I brought this up with my friends who's basically a walking comics encyclopedia. He says that Tony embodies technological progress; for instance he's the only 'superhero' (understood widely here) that habitually changes his looks as the suit progresses. Morally, the comics verse has pitted Steve and Tony against each other as well, and apparently more so recently. Where Steve has been the moral integrity and quit over what he felt was wrong while Tony has shown the corruption of power and ends justifying extreme means.

So yeah, just going slightly rambly in your comments because I find this very interesting :-)