"It is 12:00 am on August 10, 2020- as of this moment I am eighteen fucking years old and you don't fucking own me anymore Tony Stark. I, Peter Benjamin Stark, out of sound body and fucking mind, under absolutely no coercion and out of my complete freaking own will, hereby forfeit my role as heir to Stark Industries, my right to my trust fund, and anything else I was set to fucking inherit from Tony fucking Stark. [Beat] I am leaving and I am never fucking coming back, don't expect to hear from me again."
— Peter Benjamin Stark, "Chapter 2: Going, Going, Gone
"
"On the day of Peter Benjamin Stark's 18th birthday, he posts a livestream proclamation to his family, friends and the rest of the world that he is formally emancipating himself of his family ties and legacy.
Legacy is a Marvel Cinematic Universe fanfic written by DocSuess can be read on Archive of Our Own here.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: While Peter had always behaved himself and kept out of the way, Tony only ever showed affection to him for PR reasons and would otherwise pretend he didn't exist.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- In canon, Tony Stark is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who's fast-talk and hedonism hides a troubled man burdened with his family legacy, his aloofness towards Peter built around a fear that he could get hurt. Here he is a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk who treats Peter like a burden.
- While Howard Stark was implied to be aloof and judgemental to Tony in canon, here Tony recalls him being a physically violent alcoholic to him and his mother and considers his own neglectfulness to Peter a step-up.
- Blood-Splattered Innocents: Chapter 5 opens with Peter — having just experienced his Uncle Ben's death — covered in blood. Naturally, Tony doesn't notice the stain in his clothes or the panic-attack waiting to happen.
- Broken Base: In-Universe; while a majority of people end up siding with Peter after he releases the video, there's also a number of people who denounce it and try to defend Tony.
- Composite Character: Harley Keener is an alias MJ assigns Peter when they disguise him for their date.
- Defector from Decadence: Peter denouncing his inheritance as the heir of Stark Industries and ends up applying his engineering skills as a mechanic in Queens.
- Disneyland Dad: Tony thinks that he gave Peter "everything", and while Peter was wealthy as a Stark, he was completely starved for affection.
- Everybody Has Standards:
- Since Peter released his video, Stark Industry's stock plummets like crazy, the idea that the face of their company being an Abusive Parent being a worse image than when he shut down their weapons program.
- Rhodey, Happy and Pepper all turn on Tony when they see how cold and callous he is in regards to Peter.
- Family of Choice: The Defenders end up becoming this for Peter.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: It's revealed that Howard was physically abusive and judgemental to Tony and his mother, so Tony thinks that he was leagues better by giving Peter his space and that Peter is ungrateful for denouncing him. Unfortunately for him, the story (and everyone in it) has none of it, treating Tony's Parental Neglect as just a different form of abusive parenting.
- Hidden Depths: MJ manages to beat Peter and the Defenders in poker.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal: Peter's goodbye video addressed to Tony (and free to view to the entire world) was made to keep Tony from getting away with his terrible parenting.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite the wildly different life Peter has had compared to his canon counterpart, he still gets bitten by a spider and gets superpowers from it.
- Like Brother and Sister: Jessica Jones considers herself Peter's "honorary older sister/wine aunt."
- Like Father, Like Son: Tony and Peter's relationship sounds a lot like Tony's relationship with his own father Howard, including the part where Peter spent most of his education out of the way at Boarding School.
- Memetic Mutation: The fanfic is riddled with In-Universe examples based around the rocky personal lives of the Stark Family.
- Men Don't Cry: When Tony sees Peter's video for the first time, all he can think about is how pathetic his face looks with tears on it.'Newsflash Peter,' Tony thought, 'Stark men are made of iron- we are not soft.'
- Mentor Archetype: Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil, ends up becoming Spider-Man's fighting teacher.
- Meta Guy: As typical of Wade, he tends to Break the Fourth Wall at his leisure.Peter: How'd you guys find me? I didn't tell y'all where I've been working.
Wade: Well, the author really wanted a scene with me in it because she forgot about me at your party. - Never My Fault: When confronted after Peter's video, Tony denies culpability for Peter's resentment towards him and treating it like the tantrum of a Spoiled Brat, this being The Last Straw for Pepper.
- Parental Neglect: Tony and Peter's relationship as father and son is virtually non-existent. While Tony and Peter are only ever seen together in convenient PR-related activities like galas and charities, he has his company provide for any of the "personal stuff", with multiple mentions that Tony doesn't even know when Peter's birthday is.
- Related in the Adaptation:
- While Peter and Tony's relationship skirted just shy of "surrogate father/surrogate son" in canon, here this is literally the case.
- MJ Watson is Nick Fury's daughter.
- Scrapbook Story: While most of the fic is traditionally written, it's also full of social media posts, meme pictures and news articles that add to the Worldbuilding.
