship Stony. Growing up, I was always an X-men kind of girl, and I kind of resented the Avengers, a bunch of stuffed-shirt grown-ups being corporate in the distance and acting out Real World reality-show drama in spandex... I also didn't like the way people tend to insist that close friendships without the possibility of sex can't exist, or that they somehow can't be deeply meaningful. I'm not ace and have never been, but it feels almost colonizing on the part of the allosexual.

Alas, my purity was unsustainable in the face of that molten, blazing, searing chemistry. Also, the X-men seem like a bunch of teenagers now that I am myself a stuffed-shirt grown-up outside the walls of my academy (although Logan remains that one way-older guy who just... hangs out around teenagers for whatever reason). Funny, that.

Beyond that brilliant fit, there's an inherent yin/ yang thing going on, where they're so very opposite and just exactly the same: Steve has to claw his way to who he is, and Tony has it thrust upon him; Steve's tragic flaws (stiff-necked and unable to understand why people aren't better at following rules) stem from what makes him a superhero, Tony's tragic heroism grows directly from his flaws; they're both anachronisms, but in different directions; Steve was born short of breath and part of gaining powers cured that, Tony was born physically healthy and the thing that gave him powers took that away. Steve was born an angel, fell, and was redeemed; Tony was born human and kind of oscillated between angelic and demonic. Steve's love of the system drove him to rebel against it; Tony's rebel nature forces him to take up authority. & c & c and on and on forever. The only thing they can't deny they have in common is that they can't stop being heroes. Or loving each other.

At this point, I don't even want the ship to become canon. I have this incredible rainbow of infinite possibilities in front of me, each more beautiful than the other (until you count the other way round, and then the other is more beautiful). Take away the prism of the rain, and all you get is one white light. Maybe brilliant, maybe not, but I want to share ALL their adventures and ALL their possibilities.

EDIT FOR A MORE SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE SIMILE AND TO ADD: Not that I would mind watching makeout scenes between RDJ and Chris Evans. Um.

Manifesto: Marvel 616

[cap_ironman_mod]

This is where you can make a manifesto for Marvel 616 Steve/Tony. Tell us why you ship them in this universe and why everybody should!

Re: Manifesto: Marvel 616

[sheron]

I ship them in 616 because honestly the comics make more sense if you assume that Tony is a little bit in love with Cap. He obviously worships the guy, but I like that it never stops Tony from choosing a way that Steve would disagree with. There's just a lot of depth and history there. As for Steve, I think that he always treats Tony as someone very special, and it's easy to believe he's got him on a sort of pedestal where he expects almost superhuman things from him and the tension between that and the way Tony sees himself (not great) is just very interesting to me.

I also like that Tony needs Steve as a kind of North star (he even refers to him that way in canon, I think) to steer him through life. And Steve obviously needs Tony as a partner. They really need each other, they're incomplete without the other and that gets me right in the feels.

Also when I read about Tony in the comics I just want people who love him to give him a hug, and who better than Cap. :)

Re: Manifesto: Marvel 616

[laireshi]

I feel like I should just link to The Confession and The Oath and say "because it's canon, duh" :P

They've got the best unstoppable force/immovable object dynamics, of course, but what I really love is how they bring out both the best and the absolute worst in each other. (Just look at Steve in Hickmanvengers, come on. THE WORLD IS ENDING. FUCK THE WORLD. TONY HURT ME. THAT'S WHAT MATTERS. while of course all of Tony is MUST KEEP STEVE SAFE EVEN IF HE HATES ME FOR IT). The angst, the history, how much they mean to each other, the emotions, how INTENSE they are about each other. All of that and more. I've been writing fics for them for 5 years and I still haven't run out of things to say about them.

Manifesto: Marvel Cinematic Universe

[cap_ironman_mod]

This is where you can make a manifesto for the Marvel Cinematic Universe Steve/Tony. Tell us why you ship them in this universe and why everybody should!

Re: Manifesto: Marvel Cinematic Universe

[sheron]

I ship them in MCU because their relationship and confrontation has such a romantic tinge to it. There's a lot of putting people on the pedestal and a lot of very unspoken feelings and tension that's just roiling under the surface.

