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Overanalyzing Anime
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Having injected himself with the Extremis Serum, Tony must fight to survive its devastating side effects. In the meantime, while comatose, Tony recalls his time in captivity with Ho Yinsen - the man who both helped save his life and aided him in the construction of the Mark I Iron Man armor.
This issue serves as a brief overview of Tony Stark’s - or, rather, Iron Man’s - origin story. While, at this point, most people are familiar with Tony and what drove him to become Iron Man, this comic takes place years before the creation of the MCU and was, for some, their introduction to the characters origin. I feel the “Extremis” arc has done a good job of alluding to Tony’s past in the issues that preceded this, but in this issue, they finally go in depth, providing us with the details surrounding what exactly happened after he was captured in Tudor. I really enjoyed the way this story chose to create a parallel between these two incidents - Tony being held captive in the cave, and Tony injecting himself with the Extremis Serum - as it showed us that, in instances where Tony risks everything (i.e. his life) to accomplish something, he gets the job done. However, I must admit that, having seen the MCU’s version of this origin story, this comic seems rather ridiculous in a number of different ways.
Firstly, the design of the armor is a bit much given the materials Tony had at his disposal. The Mark I was supposed to be a conglomeration of scrap metal - something that was hastily put together without his captors discovering what he was actually working on. However, this armor looks akin to something he might have built at home. I hate to compare it to the MCU version in this post (as I plan to do a more in depth comparison later) but the Mark I from the “Iron Man” film fired actual bullets and was equipped with duel flamethrowers. However, this version is able to shoot tiny rockets from the tips of its fingers; not only that, but it was also able to use repulser blasts AND the Uni Beam. It just seems rather bizarre, that he was able to not only create a spiffy armor, but also implement so many features all without being noticed by his captors.
Moving on, this chapter gives us our first glimpse at an Extremis enhanced Tony, and it was a genuine treat. While we may not be sure of the side effects yet, (because there has to be some sort of consequences to this) the power of Extremis seems to be perfect for someone like Tony. Not only has it served to completely heal all of his wounds, but it has also allowed for him to almost instantly become Iron Man at any given moment. While this comic has compared it to the Super Soldier Serum that gave Steve Rogers his powers, its clear that Extremis is far superior. With this new power, Tony has become basically omnipotent, as anything even remotely technologically based is his to manipulate and control. While I’m excited to see how he will go about using this in his fight Mallen, I can see that how this sort of power may become an issue in the future if, for some reason, the Extremis becomes a permanent (whatever that means in comics) change for the character. I’m thinking issues reminiscent to “Batman: God of Knowledge,” if you know what I mean.
If there was any indication that Mallen is nothing more than a plot device, his absence in this issue would be it. With the next issue concluding this arc, its highly unlikely that we are going to get much more from his character, which both is and is not a shame. His conversation with the young woman in the previous issue showed us how ignorant he is in regard to what exactly he’s attempting. Mallen lacks depth and, I suppose, that is intentional. This is meant to be a soft reboot for Iron Man, and as such, this story is choosing to focus more on Tony and less on the villain; which, for the record, is fine. The only reason I take issue with it is because I am already familiar with Tony Stark as a character and would much rather see him fight with someone who’s presence is more impactful to Tony, and not just someone for Iron Man to square off against.
The next issue will wrap things up for the “Extremis” arc, and I imagine it’s going to be one helluva brawl. Look for my review on “Extremis” Issue #6 soon!
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