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In Iron Man 3, we've seen dozens of Iron Man suits, "House Party Protocol". In Avengers: Age of Ultron, he designed the "Ultron" project, which in turn led to the production of thousands of Ultron drones, almost as powerful as Iron Man suits.

He provided an armoured suit for War Machine, but not for the other Avengers.

He designed a special suit for Spiderman, but not for the others.

So Tony doesn't share his suits with others much, I understand.

A lot of suits and drones were blown apart in beautiful fireworks in the previous films, but it's easy for Tony to make a thousand more.

So why can't Tony bring in his army of drones/suits to help his team win in Captain America: Civil War?

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    Ultron was the result of an attempt to build his Iron Legion and an AI to run them. It appears that with the scrapping of the Ultron program, he also abandoned the Iron Legion, which did not appear at all in Civil War.
    – phantom42
    May 10, 2016 at 22:39

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But why can't Tony bring in his army of drones/suits to help his team win in Captain America: Civil War?

During the Civil War movie, Tony is very emotionally unstable and critical of his own faults and mistakes in the past. He is cautious to a fault with his own strengths during the majority of this film.

If you were paying attention, Tony Stark mentions how he destroyed all of his other suits after the Ultron problem. His own suits being used against him and others due to a rogue AI has made him extra cautious. It would seem he only keeps one suit now, and only uses it himself when necessary.

War Machine had this suit before Civil War, and before Age of Ultron, so it makes sense for him to still have it, it's his now, not Tony's.

As for Spidey, there's nothing amazing about the costume he has made. As far as we can tell it's not a technologically advanced suit, it's just a nice costume for him to wear. Undoubtedly made of premium materials, but nothing special going on otherwise.

I think in the end we're seeing a Tony that has realized, similar to Ant Man, that his technology in the wrong hands could make the world a very dangerous place, so he's starting to mature a bit and playing it safe.

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    I would say that Tony did provide some technology to Spidey's suit. He no longer needed the goggles and could blink. I am sure we will learn more about his eyes in the next Avengers movie.
    – Iron Man
    May 11, 2016 at 0:11
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    It may not be as technologically advanced as, say, Iron Man's suit, but Spider-Man's suit does have special eyes given he tells Tony he wears those hideous goggles to help manage his spider sense abilities. When the eyes of his costume change size you can hear a mechanical whir.
    – MattD
    May 11, 2016 at 1:12
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    Out of universe, the mechanical eyes are likely to give Spider-Man some facial expression without him having to have his mask ripped off every freakin' film.
    – John Sensebe
    May 11, 2016 at 15:41
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    Tony says that he destroyed the suits, after Iron Man 3/AIM because he was retiring to make Pepper happy but had to rebuild them to fight Hydra after Winter Soldier because of Steve and then Ultron. He was explaining why Pepper left him, and why he wants the Accords. It had nothing to do with hindsight or his suits being used against him.
    – cde
    May 31, 2016 at 7:22
  • And the second post credit scene clearly shows that Tony placed multiple technological upgrades for Spidey's suit. During the movie, the most obvious was the camera lens sounding eyes. They were mechanical.
    – cde
    May 31, 2016 at 7:23
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Tony is trying to cut back. At the end of Iron Man 3, he tries to retire, Because thats what Pepper Wants. But as he says to Steve in Civil War, the need to clean up the Shield/Hydra mess left after Winter Soldier, followed up by the Ultron issue in Age of Ultron, he creates more. He only creates a handful of Iron Legion (Five I think). And it backfires. And he tries to retire again, leaving the avengers in Capt's hands. But the issue in the Lagos, Nigeria bombing draws him back in.

He wants the Accords because it would allow him the middle ground between being Iron Man, which he is incapable of giving up, and giving Pepper what she wants, Him safe.

For him to create more would be to give up Pepper. Tony does not want to give up Pepper. This, and regretting what happens when his tech is abused, are the primary motivating factors for Tony in the film.

He also doesn't have the time to create more. Start to finish, Civil War happens in days. Stark is given 36 hours to bring Team Cap in. He is able to fabricate a new suit for Under-roos as it is light on technology (Spider-Man is superhuman and doesn't need much), but new suits take time to build. Like, 3 days at least (The timeline before the Avengers movie was called Nick Fury's big week. Tony does some miracle work in a few days).

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Tony states he cannot trust others with his Iron-Man suits, which was his intention in one of the previous Iron-Man films (I can't remember which one).

All the prototype suits were destroyed prior to the beginning of events in Civil War.

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    All of the Iron Man movies revolve around that plot. 1 had Mark 1 and Obadiah/Iron Monger, 2 had Venko and the drones, and the US senator/army, 3 had the Iron Patriot, etc.
    – cde
    May 31, 2016 at 7:26
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Tony had just finished encouraging everyone to sign the Sokovia Accords, which, in essence, give the UN the power to dictate what the Avengers do. The various world governments have been exceedingly nervous about all of the Avengers, including a congressional hearing about Tony's (at the time, only) suit. I therefore disagree that "it would be easy" for Tony to create a thousand more suits. I find it more likely that the UN would forbid Tony from creating any more of these weapons of mass destruction than he already has.

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  • Tony does what he wants to, not what he needs to. If he wanted, he could and he would build an army of robots.
    – NVZ
    May 11, 2016 at 15:35
  • Did you watch the movie? The entire point of Tony's arc throughout the movie was that he no longer feels qualified to do whatever he wants, that he needs oversight from someone. That was his entire reasoning for signing the Accords and trying to convince everyone else to as well.
    – Paul L
    May 11, 2016 at 15:36
  • I did watch. Fair point. :)
    – NVZ
    May 11, 2016 at 15:38
  • "Tony does what he wants to, not what he needs to." -NVZ I agree that this was Tony at one time, but as I mentioned in my answer, we are seeing him mature past that point in this movie. He is doubting himself as he begins to see the vast, unintended consequences of his actions.
    – DeHaan
    May 11, 2016 at 16:48

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