okay but when i first watched this scene, i kinda wondered why tony only said 2 words. like “you’re alright” that’s it. even after he clung to him and started to cry tony didn’t say a word.
but then we learned that tom improvised that scene. So that was probably RDJ’s reaction. I don’t think he was expecting Tom to start crying to fall into his arms like that. Hearing him like that probably really fucked up RDj even if they were only filming. So that look on his face was probably RDJ dreading what Tom was about to do. Because he was going to make it incredibly painful.
The first thing a parent says to a kid when they are hurt or scared or sick is “You’re all right”. When your toddler falls, the first words out of your mouth “You’re all right” and this is before you even know if they’re injured. It’s probably more to reassure ourselves than our child. But the instinct is to say “You’re okay”. RDJ is a dad. The first thing he’d say if one of his kids said something was wrong would be “You’re all right”. It’s what parents do. So, it’s natural that he’d bring that to this scene if they’re improvising. It’s where he would have gone as a dad in real life. For the rest of the scene, he’d be speechless. In complete shock. There are no words. And he’ll probably berate himself later for not reassuring Peter. He couldn’t do it, though. Peter’s dying AND apologizing for dying and Tony, who fixes world problems on a regular basis, couldn’t help. And that is devastating on such a level. There are no words for him to speak. Even after, he’s just silent.