[dropcap]If[/dropcap] you thought that the current Iron Man storyline from Marvel had hit the limit of complicated tampering with a classic character… you were wrong! The Associated Press this week printed a story based on an interview with Kieron Gillen, the current scribe of this story of a troubled genius who flies around in a metal suit. I have really enjoyed this storyline since the relaunch, and the current “Secret Origin of Tony Stark” has had some startling revelations, but this weeks issue, Iron Man #7, is probably the biggest kick in the pants that we have had yet. And, in a good way… I think.
Gillen tells the AP that he was looking for a new way to challenge a character on a more personal level, since most of the storyline has happened in space and battling cosmic-level entities. To that end, prepare to be SPOILED! In issue #17 it is revealed that Tony Stark is adopted and he has a brother, Arno. This would explain why Stark was not able to interface with the God-Killer battle suit in the previous issues, since Arno is the one who was modified with the alien technology and programmed to be the perfect pilot by the purpose driven android 451.
This will be something that dumps Tony’s world on it’s head. Just like the Weird Al Yankovic song, “Everything you know is wrong.” The AP states that Tony will be conflicted by the revelations, as he is accepting of them but also expriences “a swirl of emotion as the facts of his life come out in full view and meeting his brother, Arno, who has been in a hospital
his entire life, wanting for nothing, but an enigma regardless.”
This is interesting stuff, since we all wait with bated breath to see what sort of impact this will have on Tony’s life and sense of self. Either way, Iron Man is about to change in a big way. Thanks to Marvel and the Associated Press for putting this out before we got to read the book, thus taking any suspense out of things for those of us who really enjoying reading a book without knowing how it ends. Seriously, this is more like the beginning of a cool new twist to the story, so let’s see where the ride takes us.
