natasha steve and bucky were all made into weapons in one way or another but natasha and bucky didn't have a choice and steve's change was quick. tony turned himself into a weapon as a punishment for himself. that's what it was. the iron man suit was made because he realized that he'd made so many people suffer and he was going to make himself suffer in return, and it took years of work and self-experimentation and it hurt and somewhere along the line he forgot that he deserves kindness too
I have been made aware of the fact that 616 tony has a suit that's designed to scan and copy his brain while he's fighting in it and if he dies in the suit it is programmed to keep fighting with his corpse in it