In Iron Man #18, Tony Stark admits to the true cost of being the Armored Avenger, and reveals that his heroic activities have really been killing him.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Iron Man #18, available now from Marvel Comics.
Tony Stark has been many things over the course of his life, but his most recent transformation into a cosmic god has easily been the worst of them all. After being confronted by those closest to him, Tony massacred everyone except for Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat. Even after watching him kill the people he cares about, Patsy is still somehow willing to help walk Tony back from the edge and get to the root of his problems. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that Tony’s worst enemy is his own alter-ego, and Iron Man has been helping guide him towards destruction from the very beginning.
Standing among the bodies of those whose lives he took, Tony Stark is left utterly speechless until Patsy Walker draws both of them into his mindscape. There the two are able to talk about everything that has driven Tony to where he is now. As revealed in Iron Man #18 (by Christopher Cantwell, Lan Medina, Frank D’Armata, and VC’s Joe Caramagna), it wasn’t just the threat of Korvac that pushed the armored hero to become a superpowered tyrant. In truth, Tony has been in danger of crossing the line more times than he has previously been able to admit, all because of his desire to make the world a better place by any means necessary. All of the self-loathing that Tony has dealt with fueled his heroic endeavors in the hopes that becoming something better would give him the chance to leave behind the parts of himself that he hates the most.
Unfortunately, this only led to Tony Stark and Iron Man being two semi-separate, unsuccessfully compartmentalized personas. While the latter rose to prominence, the former was neglected nearly to death. Before long, Tony’s vices and addictions began affecting his actions as Iron Man, not to mention his judgment, creating near irrevocable riffs between him and his fellow heroes. These same inherent issues also destroyed many of Tony’s personal relationships outside of those built on his career as Iron Man, making him even more desperate to fix things. The fact that Stark is able to recognize this self-destructive cycle is undoubtedly a sign of at least some potential for growth, but his inability to come to terms with his demons may make that a moot point in the worst way possible.
After bringing back the people he killed and giving up the Power Cosmic that made him an Iron God, Tony goes even further by foregoing any sense of his former alter-ego. When Tony is mugged in the park, he gives up without a fight, as he does when he slips back into withdrawal. Previously, the Iron Man armor had helped Tony survive a life-threatening injury, but self-medicating proved to be just another gateway to addiction. No matter how much good he does for himself or others thanks to his alter-ego, Tony Stark is stuck alternating between two extremes that both come with severe consequences.
Assuming Tony survives the situation he currently faces, he will likely find himself forced to confront the part of himself that he has been thus far unable to reconcile. If he fails to do so, it will only be a matter of time before Iron Man ultimately kills him one way or another.
Considering how close to the brink Tony Stark has come, the only other option left would be to give up being Iron Man entirely, although that might be just as much of a death sentence. With any luck, it won’t come to that, and Stark will be able to come out of all of this better than he has been in a very long time.
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