The Day Tony Stark Gaslighted Nick Fury??

Look, we all know that I'm not the biggest fan of retcons, particularly retcons that tinker too much with classic origin stories from 50 years ago.

But a) this came to me in a dream (seriously), so clearly someone went to a great deal of trouble to make this inception happen; and b) there's a pretty good chance that it will result in Tony Stark getting his ass kicked. So let's roll with it, eh?

We start with Civil War: Front Line #11 (a.k.a. The Worst Comic Book EVER). Intrepid "reporters" Sally Floyd and Ben Urich are "interviewing" Tony Stark about his side's victory in the Civil War, and revealing that they know about some of the under-handed stuff Stark had been doing:

Of course, Floyd and Urich approve of Stark's goals and manipulations, so they promise to sit on the information. World's best reporters!! (BTW, whatever happened to those criminal controlling nanites?!?)

But most importantly, note the modus operandi--Tony Stark knows heroes will be reluctant to follow the "right" path, and so he stages a false crisis--hell, he nearly sets off a false war with Atlantis--to rally everyone to his cause.

So, looking at it with from that perspective, perhaps we should take another look waaaaaay back,  to Strange Tales #135 (1965), the story that introduced S.H.I.E.L.D. to the Marvel Universe. Tony Stark is trying to convince Nick Fury to leas the organization...

So Fury is reluctant...until:

Good questions, Nick...

Wow. Looked at from the perspective of what we know Future Tony is capable of, this reads a bit differently eh? I mean...a "hidden" bomb with an obvious visible wire? The most elementary security checks not made beforehand? A "crisis" that convinces Fury to follow Stark's plan for him?

Seriously, Stark himself planted that bomb (or allowed Hydra to plant it) as his plan to convince Fury to head S.H.I.E.L.D.!!! It's obvious now, right?? This was just a precursor to what he did during the Civil War!!

This is why they don't allow me to write comic books.