“Look Me In The Eye And Tell Me You’re Going To Shut Him Down.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you’re going to shut him down.”

I don’t see much discussion about Fury’s conversation with Tony in Age of Ultron, which I think cements Fury as the closest thing to a positive father figure in Tony’s life. After Fury chews him out for inventing Ultron, he tries to pull Tony out of the lowest point in the movie. So Tony pours all of his regret and fears into the last sympathizing ear left in what I think is a very vulnerable and well-done scene for Tony’s character arc. Tony: You’re not the director of me. Fury: I’m not the director of anybody. I’m just an old man who cares very much about you. Tony: And I’m the man who killed the Avengers.

Tony: I saw it. I didn’t tell the team. How could I? I saw them all dead, Nick. I felt it. The whole world too. Because of me. I wasn’t ready. I didn’t do all I could.

Fury: The Maximoff girl, she’s working you, Stark. Playing on your fear. Tony: I wasn’t tricked, I was shown. Wasn’t a nightmare, it was my legacy. The end of the path I started us on. 

Fury: You come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony. War isn’t one of them.  Tony: I watched my friends die. You’d think that’d be as bad as it gets, right? Nope. It wasn’t the worst part. Fury: The worst part is that you didn’t. 

Fury understands who Tony truly is. He knows where to cut through the evasive bullshit and get to the meat of Tony’s insecurities and foibles, but not to cut him down - to raise him back up. And most of all, he’s an old man that cares very much about him.