buckoftheirish:

greatmoustachesploosh:

americachavez: can you imagine if tony called steve or some other white boy “honey bear” or “platypus” or “sourpatch” affectionately and then got drunk and redefined personal space with him on a private jet like this fandom would lose its shit but instead we all sit here like “I just see them as BROTHERS” #DID ANYONE EVEN WATCH IRON MAN 1

I’m reblogging this again because I’ve seen this argument before, and goddamnhella had a fantastic response that I think should be brought back. Since her blog is now deactivated, I’ll do my best to remember it all. You can say what you want about the subtext in a movie, but with the way fandom works on Tumblr, that kind of canon interaction is not enough to create a ship with a large following. For a ship to become popular, it relies primarily on one thing: fanworks. More specifically, fanfiction. Think about it: nearly every ship you’ve ever shipped probably has that One Fic that made everyone go, “okay, I can totally see these two working together.” The Frostiron fandom had Off The Record. Hulkeye has The Room Where The Unloved Go. Steve/Tony has a few, but for me personally, I didn’t even notice the potential for shipping until AFTER I had read Ready Fire Aim. But once the idea was in my head, I was sold. After seeing them work out as a couple in a semi-canon setting, I started seeing moments in the film that indicated that maybe they would be great together in a truly canon setting. For most of the fandom, the reason why we only see Tony and Rhodey as bros is because

we’ve only ever seen them as bros. There’s no majorly popular fanfiction that led people to say “hey, wait, this could work,” thus leading them to create their own fanworks and recommend the ship to friends. Personally, I can definitely see the potential for Tony/Rhodey to be a huge ship. The original post confirms this. And I’m sure there are others out there who would feel the same. But until someone steps up to the plate and writes that fic to sell everyone on the idea, it just won’t take off like the other major ships.