Invincible Iron Man #8-24 "World's Most Wanted/Stark Disassembled" Talkback(Spoilers)

[Jin Kazama]

He once held all the cards. Now he's on the run.

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #8-19 (World's Most Wanted)/ #20-24 (Stark: Disassembled)

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WRITER: MATT FRACTION
PENCILS: SALVADOR LARROCA

THE STORY: Once the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony Stark controlled it all. After the Skrull Invasion, S.H.I.E.L.D. is no more. Norman Osborn is now in control, and has made Iron Man the most wanted man in the world. What lengths will Osborn go to in the effort to get his hands on Iron Man, and and what cost will Stark go to keep him from getting what he wants?

Comments?

 

[Jin Kazama]

I wanted to start this talkback is because of how "Stark: Disassembled" ended. Both storylines play directly off of each other, so I made it a joint talkback. But the end of the second arc had some pretty major implications for the Iron Man character. And was the most direct response imaginable to everyone that felt Stark was the "villain" in Civil War, and didn't care for his characterization.

I guess the best way to talk about it, for those who did not read it (hey, it states "Spoilers" ) is to recap what happened here.

While Tony Stark was head of S.H.I.E.L.D., he maintained the Superhuman Registration Act. Where did he keep the files for every single registered superhero? In his computer-like brain. And once Norman Osborn came into power after the end of "Secret Invasion," he wanted those files. To keep this from happening, Stark went on the run, and started a process of, essentially, wiping those files clean. Erasing his mind completely.

But, amid all of the running and issues, it didn't go down exactly as planned. Stark was in a coma, trapped inside his own mind. And with the help of Dr. Strange, was able to free himself, and get back to his former glory.

Well, aside from one glaring problem. In the process of all of this brain altering, Stark lost months of memory. Like, everything from "Civil War" forward. Tony has no memory of his part in the superhero war.

Now, this is pretty dang huge. It resets Iron Man to those who were turned off by his portrayal in "Civil War," while not completely resetting his entire history. A very bold move. Personally, I feel that the stories themselves redeemed him, but for those who just read bullet points, this could be for them. It also sets a way for the "Big Three" to rejoin (Thor especially, since he had the biggest problem with Tony because of his involvement in the war).

And another major thing? They've not addressed it (Heck all of this just happened in Iron Man #24, and that just came out about two weeks ago), and I don't know if ever will, but if Tony's memory is wiped out going back that far, and all of the registration information is post-War, then all of that is gone. It invalidates the entire Civil War. It was fought over Registration, and every registered hero is now anonymous again. The entire slate is wiped clean. Pretty major stuff here.

It was a great story. Both were. But this stuff is a complete game-changer.

 

[TheVileOne]

I hate it and it's a freaking cop out.

I was liking the story up until that. So now Tony doesn't remember all the things he did. So now it basically resets and ABSOLVES Tony because he doesn't have those memories anymore. So now it's like a newer, different Tony that didn't do those things.

I was all for Tony getting reprimanded and grinded down for all of his transgressions. But moving on so now it's like he no longer remembers it is complete bull.

Fraction really lost me with that twist.

 

[KYO'NYUU IMOUTO]

The only way to salvage such a thing would be to focus on Tony having to experience the distrust of those around him. It'd be sort of torturous, really. He'd have no memory of these things, but he lives in a world where he did them and must constantly face that.

 

[TheVileOne]

Jacob how would he not have to face that with still having his memories?

The reason this is terrible because in a kooky way it ABSOLVES Tony of what he's done. THIS Tony doesn't remember doing those things and in a roundabout way did NOT do those things.

Also this means he doesn't remember sleeping with Pepper or Maria either. So now Pepper and Maria both consummated with him before he went brain dead and now he doesn't remember any of it.

 

[KYO'NYUU IMOUTO]

Jacob how would he not have to face that with still having his memories?

The reason this is terrible because in a kooky way it ABSOLVES Tony of what he's done. THIS Tony doesn't remember doing those things and in a roundabout way did NOT do those things.

Also this means he doesn't remember sleeping with Pepper or Maria either. So now Pepper and Maria both consummated with him before he went brain dead and now he doesn't remember any of it.

Well, Marvel could easily sidestep the consequences as they did with Spidey.

Although yeah, this isn't really all that out of order with how Marvel's been acting for the past few years.

 

[TheVileOne]

You mean like the Devil making the MU FORGET about the Spider marriage?

You see all of it still happened. Everyone just FORGOT that it did.

 

[spidl]

I do not exactly like the idea. I thought Tony was right during Civil War, and I do not want him to all of a sudden flip to the other side because of this. I would not mind if past Tony does not completely agree with everything he did, but I would like a scene showing him and Steve talking. At the end of the conversation I want this "new" Tony to say I would still side against you.

 

[Jin Kazama]

I do not exactly like the idea. I thought Tony was right during Civil War, and I do not want him to all of a sudden flip to the other side because of this. I would not mind if past Tony does not completely agree with everything he did, but I would like a scene showing him and Steve talking. At the end of the conversation I want this "new" Tony to say I would still side against you.

That's exactly the thing I'm wondering. It seems like they're just going to make him suddenly think all he did was wrong. But they only wiped out his memory short-term. It wouldn't change how he feels about the entire thing. He may regret that it went down the way it did, but he'd still feel like he was in the right.

Heck, that "Civil War: The Confession" one-shot (which they have to acknowledge as being official, seeing as how they re-did the "Tony over Steve's Body" image with Thor being over Tony for Disassembled) showed that Tony knew this war was coming for some time, just didn't know the specifics. So his feelings on the matter have been there for a while now. He still should feel that he was in the right.