Iron Maniac
Iron Maniac is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Iron Maniac was a version of Tony Stark that lived on a different Earth located in the Multiverse. In his universe, the Avengers never disbanded and one day the Vision detected an alien ship in the mountains of Japan. They went to the scene to investigate leading to their encounter with Titannus who portrayed a sympathetic backstory namely that he and his love Amissa were fleeing the tyranny of her father and sought out great champions to depose him. Thus, they had come to get the Avengers aid and the superheroes believed them to be telling the truth. This led to them travelling to the Trellion system but upon arriving Titannus turned on them as he had been brainwashed by the ruler of the planet and given a fake backstory to make it more convincing. The purpose of the deception was to lead the famous Avengers to the planet in order to destroy them and Titannus struck as the second part of his brainwashing took effect leading to him killing the Wasp. Hank Pym was similarly believed slain and the rulers of Trellion decided to break the spirit of Tony's comrades by executing Captain America. Afterwards, they were sent to slave camps on distant worlds to harvest resources with the reserve Avengers taking five years to find and rescue the captive heroes. It took another five years to defeat the Trellion's to the point that they would never threaten Earth again. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #13) In this time, he witnessed many of his colleagues dying for the greater good with Tony claiming that Reed Richards becoming power mad in the process thus pitting Stark against the Fantastic Four. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #22) On his world, there was a Black Widow that was Natasha Romanoff who was said to had broken his heart and he eventually killed her. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #6) He was said to had been responsible for killing his world's version of Wolverine. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #23) During the fight, the Human Torch was noted to had burnt Stark's face and in response he killed Johnny Storm. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #4) Stark then proceeded to take control of Latveria as he tried to take control of the world under the belief that he was saving it. Ultimately, it was Reed Richards who stopped him and ended up banishing Stark into the Multiverse. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #22)
He appeared on Earth-616 in Latveria where he intended to track down and get his revenge on Reed Richards. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #2) This saw him attack the Baxter Building where he was confused for being Doctor Doom as he battled the Fantastic Four. He stopped his attack after being confronted by the Human Torch he became confused as Johnny Storm had died on his world leading to Stark leaving the scene. Around this time, Doctor Strange had sensed Stark's arrival to this world and attempted to track him but the Iron Maniac attacked him as he came to believe the Sorcerer Supreme was responsible for his predicament. During the midst of the fighting with the Fantastic Four again, he came to realise that they referred to him as Doctor Doom and revealed his true identity as Tony Stark to them. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #3) He then battled the heroes but was forced to escape after Doctor Strange nearly had him encased in magic. After his departure, he snuck into Stark Industries and disguised himself as Earth-616's version of Tony Stark in order to gain access to the technology and equipment there. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #4) He attempted to create a machine for the journey back to his world but required the necessary power. To achieve that end, he kidnapped a Mutant called Paul Patterson who had the power to generate explosive energy which Stark intended to use to energise his machine. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #5) He was then confronted by Spider-Man and X-23 where Iron Maniac believed the pair to be working for Reed Richards. They were joined by Captain America and Black Widow but they were unable to defeat Stark who was prepared to return to his world. Before he could do so, the heroes caused Patterson to detonate thus destroying the machine and defeating Stark who was rendered unconscious. The Iron Maniac was then arrested where he was placed in stasis on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #6) Whilst in custody, he was approached by the heroes after they had made their first encounter with Titannus with Stark willing to reveal about the events on his world. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #13) Afterwards, he was placed in stasis as a means of holding him on the Helicarrier where his body secretly began to adapt to the sedatives being given to him. During a check up session, he broke free and attacked the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives sent to monitor him with Stark attempting an escape. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #21)
S.H.I.E.L.D. operative Mitchell Carson attempted to stop Stark but was easily defeated by his prisoner. He found a fellow prisoner in a nearby stasis cell that was Rachel Leighton who was in reality a Life Model Decoy. After freeing her, he forcibly took control of Diamondback's mechanical functions and effectively killed her as he reset her body into its base components which he used to fashion a new suit of Iron Man Armor for himself. S.H.I.E.L.D. forces attempted to stop him but he effortlessly defeated with even the Avengers able to defeat him with the Iron Maniac managing to escape the Helicarrier. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #22) He escaped into New York City where his proximity to Stark Tower led to Spider-Man and Wolverine confronting him though Stark overpowered the two heroes with him attempting to murder them. