Iron Monger has returned to terrorize Iron Man in his new Marvel series. There have been several individuals to wear the Iron Monger armor, most notably Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane in the first Iron Man movie. Obadiah Stane was the first person to don the Iron Monger, who is one of the iconic villains in Iron Man’s rogues gallery. With a new volume of Iron Man now on sale, that means more threats for Tony Stark to combat. Fans always seem to enjoy watching Iron Man battle other armored enemies, so there is some interest in Iron Monger’s return. But if Iron Monger is going to be able to hang with Iron Man, the person behind the armor will need a major upgrade.
*WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Iron Man #1. Continue reading at your own risk!
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Iron Man #1 comes from the creative team of Spencer Ackerman, Julius Ohta, Alex Sinclair, and VC’s Joe Caramagna. It’s Part 1 of “The Stark-Roxxon War” as Tony Stark finds out he’s about to lose his company, Stark Unlimited, to the combined efforts of A.I.M. and Roxxon. Doctor Rappaccini, A.I.M. Scientist Supreme, is leading the hostile takeover. Plus, Iron Man’s armor is hijacked by magical malware, so he goes out in search of his anti-magic mysterium suit. When Iron Man arrives at a Long Island City warehouse where he’s hiding the mysterium, he’s greeted by the resurrected Justine Hammer.
Justine Hammer, another former nemesis of Tony Stark, is working with Roxxon and has taken possession of Iron Man’s mysterium to fuse it with her all-new Iron Monger. Iron Man and the new Iron Monger battle through the New York streets. Justine intends to steal all of Tony’s armors, and she also has the power to control his suits to do anything she tells them to. Things are starting to look bad for Iron Man.
Marvel’s new Iron Monger has a long history with Iron Man
Justine Hammer is the daughter of Justin Hammer, who was played by Sam Rockwell in Iron Man 2. She once formed the Masters of Evil as the villainous alias Crimson Cowl, and worked together with the Mandarin and Ezekiel Stane to target Iron Man before she was betrayed by her allies and killed. A.I.M. resurrected Justine to help them in the Stark-Roxxon War.
After Justine takes out Iron Man in her Iron Monger armor, she teases that one of Iron Man’s old allies in the Avengers is on their side. A.I.M. and Roxxon have the use of magic on their side, which is something Iron Man isn’t adept at. Tony is all about science and technology, and magic runs counter to that. Though there have been arguments that science and magic are just different sides of the same coin.
With his armors gone, Tony has to get creative, which leads to the creation of the “Improvised Iron Man.” Spencer Ackerman and Julius Ohta are taking Iron Man back to his roots, and we asked Ackerman to tell us a bit more about it.
“The Improvised Iron Man showcases vulnerability and desperation. This is something a very smart person makes when all else has failed and what comes next can’t,” Ackerman said. “He’s not in a cave, but he is building it out of scraps. It’s ‘Improvised’ in the sense of ‘Improvised Explosive Device.’ And it’s going to include a key visual and tactical element that we rarely, if ever, see with Iron Man armor. That’s debuting in issue 2.”
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