I also really like that Tony often responds to Steve on a purely emotional level. A good example of it is that time when he tells Steve he doesn't deserve to carry the shield, it's him trying to hurt Steve as much as Steve has hurt him, and that's not logical, it's a purely emotional outburst. A lot of their side-glances at each other, the way Tony actually listens to Steve's "together" speech in AoU, the way he looks at Steve when Steve talks about whether they're all monsters, all these moments of Tony paying 100% attention to what Steve is saying is unlike anything we see him do with anyone else, and I like that.

As for Steve, I don't think we ever see him as upset and disappointed as he looks in the final confrontation in CW, and I don't think I remember him ever tearing up about anything since he woke up in this century, so seeing him near tears there was a big punch in the gut and what tipped me over from friendship to shipping them. Because I could finally see him having a well of unspoken (very tender) feelings there in a way I hadn't completely seen before.

Re: Manifesto: Marvel Cinematic Universe

[laireshi]

I have kind of a personal ship manifesto for their MCU versions. I'm a 616 person first and foremost, but then CACW happened to me and yeah, two years later and the feels are still strong.

Re: Manifesto: Marvel Cinematic Universe

[ridley160]

That trailer from Civil War got to me, Tony's expression and response to Steve telling Tony that he's sorry but Bucky is his friend and Tony's simple. "So was I." I loved their dynamic, starting out on rocky territory with each other upon first meeting, and then growing to admire and respect each other.

There are just so many telling moments between the two of them. Tony doesn't let people tell him what to do, he is notoriously argumentative with authority figures. He doesn't let just anyone play the boss of him. We see Tony openly admit that Steve is the boss, the leader of the team. That coming from Tony is him showing his respect for an individual. We only see Tony do this with Pepper. Additionally he does back down from Senator Ross, but only because he knew what was at stake and being stubborn wouldn't have helped the situation. His main worry was getting Steve back and getting on Ross' good side was the only way to ensure that Tony himself would be allowed to do so.

We also all know, Clint's little quip to his wife when she states that their guests would have to double up, implies that Tony and Steve were gonna have to bunk together. A shame that it was never confirmed, that could have been for a good moment.

The ending of Civil War shows that Steve genuinely cares about Tony. Of all the people that Steve could have written that letter to, of all the people to give that phone to he chose Tony. Yes it could be argued he wanted it in the hands of someone who could rally the Avengers, but the letter held deeper meaning than just that. He states specifically. "If you need me." Steve could have sent that phone to Sharon seeing as she had helped him in getting to Bucky, she never doubted him from the very beginning. All in all it would have made sense for him to write to her, but Steve contacts Tony instead and ensures that there is way that Tony can reach him.

Re: Manifesto: Marvel Cinematic Universe

[fluffypanda]

Overall, their relationship in the MCU is really nuanced, with RDJ and CEvan's acting giving us so much to read into.

Right off the bat, there is so much between them with Steve's connection to Tony's father and Tony's less than stellar relationship with him, made more complex but the admiration Tony has for Captain America. Despite the friction between them, they worked together so well, both to repair the helicarrier and to fight off the chitauri. Then there was that smile at the end of Avengers, when Steve tells Tony they won, Steve looks so happy to see Tony alive.

Then in Age of Ultron? In Tony's vision of the Avengers dying, he focuses on Steve and he just looks so distraught. Steve is so upset with Tony during the log splitting scene, he was actually hurt that Tony didn't tell him about Ultron. Then at the end of the movie they are almost playful with each other, leading up to Steve's "I will miss you" line.

Then you get to Captain America: Civil War and the two of them say so much to each other with just their eyes. Tony's trying to hard to keep the team together, to stay on the same side as Steve. And Steve's obvious relief when Tony shows up in Siberia to help him? Everything gets angsty from there with Tony taking Steve keeping the truth of his parent's death from him as a betrayal and it just hurts so good. The letter though, it was one of the worst apology letters I've ever heard, but it makes it so clear that Steve cares and wants to repair his relationship with Tony and Tony shows signs of wanting to repair that relationship too.

