Iron Man. Love him or hate him, we all know he's coming back to the Big Screen next year... but what's happening to armor clad hero in the comics nowadays? I'll bring you guys up to speed with what I know so far, and trust me, Tony Stark's life isn't all fun and games now.
As one of the most iconic heroes in the Marvel Universe, The Invincible Iron Man has endured a lot of pain and sadness in his life that many would have considered torture to go through. He's fought the good fight for the sake of humanity as a armored adventurer, and used his genius and intellect to construct powerful suits of armor to aid him in his crusade. That power, however, came at a price, and he's always been forced to make decisions that compromised his beliefs and friendships over the years. Recent events have led him to do what many readers would see as "The Ultimate Sacrifice", but will his actions be the death of him? It sure looks that way with the way writer Matt Fraction is handling things.
With the ongoing storyline World's Most Wanted, Iron Man's life has turned upside down. If there was any way to describe Tony Stark today, the word "Pitiful" comes to mind. In the last few years of his superhero career, he's literally become a man who had everything... and then nothing. Rising to the top of the hill as a figurehead of the Super Hero Registration Act during Civil War, IM won the fight and became Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, changing the landscape of the Marvel Universe and dividing the superhero community altogether.
His actions indirectly led to the death of Captain America, his long time comrade and fellow member of the Avengers. While he continued to promote peace and goodwill through registration, he failed to intercept a secret invasion by the alien Skrull race that quickly took him and the world by surprise. With the help of his fellow heroes, Stark managed to turn the tide and win back Earth, yet he was still held accountable for his mistakes. He literally fell down in disgrace when he was booted out and replaced by Norman Osborn after being blamed for not intercepting the alien threat right away. Not wanting his tech and data ending up in the wrong hands, Stark uploaded the SHRA database into his mind, and had the other remaining copies infected with a virus, much to Norman's chagrin. With the assistance of Pepper Potts and Maria Hill, he makes a run from the organization he led once, now reformatted and renamed as H.A.M.M.E.R.
Adding to Tony's problems is he's systematically deleting the information he has stored in his brain, which is in turn affecting his intelligence and causing him to downgrade his armor... until he eventually becomes a far cry of his brilliant self. In short, Tony Stark was a made man... and now he's a wanted fugitive, trying to evade Osborn and his H.A.M.M.E.R. agents every step of the way.
Now, all that Tony has done has come crumbling down. In a sense, karma has come back to bite him so hard that he will barely get out of his predicament alive. While the storyline has a few more issues to go before it ends, we're already previewing the next chapter in what could be the end of Iron Man as we know him. Stark: Disassembled will chronicle what happens to Tony after the events of World's Most Wanted... and will he ever be the same again? Time will tell. For now, that cover from Marvel.com looks mighty familiar... An ironic reverse of what Tony did before everything hit rock bottom.
2 comments:
Interesting read, as always. I never expected Iron Man's swan dive into oblivion to be this drastic, though. The new cover's awesome, too.
My first reaction, upon seeing that cover:
"Tony Stark of Earth... RISE!"
Somebody *needs* to design a Black Lantern Iron Man armor, if it hasn't been done yet.
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