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← Head back
Overanalyzing Anime
Blog Owner & Lead Writer
Left bruised and battered after suffering a devastating loss at the hand of Mallen, Tony find himself left with only one option; fighting fire(breathing) with fire by injecting himself with the Extremis Serum. But, in his weakened state, can he survive the process?
Hitting the halfway mark in this arc, this issue quickly puts an end to the battle between Tony and Mallen, with Tony left in critical condition. Even the power of Tony’s ultimate attack, the Unibeam, earned no more than an, “ow” from Mallen after knocking him to the ground. In fact, it was very reminiscent of the MCU’s Iron Man during his final battle against Thanos in “Avengers: Infinity War,” wherein the most he could do was garner a “drop of blood” from the mad Titan; which, for the record, was more than he managed to do to Mallen during this confrontation.
Something interesting about Tony is that, in this chapter, he seemed a lot more lively than we had seen him in the previous three issues. While sullen and apathetic in the previous issues, Tony was far more charismatic for the entirety of this issue. It could be the fact that he was high on painkillers, but I believe it has more to do with the fact that, while inside the Iron Man suit, he is a different person. He speaks of the pilot of the Iron Man suit as, “not being like you and me,” and while that might be to keep up the facade, I think there’s a bit of truth to it. Tony Stark, at least the version of him in this comic, is very different than the man in the suit. If we go back to the first issue, Tony is depicted as not even wanting to look at his own reflection, however, in that same issue, he bursts into joyous laughter as he takes off in the Iron Man suit. Wearing the suit brings out another side of him that we don’t get to see when he doesn’t have it on - so, I suppose it makes sense that, since he was (sort of) wearing the suit for the entirety of the issue, he acted very different from what we’ve seen of him so far. For the record, I enjoy this version of Tony much more - he’s funny and charismatic and far more resembled the version of him we see in the films; one who can switch from comical to introspective effortlessly. Hopefully we see more of this version going forward.
Now, the idea of Tony taking the Extremis Serum is interesting as we really have no idea how he will react to it. While one could assume that he will handle it better than Mallen, but is that really saying much? Almost anyone would handle it better than Mallen, given his fragile mental state prior to taking the serum. Tony may not be as crazed as Mallen, but it’s not as though Tony isn’t without his fair share of emotional/psychological damage. The story has made it clear that, despite all his success, Tony isn’t without his share of character flaws which, if amplified by the serum, could become potentially dangerous.
Lastly, I want to touch on the moment between Mallen and the angsty young woman who had the misfortune of crossing his path. The conversation between them started off relatively normal and, for a moment, it seemed as though the two characters were on the same page as they bonded over not fitting into the framework of modern day society. The young woman, with her dark hair and clothes, and he “vocabulary of more than ten words,” seemed to resonate with Mallen as he claimed to also be, “different” when he was around her age. However, things quickly took a turn as he praised groups like the Ku Klux Klan and claimed that he was going to use his powers to save the world from its current sociological trajectory. Things then took an even darker turn as he ripped her head off - again, super brutal - after she claimed that he was, “as bad as,” everyone else. It was nice to get a little more insight on Mallen’s motives but this latest development - that he’s essentially a racist - is somewhat disappointing. It takes away some of depth of the character because, in my opinion, a racist madman with super powers just isn’t very exciting. While it’s clear that he’s meant to be more of a plot device than a legitimate villain, I still wish there was more to him than this.
In the next issue of “Extremis” we’ll likely find out whether or not the Serum proved to be as successful for Tony as it was for Mallen. Look for a review for issue #5 soon!
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