system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[MCU] Captain America and Bucky can be considered peak human, but Tony with the suit should be solidly superhuman. Why wasn't he completely dominating Cap when they fought?
gpt
Iron Man was only trying to kill Bucky, meaning that he used noticably less force against Cap (limited mainly to hand to hand). However, the effort expended by Tony to meet those goals was costly; Cap managed to damage his flight system and Bucky managed to distract Tony at a crucial moment. If IM had tried to kill both of them, he would have had a much easier time. As it was, he had to be careful to micromanage the force he was using moment to moment.


Cap's shield also plays a factor; it is near perfect defense and can be passed around, and it was crucial offense.

Another really big factor is that IM is only, like, 400 lbs. A lot, but light enough that Cap can meaningly kick him off balance.


Further, Iron Man was solidly dominating, really. Cap and Bucky probably hit him fifty times, and he's not really even hurt by the end. If it weren't for the shield breaking the Arc Reactor, then Tony could have kept getting up against and again. Even when Cap started spamming hooks and crosses for several seconds, Tony... what, grunts a little?


Basically, Tony was winning handily through attrition. Every obstacle in his way, he was still winning.