Manifesto: Avengers Assemble

[cap_ironman_mod]

This is where you can make a manifesto for Steve/Tony in the Avengers Assemble cartoon universe. Tell us why you ship them in this universe and why everybody should!

Avengers Assemble: Slashy Moments Compilation

[faite]

When season three was airing, I compiled an 'episode guide' of all Steve/Tony moments in Avengers Assemble! It's currently not up to to date, and heavily editorialized with my own biases, but I do think it's fairly thorough up to s3e21. Hopefully this could be of some use to people who are looking for specific scenes or trying to remember certain episodes!

Avengers Assemble: SteveTony Episode Guide

Maybe we can compile a more coherent and even more thorough list of moments through the manifesto? I'd love to see other people's compilations or comments if they think I've forgotten anything major from the early seasons!

Manifesto: Avengers Academy

[cap_ironman_mod]

This is where you can make a manifesto for AvAc Steve/Tony. Tell us why you ship them in this universe and why everybody should!

AvAc Steve/Tony & Canon Conversations, a.k.a. they're totally into each other

[faite]

Avengers Assemble makes many nods to Steve/Tony shippers, with the game acknowledging the fandom (Tony telling Steve: "What if I told you there's a bunch of stuff online about how you and me would be a perfect couple?") or canon and fanon tropes (Tony Stark being a Captain America fanboy with wanting to dress up like Cap during Halloween or JARVIS making him Capcakes — Cap pancakes), or by writing Steve and Tonly flirting with each other (Tony calling Steve "absurdly good-looking" or being fixated on his biceps.)

You can argue that everybody in the game flirts with each other, and they do to some extent, but since the game is so focused on Captain America and Iron Man being the two "leaders" of the Academy that our fandom is blessed with gratuitous and frequent moments between them!

I have a sideblog where I reblog or post AvAc screencaps and try to tag all the Steve/Tony moments, but I think it'd be great if we could pull up individual conversations and compile them into a neat list!

Manifesto: Marvel Ultimates

[cap_ironman_mod]

This is where you can make a manifesto for Marvel Ults Steve/Tony. Tell us why you ship them in this universe and why everybody should!

Re: Manifesto: Marvel Ultimates

[laireshi]

While not exactly a ship manifesto, I have a post on how and why you should read Ults. I'm a giant shipper so I ship every stevetony in every universe and I feel Ults has these overall dynamics rather than single moments? (Then again, President Cap and Tony in a matching armour, mm).

Manifesto: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

[cap_ironman_mod]

This is where you can make a manifesto for A:EMH cartoon Steve/Tony. Tell us why you ship them in this universe and why everybody should!

Re: Manifesto: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

[navaan]

I just remembered that this essay by tabru exists: The Slashers’ Guide to Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes!.

Manifesto: Marvel Noir

[cap_ironman_mod]

This is where you can make a manifesto for Marvel Noir Tony and his Steve that he never canonically met. Tell us why you ship them in this universe and why everybody should!

Re: Manifesto: Marvel Noir

[fluffypanda]

So, why should you ship Steve and Tony in a universe where it's not even clear that Steve exists? Because why not?

But really, there is so much potential with this Tony. To start off, he'd be a contemporary of most versions of Steve, perhaps a bit older than him. He's an adventurer, a celebrity, a special agent for Nick Fury just before WWII, all potential connections to Steve. It's fun to think of Tony meeting Steve on an adventure, or through secret military operations. What if Steve read Tony's magazine? He could be a fan!

Noir Steve could be any version of Steve you want, pre-serum, post-serum, 616, MCU, whatever. It's easy to imagine him getting entangled with Tony's adventurous life.

Manifesto: Marvel 1872

[cap_ironman_mod]

This is where you can make a manifesto for 1872 Steve/Tony. Tell us why you ship them in this universe and why everybody should!

Manifesto: Other universes

[cap_ironman_mod]

You want to make a ship manifesto for a verse that doesn't have a top level comment yet? Answer to this comment and change your comment subject line to "Other Universes: UNIVERSENAME".