Iron Man [2020] #5 - Marvel Comics

IRON MAN No. 5, March 2021

Featuring the likes of Gargoyle, the Scarlet Spider, Mercedes Knight and Frog Man as some sort of D-list Great Lakes Avengers, readers of Christopher Cantwell’s storyline for Issue Five of “Iron Man” could arguably have anticipated the Chicago-born writer injecting this comic with a modicum of humour. However, despite the likes of Eugene Paul Patilio certainly raising the occasional smile with his child-like enthusiasm to work alongside the titular character in an ‘official’ capacity, the predominant tone of this twenty-page periodical is deadly serious. In fact, somewhat snooze-inducingly serious as this comic's widening cast simply talk to one another, over and over again as to the desperate nature of their predicament.

Furthermore, absolutely no respect whatsoever is given to this book’s band of incoming mercenaries, despite the likes of Isaac Christians and Misty having been involved in numerous world-threatening escapades in the past. Instead, Tony Stark simply waxes lyrical on them panel after panel as to how outgunned his ragamuffin gang are against their mechanical opponent, and how even having “Spider-Man’s Xerox copy” on their side doesn’t mean they have any hope of winning; “My best answer is, you have me. So my advice is, do as I say. Then and only then can we hope to stop Korvac.”

To make matters worse though, Iron Man’s insistence on recruiting these ‘low tier’ heroes in the first place “or James Rhodes could get killed” is debatably moot as his enemy already knows what the Golden Avenger is up to, courtesy of the android establishing a seriously strong mental bond with Patsy Walker. Admittedly, this publication’s American author does do his level best to depict Hellcat as a psychologically unstable former-Defender, so potentially Michael isn’t quite getting sight of Shell-head’s entire plan. But that doesn’t debatably explain why the cyborg then subsequently sets a deadly trap for the crime-fighting cadre using a bogus radiation signature at “a warehouse in Port Morris.”

Lastly, it is genuinely difficult to have any sympathy for the utterly dislikeable Stark in this narrative. The Golden Avenger demonstrates incredibly poor leadership in front of his newly-formed team with his demoralising ‘pep-talk’, and then willingly risks sacrificing his costumed lover to Korvac when he decides to use the mentally unwell Walker as “bait” to lure his foe out into the open. Such selfish hubris is genuinely hard to stomach, and in many ways actually makes the audience want the hard-hearted hero to fail miserably, simply to teach the egotistical idiot a well-deserved lesson in the harshness of life.

The regular cover art of "IRON MAN" #5 by Alex Ross