Iron Man [2020] #17 - Marvel Comics

IRON MAN No. 17, April 2022

Very much placing Tony Stark himself as this ongoing series’ main antagonist, Christopher Cantwell’s storyline for Issue Seventeen of “Iron Man” certainly provides a chilling demonstration of absolute power corrupting its wielder absolutely. For whilst the cosmically-enhanced billionaire seemingly thinks his dubious decision to ‘exponentially raise the intelligence of every New York City citizen’ is a good one, the Chicago-born writer’s narrative provides plenty of evidence as to just why making approximately nine million people super-smart is simply a recipe for chaos, crime and even cold-blooded murder; “The Frog never realises he’s dead until it’s too late.”

Disconcertingly however, especially for those readers who are fans of the Golden Avenger, “Farewell, My Space Friends” also shows the disastrously detrimental effect being the Iron God has had upon the mental stability of its current owner. The egotistical industrialist has arguably always struggled to accept justified criticism of his poorer pronouncements, but in this twenty-page periodical, the “proficient scientist” simply transforms all his detractors, naysayers and even friends, into persistently nodding “Yes Men” so he can “pull off my vision without all the headache and second-guessing.”

Such a massive abuse of his galactic-sized responsibility doesn’t even register upon the egotist’s moral compass, and subsequently sets this comic up for a truly terrifying confrontation between Stark and the rag-tag band of heroes who actually helped him achieve victory over Michael Korvac in the first place. Indeed, debatably for many readers Tony’s almost nonchalant destruction of the likes of the Silver Surfer, original Human Torch, Gargoyle, War Machine and Frogman one by one in a decidedly evil fashion depicts just how utterly insane Stan Lee’s co-creation could potentially always have become if given the ‘right’ circumstances.

Clearly helping imbue this homicidal so-called deity with a ton of hubris and self-satisfying swagger are Ibraim Roberson and Angel Unzueta, whose prodigious panels do a first-rate job of illustrating both the carnage caused by Iron Man’s highly questionable choices, as well as his matter-of-fact massacre at Patsy" Walker’s luxurious sky-line apartment courtyard. The vile sneer shown upon Stark’s face when he’s actually disintegrating his former comrades-in-arms is particularly disturbing, and instantly shows just how badly one of the world’s mightiest champions for justice has fallen.

The regular cover art of "IRON MAN" #17 by Alex Ross