As much as I'm a fan of h/c woobieness (STEVE IS DEAD!), and have written fic where that was meant as a suicide (written right after he set it up, before he started on the trek thing), I really don't think Tony had the least intention of dying at any time during all that. It was a plan, he set it up, initiated it and completed it, knowing the players involved and how it would fall out.
Bucky may have been pissed at him, but he was also Captain America and desperately trying to live up to Steve (I don't think he had any strong feelings about Maria Hill, really). Don's a doctor. Thor, though he said he and Tony would never be friends again, well, just letting him die is a different thing than shunning. Plus Tony said they needed him to defeat Osborn (not technically accurate), which they all really a lot wanted to do. Pepper, who he asked to undergo massive surgery and give up her super powers, hesitated, but helped in the end. As he knew she would.
I really don't see it as a huge risk. Which kind of makes him telling Pepper (and co) that he was going to die for sure kind of a dick move.
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Bucky may have been pissed at him, but he was also Captain America and desperately trying to live up to Steve (I don't think he had any strong feelings about Maria Hill, really). Don's a doctor. Thor, though he said he and Tony would never be friends again, well, just letting him die is a different thing than shunning. Plus Tony said they needed him to defeat Osborn (not technically accurate), which they all really a lot wanted to do. Pepper, who he asked to undergo massive surgery and give up her super powers, hesitated, but helped in the end. As he knew she would.
I really don't see it as a huge risk. Which kind of makes him telling Pepper (and co) that he was going to die for sure kind of a dick move.