Legacy. It's something we all have wondered about. After all, we are all mortal, and there will be a time when we all shuffle off the mortal coil, as they say. Everyone has asked what kind of legacy we will leave behind. Will it be family? Will it be some form of artwork? Superheroes have also asked that question. And for Tony Stark, aka the Invincible Iron Man, he will find that he has left...quite a legacy. You'll see what I mean when we look at Iron Man #280!
The story begins with our man Tony, contemplating his life after the events of Operation: Galactic Storm. He laments the irony of his current situation. He originally built his armor to help keep himself alive after his capture in Siancong all those years ago, but now thanks to the techno-organic parasite he's been infected with by Kearson DeWitt, it's now bringing him closer to death.
His friend James Rhodes feels differently. Yes, Tony is not a good place right now, but he just went through an intergalactic war (again, Operation: Galactic Storm). Most people would be pleased they survived it. Tony disagrees. Why? Because of his new armor.
During that story, he used a new suit of armor specially designed for space travel. However, it also ended up damaging and burning out the life-support system that he wears to keep DeWitt's parasite at bay. It doesn't matter to Tony anyway, as he's just delaying the inevitable. He's a dead man walking.
Rhodes tries to cheer the man up by pointing out that he's not dead yet. Where there is life, there is hope. He can figure a way out. Tony is a brilliant guy, after all. Also, Rhodes doesn't say this, but I want to point out that thanks to his connections with the Avengers, Tony also knows a bunch of other brilliant people. They could also help.
Tony isn't moved. As far as he is concerned, his condition is terminal. He's already dead, he just is waiting to be buried. Unseen by him, he is being observed by an alien race.
Page 8, Panel 4
They press a button, and Tony finds himself zapped into their midst. They start bowing before him like he's some sort of god.
Overwhelmed by his illness and presumably this sight, Tony then blacks out.
Some time later, Tony wakes up and finds himself in some sort of medbay.
Page 13, Panel 1
"Anybody got some Jello? I like Jello."
The alien cyborgs welcome Stark to the 28th century.
They didn't just bring Tony here to socialize, although that would be so funny if that was the case. You see, they need his help. Tony wonders why they can't call any other science expert. But they called Tony for one reason: He is their God.
Yes, these aliens are called "The Stark". They are from the 1990s Guardians of the Galaxy series, which is set in the far future of an alternate Marvel Universe called Earth-691 (although at the time, this wasn't established yet). On this Earth, the Martians from H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds attacked Earth in the early 20th century, conquering the planet and ending that Earth's Age of Marvels. That Earth's Tony Stark launched his armor technology into space to prevent the Martians from getting their tentacles on it. The craft containing his armors landed on an alien planet. And it was inhabited.
Page 15, Panels 1-2
"Guys, I am keeping this head!"
These seemingly primitive beings turned out to be smarter than expected. They were able to figure out these armors and quickly became an advanced society. Since then, a secret caste of the Stark known as the Programmers had come about to help guide development. Despite this, the Stark ravaged their homeworld, destroyed its environment, leaving it in ruins with war and infertility. Stark wonders if he is responsible for this horror, but the Programmer says he didn't fail them, they failed him. It was their own greed, their own power lust that caused this. They hope Tony can help, as he is a deity to them.
This shocks Tony to the core. He's a dead man walking, yet this alien race sees him as a savior. He can't help himself, but they expect him to help them? He still feels a need to try, though. I think it's because he mainly blames himself for what the Stark have become. He gets to work, pushing himself to the limit and beyond trying to build and design systems to help these folks repair their world.
One day, a group of barbarians attack.
Page 21, Panel 2
"CANDYGRAM!"
One of the Programmers gets Stark back to the time machine they used to bring him here. After all, it was believed at the time that the future of Earth-691 was the future of Earth-616. The barbarians make their way to the time machine, but Stark has a plan.
He makes a proclamation.
Page 23, Panel 4
"Join with us, and you'll get free pizza!"
The leader is enraged, thinking Tony is a false idol. The Programmer sends Tony back, saying that those barbarians may have destroyed any hope for their world, they will not get to commit deicide. Tony is brought back to his timeline, only seemingly milliseconds after he was taken. He doesn't remember his time with the Stark, thanks to time travel shenanigans. Something seems to have stuck in his subconscious, as he rants to Rhodes that "it mustn't happen here". The story ends with Tony collapsing in front of his old friend.
I enjoyed this comic. The story is a simple one, with your basic environmental Aesop: Take care of the planet, as it's the only one we got. The comic really shows one of the big hallmarks of Tony Stark's character: his tendency to blame himself for things and run himself ragged trying to make things right. It's the crux of the earlier Armor Wars storyline, for example. It's perfectly in character for him to try and help the Stark, even though what they did to their planet was not his fault. He did not force them to adopt his technology, see him as a deity, or ravage their planet.
If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2008 trade paperback Iron Man: War Machine. It also is found in the 2020 trade paperback Iron Man Epic Collection Vol. 17: War Machine. Thanks for reading this blog entry!
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