Marvel fans will remember that, not too long ago, Iron Man and Captain Marvel went to war. An ethical debate about how to use the gifts of an Inhuman who could predict the future led to the Second Superhuman Civil War (as chronicled in Marvel’s Civil War II event). That conflict ended with Captain Marvel putting Iron Man in a coma. Tony Stark rebooted his mind (he’s Iron Man, after all) to wake from the coma. Things have been tense between Tony and Carol Danvers, but they have patched things up well enough that they can fight alongside each other as Avengers. Tony, a recovering alcoholic, also sponsors Carol in Alcoholics Anonymous. That reconciliation may have hit a snag and HBO’s Game of Thrones may be to blame. SPOILERS for Tony Stark: Iron Man #14 by Dan Slott, Jim Zub, Valeri Schiti, and Edgar Delgado follow.
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Tony Stark has had a tough time of things since returning from his Carol-induced coma. His company’s virtual reality software, the eScape, was compromised by The Controller. While under the villain’s control, Tony had his first drink in years. Though it was a virtual drink consumed by his VR avatar, Tony has still taken the setback hard.
What’s could be worse is that the eScape confirmed what Tony has long feared. He didn’t reboot his brain when he woke from his coma. He uploaded a backup, AI copy of his consciousness into his body. This Iron Man believes himself to be a mere simulation imitating Tony Stark.
Tony Stark: Iron Man #14 opens with Tony telling Carol he can’t be her sponsor anymore, feeling the virtual drink comprised him. He later realizes that if his mind is a digital simulation, then he can delete the memories of the drink he took, solving his alcohol struggles. He backs up and deletes the past two weeks of memories, but Spymaster shows up and steals the hard drive where all of Tony’s memories are stored.
Iron Man and Captain Marvel pursue the fleeing villain. Spymaster searches Tony’s memories for the override code to his Iron Man armors. Captain Marvel helps Tony get his armor under control, but Spymaster uses the codes to summon older Iron Man armors and the Manticore that Jim Rhodes has been using. Iron Man comes up with a plan; stop the manticore, and the other armors will fall.
Captain Marvel translates it into an analogy, comparing it to “Arya dusting the Night King on Game of Thrones,” which killed all the other White Walkers and wights. Tony is hurt. He’s been so busy that he hasn’t had time to watch Game of Thrones. Or if he did, he deleted the memory.
Iron Man and Captain Marvel get the memory drive back, but Tony will never be able to un-hear that spoiler…unless he goes about deleting his memories again. The attack seems to be the latest assault by Iron Man 2020, leading into next year’s big Iron Man event.
What do you think of Carol’s spoiling Game of Thrones for Tony? Let us know in the comments. Tony Stark: Iron Man #14 is on sale now.
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Image Credit: Marvel Comics
