Iron Man #26 - "Rings of the Mandarins, Chapter IV"

[arbre_rieur]

'Then there’s the question of what [late discovery adoptees] do with the anger. There’s a famous book about adoption called “The Primal Wound” by Nancy Newton Verrier, which talks about the idea that there is a primal betrayal at that moment early on and it remains in the person’s psyche. Sometimes that negative emotion is transferred upon the parents who raised them or in some cases on the parents who chose to leave them. The question of how Tony feels is ongoing.' -- Kieron Gillen

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

"I don't know you at all, Do I?" is probably Tony's smartest moment.

also love that Shevaun has pre prepared Elf Contracts. lol

[espanolbot]

Makes sense, considering how in the Marvel UK series had her getting not only screwed over by first her parents' contract with Mephesto (they sold HER soul for power... yeah) and then by Mephesto himself forcing her into a contract to save her life... while still screwing her over.

[tugrul]

I wonder, did Tony read that contract before projecting it? What if Shevaun put more in there than promised? That'd be a laugh.

[mrstatham]

I really don't see the problem with Extremis beyond the fact that it was once used against Tony and rendered him unable to do anything during Secret Invasion because he was that reliant on it. Hell, he basically replaced it with the same thing, post-Siege.

I know they're blatantly telegraphing shades of Arno being a villain, here, but really, Tony not letting other people work with Extremis when it wasn't even HIS project to begin with is exactly the same as the old Reed Richards problem..

[md84]

If it hadn't already been done recently in Superior Spiderman, my guess would be that Arno is going to use Extremis to steal Tony's body and life. But yeah, that would be a bit of a cliche.

Edit:

Alternatively, he's the "unknown" wielder of the Liar ring, disguised by its power.

[ablackraptor]

They unmasked Unknown in the issue after this; I'm not going to spoil it, but that's no longer an issue of guessing.

[md84]

welp, I feel like an idiot now.

[ablackraptor]

Eh, don't worry about it; it only happens in the last page and its not built up much.

[halloweenjack]

If it hadn't already been done recently in Superior Spiderman, my guess would be that Arno is going to use Extremis to steal Tony's body and life.

It would actually be way more apropos for this title, as it's sort of a wetware equivalent of recruiting someone's computer into a botnet using Trojan horses. Sort of.

[ablackraptor]

I think the thing with Extremis is that it makes becoming superhumans TOO easy to be trusted. If Extremis got on the market, anyone from small gangs to crazy malitias to corrupt regimes could make an army of super powerful supermen with powers on par with half the Avengers; its just too much power and potential to leave out there.

Its a lot like he is with his armour, really, so it makes sense, given Tony's reluctance to let anyone but a small group of people use his armour tech without his permission. Its a long established part of his personality that he only trusts himself to use cutting edge stuff like this, and with Maya Hansen now dead, I guess h considers it his responsibility given she reached out to him before she was killed.

[md84]

To be fair, every single time Tony's tech gets out to the public without his say-so, his fears are justified. Turns out most people really can't handle the power that comes with a suit of tank-busting powered armor responsibly.

[ablackraptor]

Well, I didn't say it was wrong of him to be paranoid; I've always liked Tony's sort-hypocritical-yet-justified 'only I can be trusted with this' attitude, its just a neat character flaw.

Extremis really isn't much different in that regard; his first introduction to it was a far-right nutjob trying to assassinate the president so that him and his Militia buddies could lynch minorities without being hassled by 'the man' and nearly killed Tony in battle despite how advanced his suit was at this point; with that much power, its reasonable for him to be concerned about it being out there.

[doodleboy]

I like that it's... a complex relationship for now. He had an interview with Abigail in the previous issue.

Arno is basically using Tony, and in some ways playing at being an older brother. He admits to never really considering Howard and Maria his parents.

At the same time, he's interested in a mutually beneficial relationship. Using Tony's money to invent things and help the world.

Of course unless he's lying about that too.

[starwolf_oakley]

The wildest thing about this story is that Malekith figured out Tony was adopted by *tasting his blood.* So Malekith can learn secrets by tasting people's blood? Can all the Dark Elves do that? That is an awesome and gross power.

[donnblake]

Or he'd tasted Howard and/or Maria's blood at some point, and could tell that they weren't related. Which only raises more questions.

[thanekos]

On the one hand, the Liar's wearer being who it is works (even if it does seem a bit predictable.)

On the other hand, I really wish it'd been the Living Laser, just because.. well, look at him. It would've been a really amusing case of hiding in plain sight.

(Of course, then who it was wouldn't have had the impact that it did..)

[icon_uk]

I've always liked Pratchett's notion that elves loathe iron because the touch of it distorts the background magnetic field they are hypersensitive to and which they use as their primary sense. An elf uses glamour and illusion so vision and hearing are unrealiable, but they always knows exactly where they are in relation to their surroundings, it's part of what gives them their poise, grace and self assurance, and anything which disrupts that is anathema to them.