The God AU
Of Gods and Symbols
Tony Stark has been alive a really long time.
He’s gone by different names in different lifetimes. He’s been known in infamy and fame both. He’s been revered and he’s been reviled.
He’s had lovers who he’s seen from rebirth to rebirth, and who he always always finds again, even if it doesn’t end up like that. The God of War, the God of the Sun, the Goddess of the Moon, the God of Destruction, the God of Healers, the God of Hunting, the God of Dreams, the Goddess of Death. There were others, there were many others, but those were the ones he nearly always saw in his lives.
This time, when he chose to be human, it was because his God of War and his God of the Sun had been taking an exceptionally long time to return to their proper plain and he, God of Rebirth and Fire, well. He was bored and decided to go be human, well, humanish, to figure out what was keeping them.
Tony Stark doesn’t really remember any of this when he’s born to Howard and Maria Stark.
He’d never been very good with the on-off switch between godly power and human frailty, and this time was no real exception. He had quite effectively fucked up, and all he knew was that something was wrong, was missing. So, of course, he fixed that on his human parents and tried to live up to their hopes and dreams, because of course, that’s what the feeling meant.
It didn’t work. It left him restless and dissatisfied and like he still wasn’t doing what he was supposed to be.
So he tried harder. And harder. And harder still.
And then they died, first the Jarvises, then his parents, and his fingers itched in entirely different ways, with a want to do something he didn’t know but wanted badly. In the end, he built instead.
He made his AIs.
They helped, just a little, and as more years passed, and he built JARVIS, that helped more. It felt… right.
He thought it was the building, really, and he threw himself into the formation of his weapons, the culmination of destruction which warmed something deep inside him in a way that other things didn’t, so he reveled in it, in the way he could wrap that reflected destruction around himself and feel soothed in a way he had always been missing.
Yet the title of the Merchant of Death felt… wrong.
He found out why within a week of hearing it. Then again, he could have done without the magnet in his chest. Still, the man who put it there looked mighty stunned when he mentioned that he had died. Twice.
Tony just gave him a wry smile and tried to sort out how to make his powers actually, well go. Making them work in a human body, after all, was always tricky, and he still hadn’t found the gods he’d come hunting for.
He didn’t manage to make the rebirth part work when Yinsen died.
He did when Obadiah betrayed him, for himself at least.
From there it was a series of events that grew progressively more frustrating because poisoning hurt.
And then he found the God of the Sun, who for all he could see remembered jack shit of who and what he was, and felt like a total moron. Of course, the man was fucking Captain America. He hadn’t banked on the others though. He hadn’t expected any of them to follow him, let alone most of them. It left him flummoxed, and he had to wonder which others were down on Earth.
And if even fucking one of them remembered their abilities. Or if it was just him.
Of course, then he met the Hulk, which left the whole thing even further complicated because why were two…?
Still, the whole situation made Thor exceptionally adorable to him, because really. The only ones actually proclaiming they were gods were the only ones in the party who really, really weren’t.
Still. He had to figure out how the hell to get people their memories back because this was just ridiculous. Of course, nothing helped when everyone scattered, and he managed to invoke his abilities for rebirth on Pepper during the Mandarin incident, so at least he finally had those properly under control. Then he set to trying to get to know who and what everyone was like in this life, as these humans, even when they tried to duck and weave.
Obnoxious.
And then the Washington D.C. fiasco reminded him he really should pay more attention to his human affairs. But hey, it looked like the Sun God had found two of the rest of their missing number.
And explained where the fuck the God of War had gotten to.
He seriously, seriously had to figure out how the fuck to knock everyone’s memories back into them though. This was just becoming absurd, and he didn’t feel like having to kill and resurrect everyone to make it happen, damn it.
That was just not something they’d probably take well.
Who is what god in Godlyverse!
Tony Stark: God of Rebirth and Fire. He’s also been known as the God of Blacksmiths, the God of the Forge, the Phoenix God, and the God of Chaos. Clearly, these are not the titles he usually thinks of himself by.
Steve Rogers: God of the Sun. He has also been called the God of Protectors, the Patron Saint of Soldiers, the Earth King, and the God of Order.
Clint Barton: God of Hunters. Also known under the names of the God of Concealment, the God of Silence, the Lost God, and the Demon Protector of Children.
Natasha Romanov: Goddess of the Moon. She has also been known as the All-knowing Goddess, the Mother of Many Faces, the Shadow Maiden, and the Goddess of Delusion.
Bruce Banner: God of Dreams. He’s also been known as the Tranquil Death, the God of Creation, the Patron of Insight, and the God of Wishes.
Hulk: God of Destruction. Other names are the God of Endings, the God of the Forest, the Green Man, and the Summer God.
It should be noted that the Hulk is apparently the only god Tony’s run into who seems to have a clue who he is. Tony is bewildered why he’s sharing space with the God of Dreams though.
Sam Wilson: God of Healers. This particular God is also known as the Patron Saint of Doctors, the God of Flight, the God of Loss, and the God of Good Will.
James Buchanan Barnes: God of War. Other names include the God of Peace, the God of Change, the Winter God, and the God of Fallen Comrades.
Wanda Maximoff: Goddess of Death. Also known as the Goddess of Tranquility, the Goddess of Memories, the Queen of Magic, and the Lady of Vengeance.
Pietro Maximoff: God of Wind. Also known as the God of Messages, the God of Lovers, the King of Vengeance, and the Patron of Daredevils.
Peter Parker: God of Mischief. Also known as the God of Wonder, the God of Art, the Lord of Speed, and the Wrath of Darkness.
James Rhodes: God of the Winds. Also known as the God of Aviators, the God of the North Star, the Lord of Loyalists, and the Patron of Innovation.
Howard Stark: God of Hearth. Also known as the God of Fertility, the Patron Saint of Peace, the Spring God, and the Lord of New Life.
It should be noted that Tony had no idea his chosen ‘human’ parent was a god when he incarnated into this life.
Mind that this only covers people Tony has actually met, and that he can recognize these people the moment he sees them in person, or in some form of live action such as a news feed. He can’t tell from pictures, or from anything time fucked with like the newsreels, which is why he totally failed to know Steve and Bucky were gods until modern times, rather than in his childhood.
Also, he is usually the only one bad at this ‘curling oneself into a mortal shell’ thing, so he’s getting mighty suspicious that some other god is truly fucking with his family.
I add people on request, though in my default verse neither Rhodey nor Pietro are actually gods. However, I am game to apply them vigorously as the inspiration strikes.