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #23) He was only stopped by the arrival of Freedom Ring and Crusader though they two were unable to stop Stark who came to realise that the Crusader was secretly a Skrull. The remaining Avengers arrived on the scene but they were unable to stop the Iron Maniac until Freedom Ring used his ring-shaped fragment of the Cosmic Cube to hold the villain in place. However, Stark commanded his armour to turn into spikes which speared the young new hero thus killing him. Captain America then managed to land a blow on Stark's unarmoured head with his shield thus rendering him unconscious with a fracture in his skull. As a result, the villain was defeated and placed back into custody though this came at the cost of Freedom Ring's life. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #24) His body still remained in stasis on-board the Helicarrier as S.H.I.E.L.D. awaited reconstruction of the Vault. (Fantastic Four: Foes v1 #4)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Iron Maniac was an alternate version of Tony Stark who had scars on his face and wore an Iron Man Armour that partially resembled Doctor Doom. It was this reason that he was initially confused for being the Latverian dictator. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #3) He stated that on his world he was known as Iron Man but after all his experiences and being banished to Earth-616 led to him taking up the moniker of Iron Maniac. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #22)
This version of Stark had become ruthless to the point that he was not above letting people die. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #4) He had intended to take control of the world but stated that this was not to rule it but rather to save it. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #22) The Iron Maniac was said to enjoy killing his victims quickly. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #23) According to him, he had learnt to play smart and that operating as a hero that spared others lives did not change anything. Instead, it kept them running an eternal cycle and that the only way was to enforce change even if it meant killing others. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #24)
Due to the events on his world, he came to have a deep-seated hatred of Reed Richards and wanted revenge against him. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #2) He came to see even alternate reality versions of the Fantastic Four as his enemies and attacked them. Johnny Storm was responsible for scarring his face the day he ended up killing the Human Torch. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #4) He regarded his world's Captain America to had been a great man and a living legend. It was shown that he had been involved with his world's Natasha Romanoff who was said to had broken his heart. Despite that, he had said to had missed her and longed to meet her again one last tme. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #6)
Powers and abilities
It was said that all indications showed him to be every bit as intelligent as the Tony Stark of Earth-616. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #5)
His body was capable of adapting to sedatives over a period of time leading to him becoming immune to their effects. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #21) Stark had upgraded his body turning him into a cyborg with metallic plates underneath his skin that protect him from harm as he sought to ensure nothing would harm his ailing heart. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #22) Despite this being the case, he still possessed biological parts with these being vulnerable to physical blows if he was not protected. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #24) Similar to Iron Man, the Iron Maniac wore his own version of highly advanced Iron Man Armour that protected him from harm. The armour also protected his mind from attempts at manipulating him with it even working against mystical assaults. He had also engineered systems that allowed him to dispel certain forms of magical attacks. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #4) He later recruited a new suit of Iron Man Armor using an L.M.D. as a base with it able to change its shape to become anything that Stark wanted such as weapons or tendrils. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #22) The suit could turn into fluid that go through the pores of a human body and pop a person from the inside out. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #23) Stark could cause portions of his suit to disengage from his body and became a liquid-shaped material which could turn into spears to kill his enemies. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #24)
From his suit, he was able to fire energy blasts from the gauntlets. He could generate powerful energy blasts from his hands and emit a spherical blast from himself to deal with enemies. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #4) Stark was able to fire a powerful chest beam. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #6) Stark could a force that allowed him to attract objects allowing him to grab onto certain items such as depriving foes of their weapon. From his shoulder could emerge a neural scrambler that caused intense pain in the nerves of enemies around him with some rendered unconscious due to the pain. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #6) He was shown as being able to project a liquid from the suit's fingers capable of knocking out the fire of the Human Torch. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #3) This version of Tony Stark had created a weapon that could temporarily depower superhuman foes allowing him to quickly dispatch them. (Marvel Team-Up v3 #4)
Notes
- Iron Maniac was created by Robert Kirkman and Scott Kolins where he made his first appearance in Marvel Team-Up v3 #2 (January, 2005).
- In All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update v1 #2 (2007), Iron Maniac received an entry within the reference guide which stated he was native to Earth-5012.
Appearances
- Marvel Team-Up v3: (2005)
- Fantastic Four: Foes v1:
External Links
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