Iron Man [2020] #14 - Marvel Comics

IRON MAN No. 14, January 2022

Heralding “the birth of the Cosmic Iron Man”, and debatably consisting of little more than a twenty-page long dream sequence in which Tony Stark supposedly fixes himself by disconcertingly imaging the utter annihilation of every noteworthy super-hero on Earth, many readers of “Through The Mirror” were probably wondering why Christopher Cantwell didn’t just ask artist Cafu to simply sketch a splash illustration or two to depict the titular character’s current mental instability, rather than painfully ‘pad out’ an entire issue with it. Frustratingly however, that doesn’t happen, and instead this particular publication slowly plods along at a pedestrian pace reliving how, as an adolescent, the Golden Avenger’s alter-ego was always alone – especially following the death of his parents; “I must’ve sat there for hours. No one saw me. No one ever saw me.”

Similarly as devoid of any dynamism is the American author’s sub-plot involving Iron Man’s determination to change the world for the better, and his realisation that “I’m always in my own way” whenever he sets about fashioning such transformations. Shell-head’s egotism is arguably already legendary, so a prolonged sequence featuring Stark facing a much larger incarnation of himself repeatedly blocking him in attaining his goal with just a couple of gigantically-sized armoured fingers, doesn’t seemingly help progress this story’s overall narrative, just somewhat alarmingly extends it.

Indeed, possibly this book’s sole highlight is when Tony decides “it’s time for me to be in charge for a while”, and realises that he’ll need to kill all of his former team-mates in order to do so. This psychopathic slip of the mind is genuinely disturbing, and is penned as being such a natural consequence to the billionaire’s elevation into a comically enhanced overlord, that the cold-blooded murder of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and even Captain America, doesn’t seem to bother the titular character’s conscience at all. 

Desperately trying to help ‘fill out’ Issue Fourteen of “Iron Man” are artists Cafu and Angel Unzueta, who, at least according to the Marvel Database on the “Fandom” digital platform, would appear to have quite literally split the job of pencilling this book between them. The “Marvel Comics exclusive artist” certainly captures the imagination with the horrifically murderous assault a deranged Stark launches against the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, whilst Unzueta proficiently tackles this magazine’s conclusion in which Tony finally confronts Korvac.

The regular cover art of "IRON MAN" #14 by Alex Ross