WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Iron Man #7 by Christopher Cantwell, Cafu, Frank D’armata, and VC’s Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
Tony Stark just can’t seem to catch a break, other than his broken neck. Even with the help of some of his closest allies, Iron Man has found himself beaten and broken to the point that merely taking off his armor would be a death sentence. No amount of clever planning has proven useful in the fight against Korvac, the Avengers-level threat who has only been growing stronger and stronger.
With few options left and time running out, Tony has decided to fall back on the tried and true tactic of brute force, and he is pushing himself and his armor well beyond the breaking point.in Iron Man #7.
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After Korvac broke his neck, Tony finally realized just how in over his head he really is, especially since Korvac has god-level cosmic powers and a cadre of Stark’s old foes under his control. Korvac isn’t the only one who is working with a team, but Tony’s crew of retired, traumatized, and slapstick heroes don’t have much of a fighting chance against the opposition. However, Tony knows that all it will take is one breach in his hull for Korvac to be ripped to shreds, and he amps up his armor by increasing the force o fhis punch from 20,000 newtons to 40,000 newtons and upping the speed of his first strike to 500 miles per hour.
Unfortunately, these upgrades endanger Iron Man as much as they improve his fighting capability.
While begrudgingly making updates to Tony’s armor, James Rhodes discusses with him the dangers posed by cranking things up as high as they are. Doubling the force of Iron Man’s punch sounds like a great idea on paper, but in practice, it means that his body is going to be feeling that force as well. While finding the right weak spot of Korvac could be the key to the energy being’s defeat, the force of hitting Korvac in the wrong spot could easily make Stark’s heart explode.
The Iron Man armor can only do so much to protect Tony from the physical toll that his heroics take on him, which has been on full display throughout the entirety of this series. Even worse, Tony knows it, just as he knows that he has been sliding back into old habits that have rarely worked out well.
As he has admitted numerous times, Tony Stark is an addict with a tenuous grasp on sobriety at that. However, Tony doesn’t just suffer from physical addictions, though. He has also long been known for obsessively tinkering and updating his various armors, pushing them past any previously established limits at every opportunity.
This very instinct that has gotten him in so much trouble in the past has also kept him going when he was at his lowest points, including now. That he is acutely aware of these things speaks volumes to how Tony Stark has grown as a person and a hero over the years. That he is still relying on them after so much time spent behind a metal mask points to just how little regard he has for his own life compared to those he has sworn to protect. And even though he’s about to face one of the most powerful foes the Avengers have ever faced with a fraction of the power he needs, Tony Stark still might be his own worst enemy.
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